If the opening game is any indication, this year’s ACC Men’s Tournament should be sensational.
Ninth seed N.C. State knocked off eighth seed Virginia Tech, 4-3, with all seven goals coming after halftime — the last three in the span of 105 seconds late in the see-saw game. The Wolfpack blew a 2-0 lead before coming from behind on a pair of late goals by sophomore Ronnie Bouemboue to beat the Hokies.
Bouemboue and El Hadji Cisse had scored to give N.C. State a 2-0 lead early in the second half, but Ghanaian star Patrick Nyarko pulled Tech ahead with two goals (tying the Tech record for 15 goals in a season) and an assist on Brent Dillie‘s go-ahead goal in the 87th minute.
Congolese-born Bouemboue tied the score with the second of his three goals 17 seconds after Dillie put the Hokies ahead for the first time. Only 88 seconds later, Cisse set up Bouemboue for his third goal. N.C. State faces top seed Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md.
“This was probably our worst game of the year in terms of mental attitude and respect,” said Hokie coach Oliver Weiss.
Virginia Tech (11-7-1) could still get into the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid. Last season, the NCAA took eight ACC teams. In last week’s RPI released by the NCAA, Tech was 23rd in the country, with six other ACC teams ahead of it at 1, 3, 4, 6, 13 and 18.
TOURNAMENTS
CAA. Old Dominion (13-4-1) and George Mason (12-5-1) improved their chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament with first-round wins. ODU edged UNC Wilmington, 1-0, on Zachary Kinney‘s golden goal, while GMU beat Northeastern, 1-0, on Dan Ames‘ first-half goal. The Towson-GMU and Hofstra-ODU semifinals on Friday in Virginia Beach, Va., are rematches of the past two CAA title games. All four teams were ranked in the top 32 of the NCAA’s RPI rankings.
Soccer America’s Conference Tournament Scoreboards: