Collegiate Times

Tech senior defender/midfielder James Gilson goes shoulder to shoulder with NC State's Romulo Manzano during Sunday's game.

Rebounding from its third loss of the season, which it suffered on Wednesday, the men's soccer team defeated No. 16 North Carolina State 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Field.

The win was the program's first against a ranked opponent since upsetting No. 2 Connecticut 1-0 in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

"I think for the first time this season we got the positive end," said Michael Brizendine, head coach of the men's soccer team. "When we had these many opportunities against other opponents like South Florida and American who we've faced this season, we couldn't capitalize."

Both teams remained scoreless until the 80th minute of play when Tech sophomore forward Emmanuel Akogyeram scored off a corner kick from junior midfielder Clarke Bentley.

"It's nice today that we scored off a corner (kick), considering we had 14 of them," Brizendine said. "We put some nice things together and did a good job defensively."

Three of the defenders who saw playing time in Sunday's contest, freshmen David Fiorello and Gregory Cochrane and senior Antony Moulds, are new additions to the program this season.

"We were continually able to press them and not sit back in our own half, and if you go into that mode, anything can happen," Brizendine said.

A minute after the Hokies took the lead, junior defender James Shupp fouled Wolfpack midfielder Alan Sanchez in the box, setting up a penalty kick for the Wolfpack.

Making a last-second dive, senior goalkeeper Brendan Dunn was able to deflect the low shot from Sanchez and preserve the lead.

In his second shutout this season, Dunn saved four shots, two of which were from Sanchez. All of Dunn's saves came in the second half.

In the 85th minute, Shupp sealed the upset for the Hokies, giving his team a two-goal lead by netting a cross from redshirt junior midfielder Charlie Campbell for his second goal of the season.

Despite being up two goals, Brizendine could not rest until the final whistle sounded.

"North Carolina State is full of juniors and seniors and has some very good all-conference players and potential players of the year," Brizendine said. "Until the final whistle blew, I wasn't going to rest because I knew they could score quickly."

The Hokies outshot the Wolfpack 13-11 on the day. Shupp led Tech with four shots while Akogyeram, who came off the bench, contributed with two. Of Tech's 13 shots, 10 of them came in the second half of play.

Now 3-3-2 overall and 2-0-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Hokies turn their attention to the No. 6 Wake Forest Demon Deacons who visit Blacksburg on Friday night at 7 p.m.

"They're a very good team," Brizendine said. "We are going to have our work cut out for us and are going to have to train hard. We'll enjoy the win today, and then we'll begin to prepare. They beat us 8-2 last year, so we're going to need to build off of that. I think today was a good starting point."