Growing Pains

Pregame weekly previews with Mens Soccer vs FIU, Womens Soccer against WCU/Utah, and Volleyball in the Summit Hospitality Tourney right here in Raleigh!

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Creators and Guests

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.

Logan Brumley 0:00
Hello and welcome to WKNC official sports podcast in the den. Today, we'll be doing a review of all the games that are coming up this week. I did the ECU football earlier, but we have men's soccer versus Florida International Women's soccer with Utah and Western Carolina, and we'll finish with the women's volleyball season opener in the summit hospitality tournament.

Logan Brumley 0:27
So you know what? Let's get right into this. Get your headphones on, and let's get straight to it. Let's begin with our ranked

Logan Brumley 0:38
men's soccer program.

Logan Brumley 0:41
So they've only played two games so far. The season opener against queens, North Carolina, they took care of business with uh, two goals, one for our star player, Donovan Phillips, and from defender Niko Marinikovic. But with Wof-Wolford, they dominate six and 0 included a hat trick for said star player, Donovan Phillips, defense lead, they've been able to stop their opponents from shooting since their players only got really four shots in and one shot on goal in both games total,

Logan Brumley 1:14
they have had a bit of foul trouble, but has been mostly on the offensive end and the goalie, Logan Erb had only one total safe, but considering workload, that's about 100%

Logan Brumley 1:27
efficiency.

Logan Brumley 1:30
Defenders, Riley Malnoley and Niko Marinikovich have been carrying that load, and offensively, the teams have shown the efficiency that was expected of them, as they have gotten 25

Logan Brumley 1:43
shots on goal out of 49 total shots, for about 50% which is pretty good.

Logan Brumley 1:50
Donovan Phillips and Taig Healy have taken most of the offensive workload when it comes to total goals and assists, those two are generally the leaders respectively. But everyone's had opportunities to score for this team,

Logan Brumley 2:06
I would say, take the success with the grain of salt. They did play Division Two and low level Southland conference team, but this is a really good start for them, because it just shows really the potential that they have the you know, really play lights out offense and really suffocate in defense, even if you know, fouls are a common result.

Logan Brumley 2:34
All right,

Logan Brumley 2:36
so who are they playing this Friday? They're playing Florida, Atlantic, not Atlantic International, or as we call them, FIU the Panthers.

Logan Brumley 2:47
They have a the history. Florida International has made it to the second round of the NC NC double A tournament for three of the past four years,

Logan Brumley 2:58
their men's soccer team, over the season, dominated against Omaha, but then fell back down to earth against Creighton, giving up a one zero and one record. So one tie, one win against Omaha, they were down on one due to a penalty kick, but would dominate in the second half of four total goals in the game against Creighton, they were slowed down and had a one on one tie. While their offense is efficient,

Logan Brumley 3:28
they're looking to limit their eight yellow flags and potential penalty shots that could come from it. However, they have looked dominant on defense, as their opponents only have seven shots on goals and 17 total shots throughout two games.

Logan Brumley 3:44
Despite a lot of transfers on the team, Florida International has shown that they gel well together, and it'll be a tough outcome in Friday night.

Logan Brumley 3:52
Some notable players include Eduardo Mustere, who leads in shots on goal, goals and blocks.

Logan Brumley 4:00
Scott Neilhas three assists in the goal against Creighton

Logan Brumley 4:06
and

Logan Brumley 4:07
goalie, Nigel Van Haraven

Logan Brumley 4:12
Junior notched two saves total as a goalie, which

Logan Brumley 4:18
I guess isn't crazy impressive,

Logan Brumley 4:22
but it is,

Logan Brumley 4:25
you know, with how well the opponents have been getting in. I mean,

Logan Brumley 4:32
it's good enough to pass and to have a defense that is manageable.

Logan Brumley 4:40
You know, they do, I think have to rely a little bit on their offensive production. But they got a lot of good players with, you know, myster, Neo Pascual capriotti, Enrique mistoli, I think they had that one guy that was drafted into the MLS and he returned.

