Wake Forest Athletics
Deacs Fall to Duke in First Round of ACC Tourney
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
November 12, 1998
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - No. 3 seeded Duke battled No. 6 seeded Wake Forest to a 1-0 shutout in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament at W. Dennie Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Ali Curtis scored Duke's lone goal delivering a header off of Noah Lewkowitz' corner kick at the 19:05 mark. The Demon Deacons outshot the Blue Devils 10-8, but Duke goalie Atli Knutsson tallied six saves to help hold Wake scoreless.
With the win the fourth-ranked Blue Devils advance to Friday's semifinal matchup against No. 2 seeded Virginia at 8:00 PM. In the regular season match-up, the fifth-ranked Cavaliers handed Duke its second loss of the season pulling out a 3-2 decision in Charlottesville. Virginia leads the tournament series 4-1 having won the last four meetings, including an 3-2 overtime victory in the 1996 semifinals on its home field.
No. 6 Wake Forest 0 0 - 0 (record: 11-7-1) No. 3 Duke 1 0 - 1 (record: 17-2-0)
Scoring Summary:
19:05 Duke - Curtis (Lewkowitz)
Shots: Wake Forest 10, Duke 8
Corner Kicks: Wake Forest 3, Duke 5
Goalie Saves: Wake Forest 2 (Connor 2), Duke 6 (Knutsson 6)
Fouls: Wake Forest 17, Duke 21
QUOTES FROM DUKE HEAD COACH JOHN RENNIE:
"It was a great battle. We were ahead 1-0 and I thought that they had the better of the play in the first half. I thought that we played a great second half and we needed to score that second goal."
"There was a great deal of effort from both teams, just like the other quarter-final in our bracket between Virginia and NC State."
"Both teams left a lot on the field tonight and I hope that we have something left for tomorrow. Just a great game."
QUOTES FROM WAKE FOREST HEAD COACH JAY VIDOVICH:
"It was a great game. I think that this is why everyone came to see ACC Soccer, a classic matchup and I think that you can see the difference between one and six in this conference is a very slight one."
"I'm very proud of the effort by Wake Forest. The players were under a lot of adversity and they came through and they came to play. I thought we were a little unlucky and had a couple of chances to stick one or two in at the end of the half and just came up a little bit short."
"Duke is a very good team and I think that they are going to do well in the rest of this tournament as well as in the national tournament. There's no doubt that they're a top 5 team."
"We were banging away at the end of the first half and I thought we had them on the ropes and we wished that we didn't have a halftime. We just wanted to keep on going. We had to survive the next ten minutes and their pressure but our guys responded well and we still created two more opportunities."
