Wake Forest men’s soccer started its season 2-0-1 and is set for a season filled with hopes of an ACC championship and a national title. The Demon Deacons found themselves atop the ACC last season, but fell to Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the College Cup. The team believes they can build upon last year’s success.
After being ranked No. 6 in the nation in the college soccer preseason rankings, the Deacs have already moved up to No. 5 after impressive wins over UCF and Oral Roberts.
The ACC is arguably the most competitive conference in college soccer. Other top teams in the conference include No. 3 Pitt, No. 4 Stanford, No. 6 Clemson, No. 8 NC State, No. 9 Duke, No. 11 Virginia, No. 12 Virginia Tech and No. 15 UNC.
Midfielders Cooper Flax and Harvey Sarajian are two players to keep an eye on this season, as both were named to the United Soccer Coaches Midfielders to Watch list. Flax was also put on the Mac Hermann Trophy watch list, which names the national player of the year for college soccer.
Wake Forest stands strong defensively, led by Travis Smith Jr., a junior ranked as the 32nd best player by TopDrawerSoccer. While the defense has limited opposing teams’ chances well so far, goalkeeper Jonah Mednard was solid throughout the first three games.
Mednard, a redshirt sophomore, begins this season as the new starter after Trace Alphin’s graduation. Mednard has already notched two clean sheets after a 2-0 victory over Oral Roberts and a 0-0 draw with St. John’s, earning man of the match on Sunday for his outstanding play.
Throughout the game against St. John’s, Wake Forest dominated the time of possession. The Demon Deacons had many chances, the best coming off midfielder Jeffrey White’s rebound in the 75th minute of action. White scored, but he was ruled offside after review, leaving all Wake Forest fans in Spry Stadium disappointed.
The Demon Deacons had 14 shots, four of them being shots on goal. St. John’s tallied 13 shots, only one of them being on target.
“To dominate the game in possession and have a couple of real, clear, one-on-one chances and not finish, it’s disappointing,” Head Coach Bobby Muuss said in a post-game interview.
Muuss spoke after the draw about the team’s mentality following the unfortunate outcome of Sunday’s game.
“I think our heads are down because we drew. That shows a little bit of the culture and the expectations of the program,” Muuss said.
The Demon Deacons look to bounce back into the win column against Lipscomb this Friday, Sep. 5th at Spry Stadium.
