Wake Forest Soccer lost a tight game against the Clemson Tigers with a packed Family Weekend crowd in attendance at Spry Stadium Friday night. The Clemson Tigers came to town off a victory over California a week prior.
Things opened up pretty physical from both sides, with neither team able to establish possession for sustained periods of time. Finally, in the 12th minute, Cooper Flax found some space deep in Clemson’s half and fired a shot that deflected off the hand of defender Olafur Floki Stephenson, giving Flax a penalty kick.
The Deacon captain did what he often does from the dot and capitalized. He gave the Demon Deacons an early lead as he fired one right down the middle, past goalkeeper Joseph Andema, who dove left towards Flax’s usual PK spot. However, the Tigers immediately punched back as they got on the attack quickly, and midfielder Nathan Richmond scored with a shot that deflected off a defender. Just five minutes later, the visitors would take the lead on a corner kick that found its way directly to the forehead of center back Lukas Magnasan and past Wake Forest goalkeeper Jonah Mednard. Another five minutes later, Ethan Subachan found Demon Deacon star forward Tate Lorentz out front, who fired a shot past a diving Andema, tying things up at 2-2.
Defensive miscues were a theme in this game for Wake Forest, and they once again came with a cost in the 29th minute, as the Tigers got space in transition and star Ghanaian midfielder Ransford Gyan got a shot through a swarm of Deacons to take a 3-2 lead. Wake Forest’s Head Coach Bobby Muuss described Gyan as “the best player in college soccer in transition.”
More Clemson threats were turned away before Wake Forest finally got a bit of possession established in their attacking end, and a foul in the 39th minute set up a free kick from about 35 yards out. Flax found Vlad Walent on the far side of the goal, who deflected it up into the air, and defenseman Daniel Krueger was there to head it home and equalize for the Deacs at 3-3. Flax got one more opportunity with another free kick near the end of the half, but it missed high and right.
The second half was far less eventful and far more sound defensively from both teams. Mednard turned away an early Clemson corner, and the Tigers were able to snuff out a few Deacon threats. Both teams stood tall and defused back-and-forth chances until the 71st minute, when another Tigers’ transition caught the Demon Deacons sleeping, and Nathan Richmond scored his second goal of the game to give his team the late 4-3 lead. The Deacons had some more chances, but nothing was able to really get established, and the final whistle blew in Clemson’s favor.
Postgame, Muuss expressed frustration with his team, especially their early play.
“It was not a good performance,” Muuss said. “I thought we wasted 45 minutes in the first half… they kept their discipline, and we turned the ball over… We played ourselves into a lot of problems.”
The Demon Deacons have a week off before facing Stanford at Spry Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 4.
