It’s tournament time again for the ACC soccer programs. As a State fan, can you feel the excitement?
Well, I guess not. And I can’t blame you. N.C. State soccer accomplished a rare double dip of pathos this season with its men’s and women’s soccer teams each being the bottom seeds, based on their conference records, in their respective tournaments.
The women’s program (9-8-2, 3-7-0 ACC) is seeded eighth out of eight and plays number one seed – you guessed it – Carolina tomorrow at the SAS Soccer Park.
The ninth-seeded men’s program (6-9-1, 2-6-1), relegated to the tournament play-in game against eighth-seeded soccer hotbed Virginia Tech, has just beaten them 4-3 and will face number one Duke Wednesday in Germantown, Maryland. N.C. State Media Relations hotly denies that the play-in game is known as the “George Tarantini Invitational” and wonders how someone came up with that silly name.
In all seriousness, this kind of double futility is pretty sad. I’m glad the men’s team won its game and am sure players on each squad worked hard. But producing results like this squarely in the middle of a national youth soccer hotbed is beyond pathetic.
In fact, it’s inexcusable. It’s doubly so when a Certain School To The West produces almost as many national women’s soccer championships as N.C. State has conference wins.
Question to Senior Associate Athletic Director Nora Lynn Finch: have you been at State so long that regularly uncompetitive showings by our non-revenue teams simply don’t register with you? Or are you, yourself, the problem?
