The Wolfpacker

July 2014 - Football Preview

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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136 ■ THE WOLFPACKER five home runs tied for second most on the squad, and his .414 on-base percentage and 42 runs scored were both second as well. He also showed his athleticism by going 8 for 9 on stolen base attempts. Austin was selected as a third-team All- American by Baseball America and was picked in the fourth round of the MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox. ■ Most Improved Team Head coach Braden Holloway deserves a lot of credit for turning around the swim- ming program at NC State. In his first two years, he changed the men's program from an off-the-radar team to a top-15 finisher na- tionally. In year three, the women's program came around to show similar improvement. After not being a factor at nationals in previous seasons, the women's swimming team came in 16th place at the NCAA Championships March 20-22 in Minneapo- lis. That was the best finish for the program since they were 15th in 1983. The men's swimmers finished 13th at their championships this year. That meant for the first time in school history, both the men and women's swimming pro- grams finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships. ■ Best Men's Team Win In a game that NC State absolutely needed to have, the men's basketball squad upset second-seeded and No. 11-ranked Syracuse 66-63 in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tour- nament March 14 in Greensboro, N.C. After the NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed that NC State was the last team picked for the Big Dance, it is hard to imagine how the Wolfpack would have been in the tournament had they not beaten the Orange. T.J. Warren led all scor- ers with 28 points, and fifth-year senior center Jordan Vandenberg provided a spark of his own with 10 points. The game was a thriller that tested the cardiac health of NCSU fans. The Pack led 52-44 before Syracuse went on a 12-2 run to take a 59-57 lead with 3:41 to go. That was Syracuse's first lead of the second half. NC State responded with a 9-4 run to retake the lead, but the Wolfpack had to sweat out six straight misfired shot at- tempts, including four three-pointers, by Syracuse in the final 26 seconds before coming away with the win. ■ Best Women's Team Win The Wolfpack made it two for two reach- ing the NCAA Tournament in softball un- der second-year head coach Shawn Ry- chcik. State was selected as the second seed in the Athens Region — playing at Georgia, the SEC champion and deserving host. The Bulldogs were ranked seventh in the country and received the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. After the Pack defeated UAB 4-0 in its first game, State earned the right to face Georgia next. Earlier in the season, UGA had shut out NCSU 8-0 in a showcase tournament in Florida. This time around, NC State was up to the task. Twice NCSU took one-run leads only to have Georgia tie it. The Pack responded for good in the top of the sixth when senior Leah Jones earned a bases-loaded walk to put NCSU up 3-2. State put two more crucial insurance runs across in the seventh to lead 5-2. Those last runs would be the difference in a 5-4 win. This was the first time NC State started a regional with two wins without a loss. Georgia, though, would get the last laugh by coming back to defeat NC State in a doubleheader to knock the Wolfpack out in the double-elimination formatted regional. ■ Best Upset Win The ACC is the premier conference in the country in women's soccer. After national champion UCLA, the next four teams in the final coaches' poll were all from the ACC. Four more would be ranked in the top 25, meaning nearly a third of the top 25 came from the league. Included in that group was Wake Forest, which finished the year ranked No. 21 after a 12-7-2 record. One of those defeats came to NC State in Raleigh on Halloween night in the final game of the Pack's season. Playing in her last career contest, senior Meagan Proper tied the score at 1-1 in the 17th minute after the Deacons grabbed an early goal. Rising junior Brittany Stanko put NCSU up 2-1 in the 47th minute, and rising redshirt sophomore keeper Macken- zie Stelljes made the score hold up. The victory marked NC State's first win over a ranked ACC opponent since toppling No. 14 Virginia in 2009 by a similar 2-1 score. ■ Junior catcher Brett Austin was perhaps the most consistent performer for the baseball team this season, leading the Pack in batting average (.344), hits (74) and triples (five). PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP 134-137.Year End Superlatives.indd 136 6/26/14 4:51 PM

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