The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1153250
76 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER T hird-year NC State head coach George Kiefer admits that he gets emotional when talking about his upbringing, and in a way he ap- plies that background into a moti- vational force for his Wolfpack soccer squad. It's a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. Kiefer loves when opponents pencil in NC State as a probable win on their sched- ule before ever playing. "I come from very, very little," Kiefer noted. "… I've had people in my life that had a lot more than me that put me through those same types of things and it gets me going — let's go. Let's play, get the game going." The good news for Kiefer is he should have a pretty good squad to run with on the field. He returns extensive experience from a team that reached the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, upset eventual national runner-up Akron 2-0 on the road early in the season and handed then-No. 1 UNC its first loss of the year. "The thing I am excited about is the amount of returning guys that we have that have logged a lot of minutes in the ACC," Kiefer said. "When they were freshmen they played as much as typical sophomores and juniors played. If you look at the minutes logged, there's good experience in the group. "And not just good experience, but good experience specifically to the ACC because that's a whole other discussion." Add to that a stellar recruiting class that was ranked sixth in the country by Top- DrawerSoccer.com and NC State has rea- sons to be optimistic about a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. In the goal, junior Leon Krapf logged every minute a year ago and had a 1.15 goals against average while stopping 71.1 percent of the shots on goal. Both ranked fifth in the ACC. "Leon's excellent; I think he's one of the better goalkeepers in the league," Kiefer said. "You look at Leon on the field — how consistent he is and his leadership. He's a guy that's going to be a captain this fall." Helping to defend the goal in front of Kiefer are junior David Norris and sopho- more Pepe Garcia, both of whom played almost every minute in 2018. Kiefer, how- ever, is looking for replacements for Chris- Junior goalkeeper Leon Krapf posted a 1.15 goals against average in 2018, the sixth-best single-season mark in school history. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS MEN'S SOCCER PREVIEW REASONS FOR OPTIMISM NC State Is Poised To Build Off Its Recent Success