Men's 1999 Soccer Season In Review
12/6/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Dec. 6, 1999
For the Wake Forest men's soccer team, the 1999 season was one of the best in the program's history. The Deacons finished with a record of 13-3-5 overall and 2-1-3 in ACC play. The Deacons' conference record was good for third in the league. During the season, they were ranked as high as third by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), the highest ranking in school history.
Wake opened the season with three straight wins over Coastal Carolina (6-1), College of Charleston (2-1) and Liberty (2-1). The Deacons then traveled to Columbia, S.C. to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gamecocks and the Deacons battled to a 3-3 tie as Wake's record moved to 3-0-1. WFU next hosted the Davidson Wildcats in the middle of a driving rain storm. Wake came away with a 5-0 win over the Wildcats heading into its first ACC game at Virginia.
The Deacons' ACC opener against the Cavaliers ended in a 1-1 tie. Next up was the Nike-Wake Forest Classic. In the Classic, Wake tied Richmond (1-1) and defeated Vanderbilt (3-0). After wins over UNC-Greensboro, Radford and N.C. State, the Deacons hosted the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils.
Junior Chris Lonteen scored just 30 seconds into the second half to tie the game at 1-1, but neither team could score the rest of the way as the Deacons played to their fourth tie of the season. After a 3-1 win over High Point, the Deacons traveled to College Park, Md. to take on the Terrapins in a key ACC road game. Wake Forest earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory in overtime to improve to 10-0-4 on the season.
Wake then grabbed a 5-1 win at home over Charleston Southern before closing out the home schedule with a showdown against ACC rival North Carolina. The Deacons controlled the majority of the game, but Chris Carrieri's goal with just seven seconds left sent the game into overtime before ending in a 1-1 tie.
The last regular season game for the Deacons came at Clemson. The Deacons suffered their only regular-season loss in a 4-1 setback at the hands of the Tigers. For the second year in a row, Wake Forest was selected to host the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The Deacons opened up by defeating N.C. State 2-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to Virginia 2-1 in the semifinals. For their efforts, Wake was selected to host the first round of the NCAA Tournament where it was matched up against Virginia Commonwealth.
The two teams were tied after the first half, but Wake's Ben Stafford scored late in the second half to give the Deacons a 2-1 victory. In the second round of the NCAAs, Wake Forest once again was the host school and was matched up against the Furman Paladins. In a matchup of two top 10 teams, the Paladins came out on top 4-0, ending the Deacons' season.
FIVE DEACONS ON ALL-ACC TEAMS
Wake Forest placed five members on the All-ACC Teams. Senior defender Chad Evans was named to the conference's first team. Evans has started 20 games for the Deacons this season. He scored 10 points from his defensive position. On the second team were goalkeeper Sean Conner, defender David Kawesi-Mukooza, midfielder Jamal Seale and forward Ben Stafford. Conner started 20 of Wake's 21 games and had 76 saves and gave up just 22 goals on the season. Mukooza started all 21 games and was a key defender for the Deacons throughout the season. Seale played in 19 games and was fourth in scoring with 15 points. Stafford led the team in goals with eight and was second in scoring with 19 points over 20 games.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
During the 1999 season, two Wake Forest players were named ACC Player of the Week. Chad Evans was named Player of the Week on Oct. 11, while Jamal Seale received the honor on Oct. 26. Evans (Oct. 11) and Seale (Oct. 26) were also named Player of the Week by Soccer America. In addition, Chris Lonteen (Oct. 18) was also named Soccer America Player of the Week.
DEACONS REACH HIGHEST RANKING
The 1999 Wake Forest men's soccer team was ranked third in the National Soccer Coaches Association (NSCAA) poll on Nov. 1. The number three national ranking is the highest in school history. The 1991 team was raked as high as fourth in the poll.
HEAD COACH JAY VIDOVICH
Wake Forest head coach Jay Vidovich just finished his sixth season in charge of the Demon Deacon program. He has compiled a record of 67-43-9 in his time as the head coach. Before becoming the Deacons' head coach, Vidovich was an assistant coach at Wake Forest from 1986 to 1993. Before coming to Winston-Salem, Vidovich was an assistant coach at Ohio Wesleyan University (1984-85), Regis College (1983) and the University of Denver (1982).
LONGEST UNBEATEN STREAK
Through the first 16 games of the 1999 season, Wake Forest had a record of 11-0-5. The 16 games without a loss ranks as the longest unbeaten streak in school history. The streak breaks the record of 12 straight by the 1989 team.
TEAM HAS HIGHEST WINNING PERCENTAGE
The 1999 men's soccer team registered the highest winning percentage in school history, winning 73.8 percent of its games. The 1989 team previously held the record, winning 71.4 percent of its games.