Soccer Prepares For No. 4 North Carolina
11/10/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 10, 2000
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Wake Forest vs #4 North Carolina
Kickoff
Sunday, Nov. 12, 2000 1:00 p.m.
Location
Fetzer Field Chapel Hill, N.C.
Records
Wake Forest 11-7-2
North Carolina 16-3-0
Coaches
Wake Forest head coach Tony da Luz (San Diego, 1985) is 51-28-6 in his fourth season in Winston-Salem and 97-70-9 in his ninth season overall. North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance (North Carolina, 1974) is 482-22-11 in his 22nd season in Chapel Hill and 22nd year overall.
Series North Carolina leads 10-1. Wake Forest won last meeting 1-0 on Oct. 27, 2000 in Winston-Salem.
Websites
Wake Forest www.wakeforestsports.com
North Carolina www.tarheelblue.com
Deacons Advance To Second Round For Rematch With Heels Wake Forest (11-7-2) rolls into Chapel Hill Sunday afternoon for a NCAA Tournament second round matchup with ACC foe North Carolina (16-3-0). The Demon Deacons are coming off a first round victory over Liberty Wednesday night and have a five game unbeaten streak going. The fifth-seeded Tar Heels received a first round bye and have had the week off since winning the ACC Tournament last Sunday.
Six of the eight teams in the ACC received bids to the NCAA Tournament and all six are hosting first or second round sites. Only the Pac-10 placed more representatives in the 48-team field, with seven squads in the Big Dance. Nine of the teams in the tournament field appeared on the Deacons schedule this year and Wake Forest was 3-5-2 against those teams.
Wake Forest has a 3-3-1 record in the NCAA Tournament, which it has danced in the last five years. Head coach Tony da Luz has guided the Demon Deacons to the NCAA Tournament all four years he has been in Winston-Salem. The furthest Wake Forest has ever advanced in the NCAA Tournament is the third round, where the Deacs tied Clemson 0-0 last year, but allowed the Tigers to advance in the penalty kick shootout. North Carolina, the defending national champions, is making its 19th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which it has won 15 times.
Last Time Out The Demon Deacons, 11-7-2 overall, are coming off a 6-1 victory at home over Liberty in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Emily Taggart led Wake Forest with a hat trick, scoring three goals and assisting another. The Deacs scored a season high six goals and outshot the Flames 22-10.
Sarah Kate Noftsinger got Wake Forest on the board early in the match when she found herself wide open behind Liberty's defense and netted the shot from 12 yards out. The goal was scored at the 9:47 mark and was assisted by Taggart. Just before halftime, Taggart bashed in the game-winning goal when Rachael Lewis headed a cross from Gabi Lieb to Taggart, who fired the shot into net, giving the Deacs a 2-0 lead at halftime. Liberty came out aggressively attacking in the second half, leaving the backfield vulnerable, which Wake Forest exploited. Gabi Lieb intercepted an errant pass between Liberty defenders and canned an unassisted goal in the 58th minute, giving the Demon Deacons a 3-0 advantage. Three minutes later Emily Taggart got the ball inside Liberty's penalty box and was knocked down, setting up Wake with a penalty kick. Taggart took the PK and cashed it in, putting the Deacs up 4-0. In the 70th minute of play, Wake Forest freshman forward Alena Thom kicked in a loose ball in the midst of a wild scramble in front of the Flames' goal. Liberty regrouped and Breanna Jacinto blasted a long shot into the upper right corner of Wake Forest's goal, cutting the Demon Deacons' lead to 5-1. With less than four minutes remaining in the match, Taggart smoked her tenth shot of the game through the outstretched hands of Flames goalkeeper Amy Moxley for the hat trick.
North Carolina Tar Heels North Carolina, 16-3 overall, is coming off an ACC Tournament Championship last weekend. UNC, ranked as high as fourth and as low as seventh in the final polls, beat NC State 5-1, Florida State 3-0 and Duke 4-0 for its 12th ACC crown. The Tar Heels, coached by Anson Dorrance, are led by senior forward Meredith Florance, who is ranked third in the nation in goals per game with 22, and she has seven assists. Junior goalkeeper Kristin DePlatchett is ranked seventh in the nation in goals against average with a 0.49 GAA. Wake Forest won the regular season matchup Oct. 27 at Spry Stadium 1-0, becoming the first ACC team to ever shutout the Tar Heels, while handing North Carolina its second consecutive loss, also a first. UNC leads the series between the two teams 10-1. Wake's win over Carolina was not only the first win over the Heels for the Deacs, but also the first time a Deacon had scored against them.
