Soccer and the New Year

This episode covers from NC State pro sports news to the upcoming soccer seasons!

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Host

Logan Brumley

What is In The Den?

"In The Den" with host Logan Brumley covers everything from the NC State Wolfpack's NCAA, intramural and club sports. "In The Den" is a podcast from WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 at NC State University.

00:00
Logan Brumley
Hello and welcome to WKNC's official sports podcast in a den. I do have a lot of general news to go over today, especially at the pro levels, but today we're going to be focusing more on previews for the upcoming women and men's soccer season. Since the women's are about a week away and the men's are about a month, I figured it'd be a good time to start getting into the 2026, 2027 academic year for sports content. So get your headphones on and let's get straight to it. We're going to start off with the NBA summer week that wrapped up about a week ago. I had my week off at the time, but a lot of things were kind of determined with this summer week, especially for the NC State rookies. Let's see.

01:00
Logan Brumley
Houston Rockets, they had Quadir Copeland and former 2024 March Madness run forward Ben Middlebrooks. And the Orlando Magic went, I think, the same about 3 and 2 and had former Michigan State and NC State alumni Tre Holloman. But how did they do? Trey Hallman, he's probably going to be someone who does stay in the G League. He only really played five minutes throughout their five games, averaging just two points and two assists per five minutes. So, I mean, it's a little. It's clean, it's efficient for five minutes. But at a level where I feel like the summer league is almost in the middle of like the G League and NBA not having a lot of men's does kind of feel like certifies you as a G league player.

01:56
Logan Brumley
But I think he'll definitely get some reps. Just from the short time we've seen, he could be someone that gradually gets it over time and could become a factor for their roster. And for a G League team that finished first in the, you know, G League and finished in the semifinals, I think he's going to be a pretty good contribution for this squad. Another player who I think is another player who's going to be spending a lot of time in the G League for this year is the Houston Rockets. Ben Middlebrooks. He played about three games, you know, the first three games, and he didn't really impress. He averaged about seven minutes a game coming off the bench, kind of near the bottom of the depth chart. You got about 0.67 points in those three games, totaling about 2 points.

02:56
Logan Brumley
But he did get some good rebounds. He had a game. His third game, he had four rebounds and totaled about 1.3 a game. But he did have some Foul trouble, getting about 2.3 fouls a game, which I know isn't a lot, but for only having a small number of minutes per game, you would hope that he would be more highly efficient in that regard. I will say in college he did have about like three fouls a game. So, this could just be part of his style of play, but I'm not too strongly inclined to believe that. I think that maybe he just isn't ready for the NBA level. I mean he did spend a year abroad; he played pretty well there. I think he'll have the same kind of thing going on and albeit limited minutes with the G League squad.

03:51
Logan Brumley
And we'll see with time whether or not he can find his way to a two way contract or even a more permanent contract with the Houston Rockets or with another team. I just, I was not really impressed by his G League performance. One player I was impressed though was the biggest NC State offseason acquisition or like, you know, the biggest rookie. And his name is Quadir Copeland. You know, he played like forward wing for the NC State squad and for the Houston Rockets. He played in all five games averaging about 29 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists with a 1.67 assist to turnover ratio, which I know I'm throwing a lot at you at once, but you know, for being a guy who started every game and not being a primary starting guard, he definitely had some efficient minutes.

05:01
Logan Brumley
In that fifth game, their consolation game, he led the team in points. He had highly efficient shooting. Only having one game where he had below 50% shooting at 37.5. Let's see his system turnover. I mean that was something that was going to be an issue was turnovers and at first, I mean he had three turnovers in this first game. They cut it down to zero and just kind of definitely had an issue with. Yeah, I mean there's definitely something there with about two to three a game. I mean that's more than you would like. But I do think that he was able to find his place with this score and efficiency, which is something that was always highly praise for him as a prospect going into the draft and especially, you know, with his height and his skill set.

05:56
Logan Brumley
I think again he could be a guy who takes advantage of that two way contract he has and spends some time, you know, maybe starting off this season at G League and then finding his way onto the roster more permanently. He could be the guy behind Bruce Thornton on that Rockets death chart. Because I mean right now I think I've brought this up before but Fred VanVleet he's on his way out. Amand Thompson okay, he's not listed on a def chart yet but I'm sure he will find his way. If not him, Bruce Thornton. But we'll see. We'll see. I have faith in him. He's shown a lot of promise in this G League performance. Best of luck to him on his one year contract. See Other notable news I have some MLB draftees who did not resign.