Logan Brumley 4:55
What's his name? Again, it's Michael.

Logan Brumley 5:00
Apain

Logan Brumley 5:03
so they got a good roster. They got some players who, although there are a lot of transfers from smaller schools, they all seem to gel together pretty well.

Logan Brumley 5:12
For the wolf pack to win Friday night, they just need to keep that good momentum going. Both teams seem to have foul trouble, so playing a clean game is important to limit, you know, penalty shot opportunities or any corner kick go opportunities for their opponents. And I think this is something that both teams will go for. There

Logan Brumley 5:33
has to be a balance between aggressive offense and clean offense, and that's something I think the wolf pack are going to stress coming into this next game is going to be discipline this. You know what? We got to shore up, and we got to make sure that we're ready for next week when we play UNC.

Logan Brumley 5:50
So this is the perfect game to kind of clear out all of the kinks that kind of be like, All right, fun, silver. Let's get real dedicated to this.

Logan Brumley 6:02
It would be really cool if they could reduce at a similar level offensively as it did with Queens and Wofford. But I doubt that's going to happen at that level, even though,

Logan Brumley 6:13
if I use defense is far from perfect,

Logan Brumley 6:18
and this will be something that's a wake up call for the wolf packs defense, as you know, in that first game, score full four goals and one half is just something you did not want as a soccer team,

Logan Brumley 6:35
And

Logan Brumley 6:37
as long as they are able to

Logan Brumley 6:41
just do enough to manage the workload of all the players I have listed before, and they should be able to do just fine. And I do believe they'll win, but it'll probably be something closer to like a 3-2, 2-1,

Logan Brumley 6:56
where it's gonna be they'll probably have to kind of edge it out a little bit,

Logan Brumley 7:00
but that's all for that review. This Friday, Florida International. Go check it out.

Logan Brumley 7:06
Our next game will be

Logan Brumley 7:09
the Utah and Western Carolina double header for women's soccer. All right, as I have been doing a lot of this lately, but we're going to start going back to women's soccer. Ladies and gentlemen,

Logan Brumley 7:24
lost against Michigan State and Davidson.

Logan Brumley 7:31
They had shot their opponents, I think, in both games, and ended up going scoreless in both.

Logan Brumley 7:39
Proud to pass had one safe, compared to three goals to Michigan State, and she did not have a goal.

Logan Brumley 7:46
She didn't have a safe. And Davidson, it was eventually, you know, kind of substituted for

Logan Brumley 7:56
Emily Earls,

Logan Brumley 7:59
who notched two saves in the second

Logan Brumley 8:04
half. Let's see. Well,

Logan Brumley 8:07
let's start with Michigan State.

Logan Brumley 8:09
Defensively, we weren't able to stop Michigan State

Logan Brumley 8:13
with two goals given up in the first half and one in the second

Logan Brumley 8:19
most of our defenders with Aoki Holt Moore and Smith, they all played 90 minutes. One he hold really not had like a notable statistic, and

Logan Brumley 8:30
I could see a shake up and who could go out and play defensively in the future. In the Michigan State game, Maddie Miller went to team in total shots, but no one had more than one shot on goal

Logan Brumley 8:46
and then four yellow cards. Was rough.

Logan Brumley 8:52
They weren't really I

Logan Brumley 8:54
said they were kind of the wrong kind of offense, like they were offending the other team, but they weren't scoring on the other team, I think we're

Logan Brumley 9:04
getting the same amount of protection from our death as we are our veterans, especially when you look at this next game.

Logan Brumley 9:12
Really we only were able to get a chance to score were from substitute Daisy Duda and Emily Wong were the only ones who really had notable performance, even death piece.

Logan Brumley 9:24
Erica Roberts, I think she had three shot on goals, which the entire team had five.

Logan Brumley 9:31
So that's, it's kind of getting a little ridiculous. I think there's definitely gonna be some roster shakeups.