In that last matchup between UNC and WFU on Oct. 27 that Wake Forest won 1-0, two members of the all-ACC freshman team, Wake Forest's Katherine Winstead and North Carolina's Maggie Tomecka collided heads late in the second half while going for a header. Tomecka left the game with a bloody gash in her forehead and Winstead left the game with two teeth knocked out. The Tar Heels outshot the Demon Deacons 28-5, but could not get any past Wake Forest goalkeeper Tracy Chao, who recorded a season high 13 saves in the shutout win. Joline Charlton got loose behind the Tar Heel defense and was fouled inside the penalty box early in the second half, allowing Stacy Roeck to cash in the penalty kick for the game-winning goal.
Wake Forest and North Carolina have met in the NCAA Tournament before. The Demon Deacons lost 6-0 at North Carolina in the first round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament.
In The Rankings Wake Forest dropped out of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll in the final week, but the Deacs remain at 15th in Soccer America's poll, move up to 21st in the Soccer Times rankings and are 24th according to Soccer Buzz. In the regional standings WFU is listed sixth by both the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz.
All-Conference Five Deacons made their way to the podium Nov. 1 at the ACC Tournament awards banquet to receive all-conference honors. Joline Charlton and Emily Taggart were named to the all-ACC first team, Stacy Roeck was selected to the all-ACC second team and A.B. Robbins and Katherine Winstead earned spots on the all-ACC freshman team. Charlton, a sophomore forward who was the ACC Rookie of the Year last season and an all-ACC second team selection, improved to the first team this year after leading the Demon Deacons in scoring throughout the regular season for the second straight year. Taggart, a junior forward, becomes a three-time all-ACC selection with two first team certificates. She has moved into second place on the all-time scoring list at Wake. Roeck becomes a two-time all-ACC selection after anchoring the Demon Deacon defense again as the team's sweeper, but shifting up to striker to provide added punch to the offense periodically. The junior has proven lethal, scoring six goals and assisting three others this season. Robbins and Winstead have both proven to be solid, smart and consistent performers in the Deacon midfield this season.
Holding Down The Fort Tracy Chao, a reserve defender on last year's team, took over goaltending duties at the beginning of the season when both Demon Deacon goalkeepers Erin Regan and Kenna Healy suffered season-ending knee injuries during the preseason. Although Chao had never played goalie before, the athletic sophomore learned quick. Rapidly improving throughout the season, Chao was honored for her achievements Oct. 30 when she earned the final ACC Player of the Week honor for her three wins in the previous week, including shutouts over Davidson as well as North Carolina and allowing only one goal versus NC State. Chao, a 5-5 Raleigh, N.C. native, holds a 1.35 goals against average, .760 saves percentage and three shutouts on the year.
Hats Off Less than ten minutes into Wednesday's game against Liberty, Emily Taggart assisted Wake Forest's first goal, scored by Sarah Kate Noftsinger. Just before halftime Taggart kicked one in herself. The junior forward from Pleasanton, Calif., added two more in the second half for her second career hat trick. The last time a Demon Deacon scored three goals in one game was when Taggart did it her freshman year against NC State on Oct. 16, 1998. In fact, there have only been five hat tricks in Wake Forest history and Taggart has two of them. The three-time all-ACC selection became the team's scoring leader after Wednesday's performance, with nine goals and six assists on the year.
On The Shelf It will be determined at gametime whether or not Joline Charlton will play on Sunday. Wake Forest has played its last two games without the services of its second leading scorer. The sophomore forward from Stone Mountain, Ga., has eight goals and three assists on the year, but has been out since Oct. 30 with mononucleosis. Charlton, a two-time all-ACC selection, already ranks third on Wake's all-time scoring lists with 18 career goals and 46 career points. The Demon Deacon disabled list is becoming increasing long as Charlton joins the pine with a talented foursome who are all recovering from knee surgeries: sophomore forward Lindsey Griffin, junior defender Roxanne Chow, junior goalkeeper Erin Regan and freshman goalkeeper Kenna Healy.
Up Next The winner of Sunday's game between Wake Forest and North Carolina will advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament to play the winner of the UNC Greensboro and Virginia game. The Spartans battled past William & Mary 3-2 in double overtime in the first round on Wednesday and Virginia got the first round bye.