Camels shut out 17th-ranked NC State

by Stan Cole

September 19, 2012

RALEIGH -- Bryce Miller and Ricki Gaez scored second-half goals and Ethan Hall made 7 saves in the nets to lead Campbell to a 2-0 win Tuesday night over 17th-ranked NC State at Dail Soccer Field.

The Camels (4-1-1) dealt State (6-2) its second-straight loss of the season and defeated the Wolfpack for the second-consecutive year.

Campbell improved to 2-1-1 against Atlantic Coast Conference members and 1-5-2 against nationally-ranked foes (1-0-1 in 2012) under third-year head coach Steve Armas.

"Tonight was similar to last year's game in that I thought our guys did a very good job of cutting out State's strengths," said Armas. "We moved the ball well on offense and closed down on them well defensively. You could tell our guys fought for each other and believed in each other. It was a total team effort."

Senior Mitchell Cardenas set up both Camel goals and Hall saved a 63rd minute penalty kick for the Camels, who downed State 1-0 in overtime last year at Buies Creek.

After a scoreless first half in which the Camels held a slim 4-3 edge in shots, Campbell nearly went in front at the 61:34 mark when Miller's header off a Cardenas corner kick bounded off the cross bar.

Less than a minute later, however, Campbell's Justin Franz was whistled for a foul on State's Alex Martinez in the area.

Hall dove to his right on the ensuing penalty kick to deny Martinez, who entered the game tied for the national goal-scoring lead with 7 strikes in his first 7 matches.

It marked the second time that the junior keeper from Raleigh's Athens Drive High School has saved a penalty against a nationally-ranked opponent. Hall made a similar stop in last season's 0-0 draw vs. Furman.

After 75 minutes of play, Cardenas fed Miller in the area and the sophomore from Roanoke, Va., poked the ball past State keeper Fabian Otte to put the Camels in front.

Just 6:26 later, the Camels doubled their advantage when Cardenas found Gaez on a counter attack and the sophomore from Panama City, Panama netted his team-leading fourth goal of the year.

Cardenas, who has at least one point in five of Campbell's six outings in 2012, ran his team-leading assists tally to 5 on the year. In doing so, the senior from Mexico City moved into a tie with Peter Barany (26 goals, 5 assists, 57 points from 1997-2000) for 22nd place on Campbell's all-time scoring list. Cardenas has 16 goals and 25 assists in his career.

Hall made six of his seven saves in the second period, including a 78th minute stop on Conor Agnew's header that he parried for a corner kick.

Campbell finished the night with an 11-10 edge in shots. Otte had six saves for the Wolfpack.

The Camels open Big South Conference play Saturday in a 6:00 p.m. kick-off at Radford.