07:01
Logan Brumley
There are some players who are juniors who have not officially signed onto the team as of right now. Right now on the mlb like undrafted or. Yeah, the mlb. Like minor league player profiles. I do not see the 3rd round pick Jacob Dudan or the 11th round pick Chris McHugh having been signed by their respective teams. I think Dudan, it makes sense that he hasn't signed yet just because of injury, but I think that's something that maybe there's a deadlock on like how much he's worth. His sign a bonus is 865,000 with a 988,000 pick value. So maybe he's trying to push for that 1 million. I don't really have the inside scoop on that.

08:00
Logan Brumley
Maybe I should Chris McHugh that could just be something where, you know, these late round picks don't really get signed as much and who knows, it could be something where he just does not get signed because they weren't really they didn't want to sign up for the value that pick had. Or maybe they were just trying to phone it in with that pick. But that could lead to some potential for both of those players to return. I think if Dudan returns with that third round pick it would be interesting to see just because I think it's going to be higher expectations for him especially I mean I don't know if he could get higher than like preseason All American. That might be the way to do that with Chris McHugh. I guess we'll just have to wait and see for that holdout situation.

09:02
Logan Brumley
One unsigned undrafted player that got signed recently from what I've seen is Heath Andrews. He was signed to the Cleveland Guardians. He was one of the pitchers from last year who didn't really have that great of a health or he wasn't there as much. But when he showed up he did have his flashes again. I mean these undrafted players aren't really players you expect to go to the mlb. But I mean if he can make Triple A, that'll be really good for him. And I Think he's assigned to their rookie league as well. So he's a door. But everyone else who is drafted, they are already on their way to their rookie weeks or I think they're all in the rookie weeks. I can't think of anyone who is at the single A level as of right now. No.

10:05
Logan Brumley
Yeah, they're all in their rookie leagues, so. Hey, that's good. See the last piece of news I have. The Arizona Cardinals hold out with former NC State quarterback Jacoby Brissett has ended. They have officially gave him like 15 million for this next year, which can go up to 21 million with incentives, which I think is a pretty fair deal. I mean, he at least statistically was very solid and I think he definitely kept the offense from falling apart even though it wasn't anything too special underneath him. I mean, just think about, I mean, Kyler Murray was out the door. They didn't really have a running back. I mean, the only thing their offense really had was a Marvin Harrison Jr. That wasn't really up to par. And Trey McBride, who is more one of the better tight ends in the league.

11:03
Logan Brumley
So I think maybe having him as a continuity for the starting quarterback will be fine. I mean, this is a team that is ultimately contending for the number one overall pick, so I really shouldn't expect much. I'm checking the depth chart now. Let's see. Yeah, he's listed as the starter. I think that's where he's going to stay. Maybe Carson Beck will get some reps in. But yeah, I think it's good for the Cardinals to have him. Even though they're going to continue to suck. I think it might be good enough to keep an eye on that first overall pick. I think it'll probably be the jets getting their first overall pick. I mean, come on now, that's it. For all the kind of various pro sports news that I have, I'm going to start with the women's soccer preview in just a bit.

12:04
Logan Brumley
So NC State had a rough start to the Gary Higgard years. You know, if you don't remember, he was a guy that we took out of ECU after they had some success in their conference. But in this first year, they went 5, 9 and 4, which is good for about 10th in the ACC. I mean, despite that, they did have a 4, 4 and 2 record, win, loss, tie, which is, it's not too shabby. I mean, that's, I think 500. But you know, it's just the ACC women's soccer is very Top heavy with like Florida State, Stanford, UNC and then having a rough out of conference schedule where I think they lost like five straight head into the ACC was just going to kill them from the very start.

12:56
Logan Brumley
But they head into 2026 hoping to find some way that they can step forward and be a more productive team. Some notable graduates and players who are out the door. They didn't really lose anyone to the transfer portal, but they did lose Brooklyn Holt, she has graduated. And goalkeeper Olivia Predipus, who she was decent with the load that she had. But they're both graduated out the door. We gotta figure out how to replace them essentially. Thankfully. I mean as I mentioned Gary Higgins, he's pretty good at retaining players. They were able to get two transfers in who could essentially be their replacements. [Ellie Breech] is a goalkeeper from Pitt. She holds like all time safe records with that school. So that's a really good addition to have for no grad transfer.

