Wake Forest men’s soccer (8-4-5, 4-2-2 ACC) found a goal late in the second half against No. 12 NC State (8-3-5, 3-3-2 ACC), capping the regular season off with a 1-0 win.
“It was a great win,” Head Coach Bobby Muuss said following the match. “I thought [the team] implemented the game plan that we implemented, and they actually followed it for a full 90 minutes, which was rewarding to see as a coaching staff.”
The standout performer for Wake Forest, as has been the case many times this season, was senior goalkeeper Trace Alphin. Coach Muuss had high praise for the goalkeeper, saying, “It definitely helps to win games when you have the best goalkeeper in the country in my opinion.”
Alphin was called into action early in the match, having to deal with a deflected shot looping over his head and towards the goal. He was able to get a finger tip on the ball and put it behind for a corner.
The Wolfpack came close to scoring again in the 15th minute, shooting from long range and hitting the crossbar with Alphin beaten. Another good chance came a quarter of an hour later, when the Wolfpack attack took advantage of a poor clearance and fired goalwards, forcing Alphin down to his left to make a good save.
The Wake Forest attack was kept relatively quiet in the first half, managing just five shots. The best opportunity came with four minutes remaining in the half, when sophomore Jeffery White made a nice run, and cut in on his right foot before aiming for the near post corner. The NC State goalkeeper did well to parry the ball out of play.
The first half ended goalless, with NC State having a slight advantage in shots 7(2)-5(3). Despite the lack of clear cut chances for Wake Forest, the first half statistics showed a pretty even first half.
Into the second half, the Wolfpack attack ramped up their pressure. Alphin was called into action in the 68th minute, making a diving save on a shot from long range. They would end up outshooting Wake Forest 11(3)-7(2) and had far more corner kicks at a margin of seven to one.
Despite being a bit lackluster in attack up to this point, the Demon Deacons were presented with a free kick in the 73rd minute, with sophomore Jose Perez stepping up to take it. His shot was heading for the top corner before the Wolfpack goalkeeper made a brilliant diving save, forcing it onto the right post and behind for a corner.
Just two minutes later Wake Forest found the breakthrough through junior Basit Umar, who took advantage of a bouncing ball in the box and rifled it into the back of the net.
NC State responded well to going behind, managing six shots in the closing fifteen minutes. Alphin made another stellar save, this time from an NC State free kick. The backline held strong throughout the match, and a sixth clean sheet of the season helped the Demon Deacons get over line.
This was a gritty win for Wake Forest. “Obviously, we’re down a lot of bodies, and these guys just continue to fight and grind,” Muuss said, applauding the effort from his team. “They worked hard this week.”
This was the only ranked win of the season, and the resulting three points have the Demon Deacons seeded fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament, hosting 12-seed Syracuse, a team that Wake Forest has already beaten this season in New York. This first round matchup is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Spry Stadium.
