It wasn’t the homecoming Oregon head coach Kat Mertz was hoping for.
Returning to the college she played soccer for and graduated from, Mertz led an unsuccessful attempt at trying to beat her alma mater as the Ducks fell to the NC State Wolfpack by a score of 2-0.
Goals in the 30 and 89th minutes propelled the Wolfpack to victory as Oregon fell to 1-4 on the season, while NC State improved to 3-2.
Oregon started out hot as they compiled seven shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, but had nothing to show for it. After the NC State goal, Oregon became a little deflated as they couldn’t manage another shot the rest of the half.
The second half was a game of keep away as the Wolfpack, already with the lead, did their best attempt at killing the clock by keeping momentum and rarely attacking. Because of this, the Ducks had very few scoring chances, none of which really threatened the NC State goalie.
However, Oregon did manage to outshoot the Wolfpack 8-5 in the half, but none of those posed a true threat at tying the game.
The Ducks return to action when they play Wake Forest in Raleigh, North Carolina on Sunday at 8 a.m. PT.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter: @Ryan_Kostecka