# 2018 NC State Wolfpack men's soccer team

The 2018 NC State Wolfpack men's soccer team represented North Carolina State University during the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The Wolfpack were led by head coach George Kiefer, in his second season. They played home games at Dail Soccer Field. NC State finished the season with a 10–7–3 (2–4–2) record and earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Maryland in the second round.

## Background

The 2017 NC State men's soccer team finished the season with an 8–6–4 overall record and a 3–3–2 ACC record. The Wolfpack were seeded eight–overall in the 2017 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, where they lost to Virginia Tech in the first round. The Wolfpack earned an at-large bid into the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. In the tournament, the Wolfpack lost to Old Dominion in the first round.
At the end of the season, one Wolfpack men's soccer player was selected in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft: Caleb Duvernay.

## Player Movement
### Players Leaving

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Caleb Duvernay | 3 | DF | 5'7" | 162 | Senior | Cary, NC | Declared for 2018 MLS SuperDraft; selected 61st overall by Portland Timbers |
| Maximilian Luftl | 15 | MF | 6'0" | 174 | Senior | Fürstenstein, GER | Graduated |
| Julius Duchscherer | 16 | MF | 5'6" | 145 | Senior | Hadamar, GER | Graduated |
| Jake Dykes | 19 | DF | 6'0" | 173 | Senior | Sligo, IRE | Graduated |
| Roland Minogue | 20 | MF | 5'7" | 156 | Senior | Huntersville, NC | Graduated |
| Jan–Luca Ahillen | 21 | MF | 6'1" | 185 | Senior | Meppen, GER | Graduated |
| Anthony Ruggiero | 22 | MF | 6'1" | 192 | Freshman | Holtsville, NY | Transferred |
| Willy Ramirez | 23 | FW | 5'7" | 158 | Junior | Garner, NC | Transferred |

### Players Arriving

| Name | Nat. | Hometown | Club |
| Alex Bautista DF | USA | Mount Juliet, TN | FC Dallas |
| Iverson Brisma MF | USA | East Windsor, NJ | Philadelphia Union |
| Aidan Foster MF | USA | Cary, NC | North Carolina FC Youth |
| Caleb Martinez | USA | Zephyrhills, FL | N/A |
| Bailey O'Connor MF | USA | Raleigh, NC | North Carolina FC Youth |
| James Orozco DF | USA | Durham, NC | North Carolina FC Youth |
| Orlin Roque MF | USA | Durham, NC | North Carolina FC Youth |
| AJ Allen Seals MF | USA | Orlando, FL | Orlando City SC |

## Squad
### Roster

Updated August 3, 2018
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 0 | GK | USA | Nick Cournoyer |
| 1 | GK | GER | Leon Krapf |
| 2 | FW | USA | Manny Perez |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Jose Garcia Valles |
| 4 | DF | USA | David Norris |
| 5 | FW | USA | Stephen Elias |
| 6 | DF | SUI | Christoph Schneuwly |
| 7 | FW | USA | Tanner Roberts |
| 8 | MF | USA | Brad Sweeney |
| 9 | FW | BEN | Ade Taiwo |
| 10 | FW | USA | David Loera |
| 11 | FW | USA | Tyler Gabarra |
| 12 | GK | USA | Vincent Durand |
| 13 | DF | GER | Simon Blotko |
| 14 | FW | USA | Clay Sparks |
| 15 | MF | BRA | Gabriel Machado |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 16 | MF | USA | AJ Seals |
| 17 | MF | USA | Nick Retzlaff |
| 18 | FW | USA | Iverson Brisma |
| 19 | DF | USA | Alex Bautista |
| 20 | FW | ENG | Kuda Muskwe |
| 21 | FW | USA | Orlin Roque |
| 22 | MF | USA | Aidan Foster |
| 23 | FW | USA | James Orozco |
| 24 | | USA | Cyrus Rad |
| 25 | MF | USA | Jose Morales Jr. |
| 26 | MF | USA | Caleb Martinez |
| 27 | | USA | Arnaud Deniel |
| 28 | MF | USA | Bailey O'Connor |
| 29 | DF | USA | Harry Adanuty |
| 30 | DF | USA | Matt Lockwood |

### Team Management

| Position | Staff |
| Athletic director | Debbie Yow |
| Head coach | George Kiefer |
| Associate Head Coach | Jeff Negalha |
| Assistant coach | Kyle Nicholls |
| Assistant coach | Nahtan Walzer |
| Director of Soccer | Lindsey Krakower |
| Director of Analytics | Paul Forster |
| Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach/Director of Sport Science | Craig Turner |
| Senior Associate AD/Sports Administration & Student Services | Raymond Harrison |
| Assistant Athletic Trainer | Blake Wickerham |
| Academics | Maria Crockett |
Source:

