#1 Deacons Visit North Carolina

Oct. 25, 2002

Game #14

#1 Wake Forest Visits North Carolina

The Demon Deacons roll into Chapel Hill on Saturday for a key ACC contest with North Carolina. Wake Forest, ranked number one by Soccer Times, is looking to maintain its grasp on first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
With a little help on Saturday night, the Deacons could clinch a share of the ACC regular season title for the first time ever. It would happen with a win over the Tar Heels combined with a tie between Clemson and Maryland.
Wake Forest and North Carolina will meet for the 28th time on the soccer field on Saturday and historically, the Tar Heels have dominated the series with 18 wins including a 10-1-1 mark at Fetzer Field. The Deacons, however, defeated North Carolina last year 4-2 at Spry Stadium.
North Carolina and Wake Forest have played six common opponents this year -- Saint Louis, Akron, Virginia, Elon, Maryland and NC State. Wake Forest is 5-0-1 against those foes, a tie against the Bilikens while North Carolina is 5-1 with a loss to Maryland.

Deacons Familiar With Fetzer Field

This year's Wake Forest squad is familiar with Fetzer Field having defeated Akron and tied Saint Louis there earlier this season. Against Saint Louis, the season's opener for the Deacons, Wake Forest trailed for almost 70 minutes before freshman Justin Moose scored with just less than ten minutes left in regulation to force a 1-1 tie. In the Akron game, it was Moose again with less than five minutes to play. This time, he snapped a tie to give Wake Forest a 2-1 victory over the Zips.

Wake Forest Jumps to #1 in the Soccer Times Poll

For the first time in school history, the Wake Forest men's soccer program is the top-ranked team in the nation, according to the Soccer Times Coaches Poll.
Wake Forest, ranked third for the previous two weeks in that poll, tied with fourth-ranked Clemson over the weekend while last week's number one team, St. John's, tied Syracuse and UCLA defeated second-ranked Stanford. The Deacons have spent 15 straight weeks in the top 25 and in the top five of at least one poll for the last six weeks.
Five of the ACC's seven men's soccer schools are ranked in the Soccer Times top 25.
Oddly enough, the Deacons actually slipped from two to three in the NSCAA coaches poll and held steady at two behind St. John's in the Soccer America rankings.

Second Half Squad

The Demon Deacons have outscored their opponents 15-2 in the second half this season, allowing goals to Virginia and Old Dominion. One possible explanation is that Wake Forest wears down its opponents with its deep bench and possession style of play.
Another statistic of note: the Deacons have scored in the game's final ten minutes six different times this season against SLU, Akron, Richmond, William & Mary, South Carolina and Elon.

Vidovich Reaches 100-Win Plateau

Deacon head coach Jay Vidovich, in his ninth year and already the school's all-time wins leader, earned his 100th career victory on Wednesday night with a 3-1 win against the Phoenix.

Last of the Unbeatens

Wake Forest is just one of two teams nationally to remain unbeaten through the games of October 25. After losses by Loyola Marymount and Bradley, only Wake Forest and Coastal Carolina are still undefeated this season.

White Continues Torrid Scoring Pace

Jeremiah White has picked up right where he left off in the 2001 season. After missing five of the team's first six games to injury, White has come back to play, and score a goal or hand out an assist, in each of his last seven contests.
Despite playing in just eight of the team's 13 games, White is the team's leading scorer with six goals and two assists for a total of 19 points. He led the ACC last year with 15 goals.
White continues to charge up the Wake Forest career scoring charts. Just a junior, White is currently in a sixth-place tie with former teammate Christian Lonteen. He needs six points to crack the top five.

Best Starts

Through 13 games, the Deacons are off to the best start in school history. It is just the second time in school history Wake Forest has stayed unbeaten to this point. Last time it happened was 1999 when the Deacons opened with an 9-0-4 record. That group keep its unbeaten streak intact for 16 games.

No Need to Re-Invent the Wheel

There has been little reason for head coach Jay Vidovich to tamper with his starting lineup this season. In fact, the only changes so far have been out of necessity. Seven players -- William Hesmer, Michael Parkhurst, Brian Carroll, Vicente Bastidas, Justin Moose, Amir Lowery and Wiggy Saunders -- have started every game. Bobby Gehring, Scott Sealy, James Riley and Ryan Caugherty have started 12 of 13, missing one start each due to injury.

The Bench Packs a Punch

There probably isn't another team in the country that brings as much talent off the bench as Wake Forest does. There definitely isn't a team in the country that brings as much scoring punch off the bench. In fact, eight of the team's last 11 goals, 12 of the team's 26 goals overall, have been scored by reserves. The team's top two scorers, White and Alexander, have not started a game.

Up Next:

Wake Forest, 6-0-1 at Spry Stadium this year, returns home to face Gardner-Webb on Tuesday.

Wake Forest Athletics