Wake Forest Men’s Soccer (5-3-3, 2-1-1 ACC) earned a 2-0 victory over Boston College (3-3-5, 0-3-2 ACC) on Saturday evening at Spry Stadium.
“Protecting Spry [Stadium] is really important, and I thought the crowd was great tonight,” Head Coach Bobby Muuss said following the win. “The energy was great, and the guys fed off that.”
While it was a positive day for the Demon Deacons, there were some worrying moments. Boston College came out with a good intensity and were able to string together some dangerous passes.
In the 19th minute, the Eagles pressed the Wake Forest defense with a slick attack up the middle. The ensuing shot from outside the 18-yard box was saved by a diving senior goalkeeper Trace Alphin, with his fingertips pushing the ball into the crossbar and back into play.
Wake Forest responded well to the early pressure and got themselves on the front foot, generating a flurry of chances around the half hour mark. Redshirt sophomore Nico Rabiu and junior Cooper Flax each found themselves in good areas, but neither could direct their shot into the Boston College goal.
“I thought that after the first 15 minutes the team really settled into the game, and I thought we were able to impose ourselves on them,” Coach Muuss said.
The intense offensive pressure continued into the latter stages of the first half, as Rabiu found himself with another good chance. He dribbled past a few Eagles defenders, before putting his shot just wide of the right hand post.
With just two minutes remaining until half time, graduate Colin Thomas took a left-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box. His shot deflected off of a defender and fell right into the path of freshman Ryan Belal, who pounced on the opportunity and gave the Demon Deacons the lead.
The Demon Deacons concluded the first half with 12 shots and 54% possession, and had finally been able to find a breakthrough goal in the first half. While there were still goals being left on the field, scoring in the first half has been a struggle for Wake Forest so far this season. This was just the third time the Demon Deacons had scored a goal before half time this season.
The Wake Forest attack continued their impressive play into the second half, adding another 14 shots and one goal — which came from graduate Sidney Paris.
Paris, who was given a good pass on the right side of the Boston College 18-yard box, calmly slid his shot through the legs of the Eagles’ goalkeeper.
Eight of the 14 second half shots for Wake Forest came after the second goal, and the scoreline of 2-0 was rather generous on the Eagles. It could have been four or five if the attack had been more clinical.
“We just keep getting better and that’s the most important thing this time of year,” Muuss said. “This was a third win in a row for Wake Forest, the best stretch of the season thus far.”
Wake Forest is now up to seven points in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) standings, closing the gap on No. 1 Pitt to just five points.
Next up for Wake Forest Men’s Soccer is a home match against Wofford. This is the third consecutive season that the Demon Deacons have hosted Wofford, and they will look to make it three wins in a row against the Terriers. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Tuesday.