Logan Brumley 9:39
I mean, it sucks to see

Logan Brumley 9:43
a lot of players who I thought were going to be good, like Jade, Bordeaux,

Logan Brumley 9:47
Mana Nantaka, Brooklyn, Holt, Olivia Pratapas,

Logan Brumley 9:52
things are just working out. They aren't working out,

Logan Brumley 9:57
and there's going to be a.

Logan Brumley 10:00
70 going to be a shake up coming up, especially since, I think the following week is when the,

Logan Brumley 10:07
you know, conference play starts to kick off. I'm always kind of worried about how it's going to go with conference play for this team.

Logan Brumley 10:15
They

Logan Brumley 10:18
So Western Carolina seems kind of like a middle of a row team with a lower

Logan Brumley 10:24
I guess, conference standing and schedule standing As of recording, they are one and two head into a tough

Logan Brumley 10:35
road. Schedule did not check the Lipscomb game. How did they do against Lipscomb.

Logan Brumley 10:46
I apologize, okay,

Logan Brumley 10:50
two, two draw,

Logan Brumley 10:53
which is not terrible. I mean, that just shows they're a lot better scoring than what I initially reported.

Logan Brumley 11:04
See, yeah, they're one and two and one now.

Logan Brumley 11:11
See, okay, there we go.

Logan Brumley 11:16
Some of their Notable players that I mentioned, Melissa, two goals for the team.

Logan Brumley 11:25
Sophia Goclaski has six shot on goals, which leads the team by a lot.

Logan Brumley 11:35
Lenne Trudelis the goalie, she managed to score a goal, and I think that first game they played,

Logan Brumley 11:42
but

Logan Brumley 11:45
she also amassed 10 saves versus

Logan Brumley 11:49
six. Go, okay, well, it wouldn't be 10 saves anymore. It is now up to 16 saves with

Logan Brumley 11:56
six goals against her for about 73% accuracy with

Logan Brumley 12:01
that said. I mean, they got no major strengths with no major weaknesses either. I think Lenne Trudel is a good goalie that I think could definitely slow down the pace for NC State offensively.

Logan Brumley 12:16
And I think that they do have players who can

Logan Brumley 12:20
get in and they have 43%

Logan Brumley 12:23
shot and goal record. So yes, I am a little bit worried about this game. I think kind of the big saving grace

Logan Brumley 12:33
for this team is the fact

Logan Brumley 12:37
that they are going to be on the road a lot. They had three straight games at home, and then they're going to be away for a lot of their schedule, including against NC State. So they'd be going

Logan Brumley 12:53
from Nashville back home, and it like Cullwohee and then to Raleigh, and then

Logan Brumley 13:00
it's

Logan Brumley 13:03
not going to be easy for this team to

Logan Brumley 13:10
figure a set out and to figure out how they are going To beat them.

Logan Brumley 13:15
Hopefully

Logan Brumley 13:17
the

Logan Brumley 13:21
hopefully the death pieces get, uh,

Logan Brumley 13:24
more minutes and more experience head into conference play again, I mentioned it time to find a future for this team and to stick to it. Because, I mean, if we can get any sort of star power, anything, it would be great. It would be really beneficial to

Logan Brumley 13:41
see just someone who can like in a man. So you got Donovan Phillips and Taig Healy, you just know they're gonna go out and they're gonna ball every night, and NC State just does not have that player.

Logan Brumley 13:54
I'm happy with what I've seen out of Nana mataka and Daisy Duda. I think those are probably the two players I'm happiest about but I still want to see the ball go into that dang net. It's not happening.

Logan Brumley 14:08
Hopefully throughout the week, we'll get to see a star who can actually contribute on offense or on defense. And

Logan Brumley 14:18
I don't think any position is really safe. I think even the defensive captain, I mean, Holt might be fine, but practice she's in trouble.

Logan Brumley 14:26
So she also needs a couple of good games to kind of prove that she still belongs in the starting rotation,

Logan Brumley 14:33
starting rotation as the starter.

Logan Brumley 14:38
I think I'll be there for that Western Carolina game

Logan Brumley 14:42
should be an easy opponent at a you know, where well for school. So they should win. They should win, but I don't know if they're gonna. I just don't know

Logan Brumley 14:55
Utah is on Friday

Logan Brumley 14:58
at you.

Logan Brumley 15:00
Wherever they are, like the City,

Logan Brumley 15:05
Utah would have played a game the day before against Utah State. I do not know

Logan Brumley 15:10
how that's gonna go.

Logan Brumley 15:14
Utah.

Logan Brumley 15:16
For a lot of games, I've seen it. I mean, they're good at out shooting their opponents by almost double the amount of shots and shots per goal against their opponents. I mean, they had played against a lower level, but even in their losses, like

Logan Brumley 15:31
when I lost Utah Valley, just Utah Valley's goalie, we a wolf, got 11 saves on her 11 shots on goal

Logan Brumley 15:41
when the other two games, you know, took care of business and they scored real strongly defensively, they're efficient enough to keep games getting out of hand, and a goal is able to keep up as well. On the goalie, Erin - not Erin Gibbs

Logan Brumley 16:02
mentioned their goal.

Logan Brumley 16:05
Hold on, who's Utah's goalie?

Logan Brumley 16:10
Uh, Mandy Haught. Oh,

Logan Brumley 16:14
dang it,

Logan Brumley 16:18
okay, I'll figure it out. Um, a little bit later,

Logan Brumley 16:24
so it's,

Logan Brumley 16:29
it sucks to see how

Logan Brumley 16:34
you toss another team that could potentially beat.

Logan Brumley 16:40
You know they could beat

Logan Brumley 16:43
NC State, just because they aren't absolutely horrible.

Logan Brumley 16:51
Some of the notable players, uh,

Logan Brumley 16:55
let's see. Erin Gibbs has the six assists of three games.

Logan Brumley 17:00
Um,

Logan Brumley 17:03
okay, no, no. Erin gives us a goalie. I put assist when I meant saves,

Logan Brumley 17:11
about a two thirds

Logan Brumley 17:14
accuracy. Grace, Watkin. Grace, Watkins has two assists to pair with Kelly Bullock and Julia Oka schools,

Logan Brumley 17:24
and I think their strategy in this game is just going to depend on their stretch, on if they win against Western Carolina or not. What do I mean? Well,

Logan Brumley 17:35
with a win versus Western Carolina, they should just work on the strengths that they discovered in that win, hopefully try to use it to exploit. Utah remembers anything that can differentiate themselves from what we've seen in the past two weeks. They should just try it out.

Logan Brumley 17:53
Seems that best case scenario would be to kind of keep a rotation of the flat, fresh, younger players and to kind of take advantage of the substitutions, to try to wear out Utah, especially since Utah scores a lot more in the second half compared to the first with a loss. I mean, I think Big changes are going to need to

Logan Brumley 18:16
happen. I'm not saying fire anyone, but I'm saying bench some people. Gary Higgins, you know, he's an experienced winning coach, but he the level that he's playing at now is different than what he's experienced with the AAC or Lenoir Rhyne in Division two. I'm not sure what the winning strategy will become, but you know, if they win, I'll probably post something Insta. I'm

Logan Brumley 18:40
far from an expert, some kind of clue as to what is missing from this team. It's, it's just like, you know, get the

Logan Brumley 18:48
play. You know, it seems like they're just kind of there to be there and are happy to kind of take the wins when they can, but they need to

Logan Brumley 18:57
go out there and score the ball and

Logan Brumley 19:02
play a little bit more aggressively on offense and, you know, take advantage of place and actually shoot well, I mean, I shoot pretty well getting shots on goal, but actually getting the ball into tricking a goalie, that's what I need to figure out defensively.

Logan Brumley 19:19
Just find a way to not let them kind of walk all over you and get multiple goals against you. If you can kind of

Logan Brumley 19:26
cut things down, I think even if,

Logan Brumley 19:30
if they only give up one goal in each of the two games, I think they could split it one in one.

