The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546417
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026 ■ 45 are really bought into what we're doing and want to be here versus the flash of money or what other people are saying." Roster Building When NC State's early portal forays didn't yield the results it wanted, the staff shifted its approach, tapping into the international market while also fo- cusing on the incoming freshman class. The Wolfpack signed four American high schoolers and eight international players. Additionally, NC State brought in a junior college recruit. And for all its early difficulties, it did land five transfers. Hubbard's approach to player acquisi- tion is simple. He wants to put the high- est quality group on the pitch each night, and he'll look anywhere to find those players, while also continuing to make recruiting inroads in the Southeast. "We're just trying to build the best possible roster we can," Hubbard said. "If it can be with in-state players, we'll recruit them. If it's every region of the U.S., we'll try to scour that. There are obviously com- fort zones and con- tacts in places where we k n ow we ca n get certain types of players and people. For me, being down here is still an ad- justment recruiting in a different part of the country against other different high-level programs." With so few players returning, it was vital for NC State to find players who were far enough along in their devel- opment to make an early impact. As a result, players from some of the world's biggest professional club academies have made their way to Raleigh. FC Barcelona defender Adrià Muñoz headlines the Wolfpack's batch of inter- national newcomers after training at the famed La Masia alongside Spanish su- perstar Lamine Yamal, including some time spent with the club's top group on the practice field. The freshman is joined by several signees who are all ex- pected to play critical roles. Two additional defenders are junior Oriol Comas and sophomore Malcolm Rangon, both age 22. Comas arrives from Girona FC in Spain, while Rangon most recently played for FC Sochaux- Montbéliard in France. The international contingent also in- cludes a pair of potential impact fresh- men in midfielder Ajani Burchall of Warwick, Bermuda, and forward Tom Wingate of Weybridge, England. Wing- ate scored 14 goals in 28 games with his academy's U18 squad last season. Piecing It Together NC State's personnel losses were par- tially a result of its success. Many of those departed players were out of eligibility, but the two stars — Phillip and Markovic — elected to leave early to pursue pro careers. NC State's preseason training ses- sions focused on building chemistry, while also allowing every player to com- pete for a key spot in the lineup. Some players will be rewarded for their de- velopment within the program, which may feature senior goalie Samuel Ter- ranova stepping into the starting role after three years as a reserve. Hubbard said he's confident his new players have brought into the program's culture. He's tabbed fifth-year forward Caden Tolentino, senior midfielder Ty- ler Caton and sophomore defender Ri- ley Moloney as the three pillars of the leadership core. In addition, fifth-year midfielder Drew Lovelace was able to rejoin the roster after a legal challenge to the NCAA's new eligibility rules. Hubbard said this year's team has more depth than his first two NC State squads, even if there's not a true high- end talent like Phillip on the pitch. "Our overall level of player within the program is higher, but we had some really high-end guys last year," Hubbard said. "The discrepancy between the high-end players and those who were developing was pretty big. This year, I think the gap has closed, but I'm not sure how many high-end guys we have yet." Confident About The Future Hubbard believes NC State should be competing for the national cham- pionship every season, and the past two campaigns have proved the pro- gram is headed in the right direction. At the same time, a near-complete roster overhaul this offseason may take some time to jell on the pitch. The Wolfpack stood 1-1-2 head- ing into its ACC opener Sept. 5 against visiting Virginia Tech. From Hubbard's perspective, the offseason work he and his staff did this year will lay the groundwork for the next run to the Col- lege Cup. Whether that's this year or in the coming seasons, however, is still to be determined. "I feel good about this core, at least for the next couple of years, being a good group to build something special with again," Hub- b a rd s a i d . " T h e talent is there this year to figure out how quickly we can get it together and get back to where we were." T h e Wo l f p a c k had to pivot this offseason. Its strat- egy of leaning on the transfer portal for instant-impact players wasn't as fruit- ful as it had been the past two years. And while those additions led to success at the national level, Hubbard wasn't willing to overspend on a handful of players, in part because he views big disparities in player compensation as harmful to team morale. "I'm trying to spread out the money that we have to build the best possible team with the best possible people, and trust in our process and system with how we've gone about things," he said. "But, certainly, we lost out on some pretty talented players in the transfer portal to other programs." Hubbard is banking on his system pro- ducing success once again. After the past two seasons, there's no reason to believe it won't yield another quality season with packed crowds at Dail Soccer Field. ■ " I feel good about this core, at least for the next couple of years, being a good group to build something special with again. The talent is there this year to figure out how quickly we can get it together and get back to where we were. " Head coach Marc Hubbard