Deacons Entertain Clemson in Sweet 16

Nov. 28, 2002

Game #21

Wake Forest Entertains Clemson in NCAA Round of 16

After defeating Old Dominion in the second round on Jeremiah White's goal with just two minutes to play, Wake Forest (15-1-4) hosts Clemson (12-4-4) in the Round of 16 at Spry Stadium on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The Demon Deacons are in the Sweet 16 for the the third time in the program's 23-year history.
Clemson, which is ranked 13th nationally, also had a first round bye. The Tigers advanced Wednesday past Coastal Carolina. After 110 minutes of action with the Chants, still tied at one, the Tigers advanced on penalty kicks, 5-4.
Saturday's game will be the second meeting between the clubs this year. On October 19, fourth-ranked Clemson tied second-ranked Wake Forest, 2-2, at Spry Stadium.
The teams have never met in the NCAA Tournament but have crossed paths twice in postseason play with Wake Forest holding a 1-0-1 mark in those games.

Deacons in the NCAA Tournament

Wake Forest makes its seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the third in the last four years. Oddly enough, the Deacons have never played an NCAA Tournament game outside of Winston-Salem. Of Wake Forest's nine NCAA Tournament games, all have been played at old Polo Field or Spry Stadium. The Deacons were 1-4 at Polo Field and are 2-2 at Spry Stadium, following Wednesday's win over Old Dominion.
The Deacons are 3-6 overall in the NCAA Tournament and have reached the round of 16 three times in school history, in 1989, 1999 and 2002. A win on Saturday would put the Deacons into the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

Last Time Against Clemson

On October 19, Wake Forest and Clemson met at Spry Stadium. The Deacons hadn't allowed a goal in more than 569 minutes but that changed quickly as the Tigers' Dimelon Westfield struck twice in the game's first 20 minutes.
The Deacons regrouped at halftime, slicing the lead in half on Jeremiah White's fifth of the season in the 55th minute. Amir Lowery picked the right time for his first career goal as he tied the game with just under 20 minutes to go, drilling home a goal following a corner kick.
Wake Forest hobbled to the finish line in the contest. By game's end, three Deacon defenders had left the game with injuries.
The largest regular season crowd in Spry Stadium history -- 3,771 -- saw the game.

Deacons and Tigers in the Postseason

Despite 23 seasons in the same conference, Wake Forest and Clemson will square off in the postseason for just the third time on Saturday. Both previous meetings were in the ACC Tourney.
The last time the teams met in the postseason was at Spry Stadium in 2000. Wake Forest led 1-0 on a Jeremiah White goal and later Clemson took a 2-1 lead before Aaron Thomas answered right away for the Deacs. After 120 minutes, Wake Forest and Clemson were still tied at two. Then, William Hesmer stopped three penalty kicks as the Deacons advanced to the semifinals.
On their way to the 1989 ACC Championship, the Deacons rallied from a two-goal deficit in a driving rain to beat the Tigers 3-2 in Durham. Todd Renner scored the first goal and Raimo deVries buried the last two. Neil Covone assisted on all three Deacon goals.

Packing the House

It's been a record-setting season for attendance at Spry Stadium where the Deacons have a 9-0-1 record this year. Four of those ten games have had crowds of more than 3,000 fans including South Carolina (3,379), Clemson (3,771), Georgia Southern (3,106) and Old Dominion (3,113).
Wake Forest has averaged 1,946 fans in ten home games this season.
The crowd at Wednesday's game against Old Dominion was the second-largest crowd to see an NCAA Tournament game this year. In a first round game at UC-Santa Barbara, 3,420 fans saw UCSB defeat San Diego. So far, 36,537 fans have watch 32 games, an average of 1,141.

Second Half Heroics

The Deacons have outscored their opponents 35-3 in the second half, only allowing goals in the regular season meetings to Virginia, ODU and UNC. Wake has scored in the final ten minutes of regulation nine different times -- vs. Saint Louis, Akron, Richmond, William & Mary, South Carolina, Elon, Duke, Georgia Southern and Old Dominion. Jeremiah White has three of those goals.

White Becomes Wake Forest's Third All-Time Leading Scorer

With his game-winning goal on Wednesday against ODU, Jeremiah White passed Raimo deVries to become the school's third all-time leading scorer with 72 points (29 goals, 14 assists).
Early this fall, White missed five games with a leg injury. He came off the bench in his first nine games but had a major impact in each of those games, scoring against Maryland, Clemson, NC State and the game-winner against Virginia. White scored both goals in Wake's 2-0 win at Duke.
He is the only player in Wake history to score ten or more goals in back-to-back seasons.

In the Rankings. . .

The Demon Deacons are ranked number one this week by Soccer Times and the NSCAA. Soccer America ranks Wake Forest at number two behind Maryland.
Nonetheless, Wake Forest has been ranked number one by at least one publication for six straight weeks, the top five for 11 weeks and the top 25 for 20 consecutive weeks.
The number one ranking is the best in school history. The previous best came in 1991 and 1999 when the Deacons were ranked third.

Up Next:

If the Deacons advance, they would reach the quarterfinals for the first time ever and host either Stanford or Furman. The game would take place on Saturday, December 7 at 7:00 p.m. at Spry Stadium. The Deacons are 0-2 all-time against the Cardinal and 8-6-4 against the Paladins. Wake hasn't played Furman since a 4-0 Paladin win in the 1999 NCAA Tournament at Spry.

Wake Forest Athletics