RALEIGH, N.C. – It was a historic night for California – playing its first ACC game in its first men's soccer meeting with NC State. Forward Nonso Adimabua added to a night of firsts, scoring his first goal of the season for the Golden Bears to make the score 1-1 late in the first half. But the Wolfpack scored in the 81st minute to edge the Golden Bears 2-1.
 
Cal's record now stands at 2-3-0 (0-1-0 ACC). NC State is 3-0-1 (1-0-0).
 
"We're extremely disappointed to not get a result," Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. "We had chances to go ahead when it was tied 1-1 and even chances to tie it when it was 2-1."
 
The Wolfpack scored early, taking a 1-0 lead through a Hakim Karamoko goal 42 seconds into the match.
 
But the deficit spurred on the Bears, who outshot NC State 5-1 over the next eight minutes. On the other end of the field, Cal goalkeeper Marco Brougher made four of six saves in the first half.
 
At 39:33, Adimabua, a fifth-year senior, collected the ball, turned and fired a 23-yard blast past goalkeeper Logan Erb to tie the match before halftime.
 
"That was a fantastic play," Griffin said. "He's someone we've continued to rely on to make big plays, whether it's getting the final pass to a teammate or getting a goal himself. I'm happy he was able to get that goal, and we have to build on that."
 
The Bears' best chances to score in the second half came at 58:54, when Kevin Carmichael's header was saved by Erb, and at 78:51, when Erb stopped a low Adimabua shot.
 
The backbreaker came at 80:30, when Henrique Santos scored after a goalmouth scramble to give NC State a 2-1 lead it wouldn't relinquish.
 
It wasn't the result the Bears had hoped for in their first ACC game.
 
"It was in some ways just another soccer game, and in some ways it was good to get that first ACC game off your back," Griffin said. "Any jitters or nerves our players had, now they kind of know what to expect in this conference. Going into the next game we'll be even more ready to go in and get a result."
 
Cal returns home to face fellow first-year ACC team SMU on Sept. 13 at Edwards Stadium.
 
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