## Schedule

Source:
| Date Time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (Attendance) City, State |
| Exhibition ||||||
| August 18, 2018* 7:00 pm | | at Duke | L 0–1 | – (–) | Koskinen Stadium Durham, NC |
| Regular season ||||||
| August 24, 2018* 7:00 pm | | USC Upstate | W 3–1 | 1–0–0 (0–0–0) | Dail Soccer Field (1,938) Raleigh, NC |
| August 27, 2018* 7:00 pm | | at No. 4 Akron | W 2–0 | 2–0–0 (0–0–0) | FirstEnergy Stadium (1,474) Akron, OH |
| August 31, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. RV | Presbyterian | W 2–0 | 3–0–0 (0–0–0) | Dail Soccer Field (1,622) Raleigh, NC |
| September 3, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. RV | William & Mary | W 2–1 $^{2OT}$ | 4–0–0 (0–0–0) | Dail Soccer Field (854) Raleigh, NC |
| September 7, 2018 7:00 pm | No. 8 | at No. 1 Wake Forest | L 0–3 | 4–1–0 (0–1–0) | Spry Stadium (4,023) Winston–Salem, NC |
| September 11, 2018* 12:30 pm | No. 18 | Quinnipiac | W 1–0 | 5–1–0 (1–0–0) | Dail Soccer Field (197) Raleigh, NC |
| September 18, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 18 | Stetson | Postponed | 5–1–0 (1–0–0) | Dail Soccer Field Raleigh, NC |
| September 21, 2018 5:00 pm | No. 18 | No. 14 Virginia Tech | W 1–0 | 6–1–0 (2–0–0) | Dail Soccer Field (786) Raleigh, NC |
| September 25, 2018 7:00 pm | No. 12 | at Pittsburgh | L 1–3 | 6–2–0 (1–2–0) | Ambrose Urbanic Field (254) Pittsburgh, PA |
| September 28, 2018 7:00 pm | No. 12 | No. 6 Louisville | T 2–2 $^{2OT}$ | 6–2–1 (1–2–1) | Dail Soccer Field (1,255) Raleigh, NC |
| October 2, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 17 | James Madison | T 0–0 $^{2OT}$ | 6–2–2 (1–2–1) | Dail Soccer Field (810) Raleigh, NC |
| October 5, 2018 7:00 pm | No. 17 | at Boston College | L 0–1 | 6–3–2 (1–3–1) | Newton Soccer Complex (281) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| October 9, 2018* 7:00 pm | | at Longwood | W 2–0 | 7–3–2 (1–3–1) | Longwood Athletics Complex (187) Farmville, VA |
| October 12, 2018 7:00 pm | | No. 1 North Carolina Rivalry | W 1–0 | 8–3–2 (2–3–1) | Dail Soccer Field (3,229) Raleigh, NC |
| October 16, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 21 | at No. 11 UNC Wilmington | L 0–3 | 8–4–2 (2–3–1) | UNC Wilmington Soccer Stadium (2,028) Wilmington, NC |
| October 20, 2016 7:00 pm | No. 21 | No. 24 Syracuse | T 1–1 $^{2OT}$ | 8–4–3 (2–3–2) | Dail Soccer Field (758) Raleigh, NC |
| October 27, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Clemson | L 0–3 $^{1,657}$ | 8–5–3 (2–4–2) | Riggs Field Clemson, SC |
| ACC Tournament ||||||
| October 31, 2018 7:00 pm | (8) | (9) Boston College First Round | W 3–1 | 9–5–3 (2–4–2) | Dail Soccer Field (437) Raleigh, NC |
| November 4, 2018 1:00 pm | (8) | (1) No. 1 Wake Forest Quarterfinals | L 0–2 | 9–6–3 (2–4–2) | Spry Stadium (2,037) Winston–Salem, NC |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| November 15* 7:00 pm | | Campbell NCAA First Round | W 4–1 | 10–6–3 | Dail Soccer Field (515) Raleigh, NC |
| November 18* 1:00 pm | | at (11) No. 15 Maryland NCAA Second Round | L 0–2 | 10–7–3 | Ludwig Field (1,266) College Park, MD |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Awards and honors

| Recipient | Award | Date |
| Gabriel Machado | ACC Offensive Player of the Week | September 3, 2018 |
| Leon Krapf | ACC Defensive Player of the Week | September 24, 2018 |
| David Loera | ACC Offensive Player of the Week | October 15, 2018 |
| Leon Krapf | ACC Defensive Player of the Week | October 15, 2018 |
| Leon Krapf | United Soccer Coaches Player of the Week | October 16, 2018 |
| David Loera | All-ACC First Team | November 7, 2018 |
| Manny Perez | All-ACC Third Team | November 7, 2018 |

## 2019 MLS SuperDraft

NC State did not have any players selected in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft.

## Rankings

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Final |
| United Soccer | | RV | 8 | 18 | 18 | 12 | 17 | RV | 21 | RV | | | | None Released | None Released | None Released | None Released | RV |
| TopDrawer Soccer | 23 | 23 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 23 | 20 | 24 | RV | | | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |