In its first home match since Sept. 24, the NC State men's soccer team (6-4-2) earned its third-straight non-conference win of the season in 4-0 fashion over visiting High Point (4-3-2) on Tuesday night.
The victory marked the Pack's third shutout victory of the season and its fourth clean sheet including its scoreless draw at Syracuse on Friday night. NC State out-shot High Point 13-5 in the outing and limited the Panthers to just one shot on target.
Three different players tallied goals in the win: Kuda Muskwe (2), Alex Hernandez (1) and Pablo Pedregosa (1). Muskwe's multi-goal game was the first of his career, and Pedregosa found the back of the net for the first time this season.
NC State took a two-goal advantage into the halftime break after connecting on a pair of its four shots on target in the period.
Muskwe opened up the scoring in the 32nd minute with a header into the lower right corner. The setup was worked beautifully on the right wing by Pepe Garcia and Yaniv Bazini, with the latter's cross to the back post finding the head of Muskwe.
In the 39th minute, the Wolfpack doubled its lead. Garcia crossed the ball to the back post where Muskwe headed it back across the goal and over the High Point goalie to Hernandez for the easy tap in.
Muskwe grabbed his second goal of the game from a corner by Noe Cabezas with a powerful down-driven header that went past the keeper into the lower left corner. Pedgregosa then added to the Pack tally in the 85th minute. Will Buete took the corner this time to tally his second assist of the year, playing it into the box to Pedregosa whose score went off his thigh and into the back of the net.
NC State will continue its streak of home games on Friday, Oct. 15 when it welcomes conference foe Virginia to Dail Soccer Stadium. That match is set for an 8 p.m. start on the ACC's Regional Sports Networks.