13:56
Logan Brumley
And then another defender, Carly Montgomery from Texas, who was bottom of the depth chart over at Texas. Sure. But I mean it's better to have it than to not. Especially since the this defensive front is very young and there's just really no real confidence in it. I mean, proud of us. You did have a 72% save rate, but the team still gave up nearly 1.61 goals a game, which is near the bottom of the league. And I think that's just because it's just, you know, very high workload. You can't really expect a goalie to be accurate 100% of the time, especially when you're not really given much work in the defensive end. There are some starters that are returning. Alex Mohr, Yuna Aoki, Mackenzie Smith, they were all the main pieces of that struggle in defending core.

14:59
Logan Brumley
They're going to be back for a lot of their final years here. I think Smith is the, you know, the youngest one on the crew who I think is definitely going to start that. That fourth defender spot does have a lot of solid options in the freshman and in the transfer class. So we'll see how the rotation at defense works out for the squad. I think they're definitely going to have to utilize that a bit more just because I mean I get you only have so many substitutions and you want to hold that off for your offensive players who try to get more momentum on that end because I mean that's how you win is scoring, but at the same time that's how you lose is by giving up goals.

15:41
Logan Brumley
And they can't really give up goals like they did last year, especially since Earl. She's really good, but she was not as good as platypus was last year. Correction, I am completely brain dead. I don't know how I got this information. I must have been looking up a different goalie. But she only made two appearances last year and she's a senior this year. So I mean I think she'll probably be the starting goalie. She does have experience in the acc. She might be someone who is really good for the team, but she is not like an all time pick goalie. I think that was the player over her that I was thinking of when I was writing that down. Let's see. But I mean they do have a lot of other goalkeepers. They have one that came from a Spanish squad.

16:51
Logan Brumley
She's gonna be a freshman. Amor Lee Martin Esteban. Who could find her way into a role. I think it's gonna be very similar to last year where. Or not at all similar to last year actually where they're just gonna have so many goalies to work with. And. So for women's soccer they had a rough start to the Higgard years. If you don't remember. He came from ECU as the. What's it called? Back up coach. No, not a backup coach. He was the team that helped ECU become a competitive team in their conference and made a few appearances in the NCAA tournament. But they had a rough year. They went 5, 9, 4, which is about 10th in the ACC. Despite that they did have about a 500 record going 4, 4 and 2.

17:58
Logan Brumley
I just think what did them in was a very top heavy ACC conference as well as an abysmal like really tough out of conference schedule where they lost like I think five straight. And it really doomed them from the start. But I mean maybe there's a chance of a turnaround here. We just have to kind of see how things work out because they did lose a lot of key defensive players in a defense that was not very elite. They lost Brooklyn Holt and Olivia Predipus, a defender and goalie respectively. However, they weren't really able to lose people in the transfer portal, which is nice. And they got players to replace them in that same. In those same respective positions. They got a transfer from Texas named Carly Montgomery, she's a senior. And then a goalie, Ellie Breach from pit and she. Let's see.

19:05
Logan Brumley
Trying to see. She has had some really good experience with the pit. She. I'm sorry, I gotta look through her stats again. Pits all time weeders and goal like win leader and goalie she is the all time winner. She is top 10 in their school with saves as well as say percentage. So she is an all time goalie with this squad. Even though she's kind of been stepping down in productivity since her junior year when she won 17 games in 2023, 2024, she got seven wins and well, she is the all time winner there. I don't think the team really won too much there. I mean she's going to be a good goalie and I think she'll be the starter for this season. And I don't expect a big drop off in quality from Pradipus to breach.

20:16
Logan Brumley
It's just something we got to keep an eye out for. And Carly Montgomery, she has been kind of a backup defender for Texas, which you know isn't really a bad thing. I mean Texas is a respectable sports program. But regardless, it's good to have some more experience and someone who could definitely come in and be part of rotation for defense. That helped give up 1.61 goals per game despite a solid 72% save rate. I think it was just a matter of workload essentially. Some notable defenders who are going to be returning, Yuka Aoki, Alex Moore, they're kind of in their last years. McKenty Smith, also in their last year. There's a lot of upperclassmen defense. And so you hope that all their experience in another year in this system could help to create a more productive defense.

21:20
Logan Brumley
But if not, I do expect a rotation of kind of that fourth defensive spot. They do have a couple of solid freshmen coming in. They have four freshmen that they've recruited. Some see Mackenzie Harris, Nina Duquette, Capinci Perry, Taylor Kleinschmidt. Expect those players to kind of have their names called, especially if this team kind of continues at the pace they are right now. I think it would definitely be good to get some of these young defenders in, not necessarily push for a title, but push for some kind of stability at the center at this defensive position. I guess maybe they could. The offense has kind of lost a lot of their identity since their NCAA appearance.

22:07
Logan Brumley
I mean if you don't remember from last year, they lost a couple of their goal like as soon as they made the tournament, they just kind of bled players. I mean, yeah, the coach was fired, that was probably part of it. But the only player here that was like consistently scoring was Jade Bordelo. But she returns for I think her last year with this squad. I don't know if she's gonna grad transfer or not, but see, yeah, All ACC second team last year. I think she's gonna continue that. She got 10 goals, she hit double digit goals. That's pretty good for us, the striker. But I can't think of anyone else who's going to be a more pertinent scorer behind her. See some other Fords I think did get some reps. See Daisy Duda is someone that I was a fan of.

23:05
Logan Brumley
I think she is going to take a step up. Antonia Mazziotto also got some decent minutes but this is also kind of an older forward class who isn't really super talented. So it's about trying to get some of these younger Fords in like Kennedy Eva-Buckner, Katie Richter. They do have some good players. It just kind of figuring out their fit on the roster again. I think this could be something where there's a lot of. I mean there can't really be rotation in player like during game but I guess during starting lineups we could see some moving around. Especially as it becomes less and less likely for the team to make a conference tournament or even the NCAA tournament. What else can I say? Midfielder. They have more quality players than they don't in my personal opinion.

24:05
Logan Brumley
They bring back all the starters who I think were pretty good for the team. Mana Nakata was someone I liked. I liked Mary Frances Symmes. She's gonna be returning. They got a pretty good recruit in Madison. Castine who played for the NC Courage like their youth development. Fein Leijdekker is another player I like. She I think is. Yeah, she has eight points. Nataka has eight which are both kind of top on the teams. I mean we saw flashes of her. She's gonna head into her senior year where maybe she could kind of push through and get something big for this squad. Only time will tell. They don't really have any big recruits at midfielder though.

24:52
Logan Brumley
But I think that is going to be the stable part and I think having a stable midfield is going to be really important because you know their versatility on offense and defense dependent on their formation. So this roster doesn't really say a lot of promise but it does say a lot of promise for the further future and just not this future right now. I mean the death blow as I mentioned before, really tough conference. Maybe this year could be an easier track. They only had two NCAA appearing teams that made it last year and zero power conference teams that are out of conference schedule compared to three tourney appearances in two power conference teams last year. Some notable home matchups to make sure to kind of come by and watch to Support the Lady Wolfpack. They have their season opener August 8th against Liberty.

25:50
Logan Brumley
August 23rd they host an NCAA tournament team, and they visit high Point, which is the other, you know, NCAA tournament team. Their ACC home opener is against smu. However, their outright ACC opener is at Florida State. They travel both to Duke and Wake Forest. They don't have UNC on the schedule. October 8th Breech faces off against her former team vs Pitt and her home finale is October 15th versus Syracuse. So make sure to check them out. I mean, they could surprise this year if this veteran corps with another year of the coach could build upon a pretty abysmal last season and maybe we could see some glimpses of a future where the team has a lot more talent and success coming their way. Let's see how did the men's look?

26:50
Logan Brumley
I mean last year was the year for the record, but Donovan Phillips was really great for this offense. They had a lot of good defensive players and they were able to in a very tumultuous NCAA tournament, they were able to switch through to the finals where they lost in overtime to the Huskies. They were just so close to victory and now as several players had a pro nt, State must scramble to try to not necessarily build off, but try to stay at the form they're at.

27:21
Logan Brumley
Logan Erb, left for the Houston Dynamo Nikola Markovich, D.C. united Justin McClain, also - Erb Goalie Markovich, defender McClain defender to Atlanta Calum Tommy, defender to the Portland Timbers Isaac Heffes, defender drafted by Crude Donovan Phillips he was drafted last year to the Colorado Rapids and there was this interesting thing where it's kind of like they held the rights to him, but he had an extra year so he returned and he most recently made his debut for the Colorado Rapids and also plays for the St. Lucia's national team. Even though they didn't make it to the FIFA World cup, he did score a goal for them and with him being one of the better scorers for NC State's history, that's always nice to see.

28:10
Logan Brumley
And Tag Healy with went to the United Soccer League with Fort Wayne, which is I think close to home in New Hampshire for him. Newcomers Josh Gordon, defender from Kentucky. He had some starting reps with them. Matthias Rhomrens, a goalkeeper from Queens and Hayato Takayama, midfielder who scored a lot of goals in the JUCO level at Iowa Western. Some freshmen. They got another goalkeeper who could potentially replace them, another midfielder. I'm going to focus more just like the rosters now. The big issue is going to be recovering for their defense and just trying to find a new offensive core, it feels like they're going to have to start from scratch. Erb was really good with only 13 goals given up in 23 games, which is one of the better ones in the entire NCAA.

29:07
Logan Brumley
They do have one return of defensive starter Riley Maloney who I think will come in as the head honcho of this defense which I think is going to be really good for him and I think would definitely be helpful with him trying to get into the MLS as well. The goalkeeper, there's a lot of fluctuation there with most likely it's going to be Samuel Terranova. He's been with the team for a few years. He got reps last year Unless if Rohmrens really aspires something to start, which he probably won't because NC State did blow out Queens when we played them last year. We like him on the roster. There's a lot of young players on the defense who haven't had too many reps so I think it would definitely be a struggle going into it.

29:54
Logan Brumley
But Josh Gordon, he's a really solid defender from Kentucky. I like putting faith in Maloney and I think this defense, although it takes some time, I think will be just fine under Hubbard offense they don't really have a primary goal scorer although they do have a very well distribution of assists. I mean no one on that team was really elite at it except for Healy but you know your midfielders and forwards were able to provide and I think that primary score by committee could be helpful for the offense to stay flexible and to keep trying to get some wins in. Let's see who's returning. You may have Aiden Payne. He's the most experienced returner. 3 Goals, 5 assists.

30:51
Logan Brumley
I could see this team relying more on offensive midfielders unless we see a step up in any of our forwards performances especially Let me take a look again at the roster. I think Aiden Payne is probably the most notable player in this regards. Frankie DeFrancesco came off the bench a lot and he was decent so he's a guy who I think is probably going to come in and be a starter forward but you know this is a team that is a very midfielder heavy offense and they probably will use the formation that's more heavy in that direction. A lot of them are back. Tyler Canton, Brandon Peebles made first team all Carolina league during spring play so that inspires a lot of confidence because it's all of the North Carolina soccer teams competing against each other and they played pretty well.

31:44
Logan Brumley
I like Takayama as a prospect. Caden Tolentino has experience. So if all of these players come up and are advertised in the little bit of playing time that they got, I feel very confident with this squad. And our schedule doesn't seem too tough either, if you really take a look at it. The odd conference is easy. Only one of those teams made the NCAA region the year before, and four of their eight ACC opponents made the ANC tournament as well, which feels like smooth sandwich to postseason.

32:30
Logan Brumley
I mean, worst case scenario, if they're not as good as last year, where they're like a fringe and say that they all get beat by teams who made the NCAA tournaments, I think they'll still be good enough to make it to the ACC tournament where maybe they have another big run to, you know, spark in them. You know, again, only time would tell on that account, but I don't even think it would put them at the bottom of the league if they went 4 and 4, put them about in the middle like, you know, where UNC and Virginia Tech were last year. What else was I going to say?

33:16
Logan Brumley
All right, I like how easy the out of conference schedule is and I like how it's kind of blended in with the ACC schedule just because I think it'll get more time to work through some of the rougher parts of figuring out who's coming up and who isn't. And I think it'll be good for the team to have that weekish break in the middle of their schedule. We'll go into that in a minute. Some notable home matchups Their home debut is August 20th against Coastal. September 5th is their ACC debut against VTech. September 10th they have Duke. September 25th is Wake Forest. Let's see. I mean, those are some notable home teams.

34:06
Logan Brumley
And then at the end of their road trip with Louisville Greensboro, October 11, they play that one team on their conference schedule or out of conference schedule that made the NCAA tournament in University of Missouri Kansas City, which I feel fine about. And then while this is an away game, they are going to close their season away at UNC with the ACC tournament happening during the early November, like right before Thanksgiving break. So I, I feel really good about the schedule, the squad. It may not inspire confidence for most players.

34:48
Logan Brumley
It does inspire a lot of confidence for me. I think they're going to be pretty good this year. Hopefully they can make another push and maybe even a higher seed that kind of feels more certain about their chances of getting far, especially since, as I mentioned, last year was very crazy. I think NC State at 15th, was the highest seed to make the final or the Final Four. But, I mean, we'll see. Best of luck to the men's and women's this year. I'm very excited to watch them and see how they do this year. See who stands out for the future, both of these squads, and what can they really capitalize on. But that's pretty much all I have for you guys today. Have a good day and go pack.