Logan Brumley 19:38
I'm not sure, yeah, I'm not sure what else they can do, really. I just think it's time for a shake up. Get these younger players in. I'm happy with the minutes. Daisy, did us get in, for instance? Or

Logan Brumley 19:52
what's her name? Erica, I think. Erica Roberts, yeah. Erica Roberts, Emily Earls, i.

Logan Brumley 20:00
Just get some players in who could provide some life into this team, so they can just kind of just not be playing dead the whole time,

Logan Brumley 20:15
Western Carolina, Wednesday,

Logan Brumley 20:18
Utah, on Friday. We'll finish up with the volleyball Summit, hospitality tournament and some of the kind of notable agendas that I can see happening in this tournament, especially since it's kind of well, I mean, I'm not gonna spoil it. You're gonna hear about it in like 10 seconds. All right, I guess I'm kind of running my things a little quick. But

Logan Brumley 20:39
for the last part will be going over the

Logan Brumley 20:42
women's volleyball, Summit, hospitality tournament, and just kind of how easy of a schedule it is.

Logan Brumley 20:50
So and in in chronological order, Akron army green bay,

Logan Brumley 20:57
you know,

Logan Brumley 20:59
I guess Akron first, oh and two all time against us. They went 11 to 19 last season. Why did these their season debuts are going to be against us or against the other team in a bracket.

Logan Brumley 21:12
Last year, Akron had a bottom five defense when it comes to like kills and hits that were given up per set and blocks per set. They were

Logan Brumley 21:23
in the bottom five of every of those statistics, usually the fifth or fourth worst, but they were able to score efficiently enough to keep competitive. However, a lot of their starting players are gone. I mean, they're,

Logan Brumley 21:39
uh, the only kind of notable people who are returning are their

Logan Brumley 21:45
defensive, quote, unquote, dynamic duo with

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Martina Vellini, who is this their setter from Italy

Logan Brumley 21:56
with, who's second in aces per set for Her team. And then Vanessa Del Real who's the Libero, who leads to team and dig so they have some

Logan Brumley 22:08
defensive experience, star power of returning, but the only offensive player who's returning of any notoriety is Gabby Brissette. Who is she?

Logan Brumley 22:19
I think outside hitter

Logan Brumley 22:23
from Coral Springs Senior.

Logan Brumley 22:27
She is fifth when it comes to like total points scored per set. I mean, the top four are all gone, either graduated or transferred. She'll have to take charge into finding this team's offense, which it's a big jump going from the fifth to the absolute best. It'll be interesting to kind of see what we get. But I feel like that game could be a three. Oh, domination for us. Frankly, headed into the next game against Army.

Logan Brumley 22:59
All right, um, Army. I mean, no disrespect to the army section 16 and 12 last season, then one of the best defenses in the conference. It was kind of a defensive, competitive jump, especially when we look at opponents hits and kills per set. And they were the second highest on the team in blocks. And I do keep some of their

Logan Brumley 23:23
well, why they don't have, I guess all their defensive players,

Logan Brumley 23:27
Juliette Myrick, their setter,

Logan Brumley 23:31
is one of the best in the conference when it comes to dishing out assists, and especially since they have

Logan Brumley 23:40
some good scores with Chloe Murakami, who's top five in a conference in T in uh, Aces. And then Mackenzie Lynch, their other outside hitter, who leads against all non wheelbarrows in a conference when it comes to defensive stats like digs and blocks.

Logan Brumley 24:01
So again, a lot of their defensive identity is, I guess, is the opposite of um

Logan Brumley 24:10
Akron, where a lot of their strong defensive identity is gone, but I do have some strong offensive pieces that are returned. So again, it could go three, one or three. Oh, but I think

Logan Brumley 24:24
it'll be a little bit tougher, just because teams overall better when it comes to defense, and because they have a very a lot of good offensive pieces are returning that will be taking more minutes and, you know, serves and scoring.

Logan Brumley 24:44
And then

Logan Brumley 24:46
last team that were playing in this series is Green Bay, who went 16 and 17 last season, middle of the road, and most of their major stats within the conference. And by middle of the road, I mean not top.

Logan Brumley 25:00
Eye, but also not bottom five.

Logan Brumley 25:03
But they do have a lot of their wheat and players returning. Katie shows the outside header awaits a team with kills for set Emma best with assists, we the team, and then the one at the top in the conference, the middle back, Diane pitcherman, with hits and blocks. Each one is going to get a little bit more difficult. Akron is completely devoid. I'll be an easy blowout. Um army is a

Logan Brumley 25:34
I mean, they're they have a defensive identity, but it's going to be sort of new and some strong offensive pieces, but expect NC State to take care of that.

Logan Brumley 25:44
And then, you know, Green Bay, they're not terribly crazy, but they do bring a lot of older players that are returning, and that could be the one where the nightmare scenario and state loses,

Logan Brumley 25:58
but I doubt they will. This is, you know, a perfect Tune Up series to kind of define their strengths and weaknesses headed into tougher non conference and in conference play, or to watch the freshman on the roster. I expect to get some reps and fill the roles in a rotation for this upperclassman heavy starting six. However, there could be some shake ups in the starting six, especially at opposite hitter, two freshmen, Sa'Myra Dorsey and Jordan Smith. I haven't watched any of their practices. They won't let me in. But, um, both of those are freshmen. Both of us are relatively unproven, and I think whoever starts at the beginning of the tournament may not start at the end of the tournament, and it'll be I think the opposite hitter position would be interesting to see who takes that role and runs with it.

Logan Brumley 26:52
Outside hitter, Courtney Bryant and Claire Vondren are both

Logan Brumley 26:57
returning, but they also got some strong freshman pieces with Sarah Markinovic and Rebecca ring, who could also take over an outside hitter. If Bryant or Fondren don't do enough, I think Courtney Bryant would do enough. She was like one of the top players on the team. She would probably end up being one of the leaders, either heard or what Barrow Well, mentioned later, but Claire Vondren was kind of the bottom in a lot of statistics. She didn't get a lot of playing time. And if she doesn't do well, Rebecca ring or Sarah marinkovich could come in and take over. I think there'll be another interesting thing to see, to kind of see what Akron army and Green Bay kind of find when it comes to weaknesses on this team,

Logan Brumley 27:42
because I think there's a lot of strongness on this team offensively, especially since they have,

Logan Brumley 27:49
they have their return in Sydney, Daniels,

Logan Brumley 27:53
they have their setter, Ashley Mullen that they brought in from UC LA and how she was one of the top and assist dealing. So I could see, you know, Ashley Mullen and Courtney Bryant could be a really strong duo if things go 100% right and middle back, Sophie groom, she also was a really notable when it comes to digs and

Logan Brumley 28:18
blocks as well. She's at middle back.

Logan Brumley 28:23
But I think you know, looking at the offense, that's going to be what we're trying to define heading into this tournament. Is Courtney, Bryantfield is safe, but Claire V, Rebecca ring, Sara Markinovic, Sa'Myra, Dorsey, Jordan Smith, those five players are going to be in rotation a lot, and I think would be interesting to see who kind of wins out through starting roles and how the team will look like headed into their next tournament, which I'll cover in the next episode with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. Classic.

Logan Brumley 28:59
Overall, they win all three.

Logan Brumley 29:01
I'm not really worried about when. I'm just worried about what the team's gonna look like,

Logan Brumley 29:07
and that's kind of it for that part. Well, that concludes everything for today's episode. Sorry, my voice kind of sounds well, messed up in this episode. I do have some allergies going on, going outside is torturous.

Logan Brumley 29:25
In our next episode, we'll be reviewing ECU and looking at Virginia football.

Logan Brumley 29:31
Oh, we going into the Blue Cross, the Blue Shield of Kansas classic for women's volleyball, and we'll be going into UNC Chapel Hill for men's soccer. Ooh, sounds pretty spicy. Um, anyways, that's all that I have for y'all today. I'll let you all go. Um, have a good day and go pack you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai