Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Soccer to Battle for ACC title
11/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 5, 2002
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The Wake Forest women's soccer squad heads down to Tallahassee to compete for the 2002 ACC Tournament crown. The Demon Deacons, who are seeded eighth will face the top-seed, North Carolina, in the first round on Thursday at 5:30.
The Deacs meet the Tar Heels for their 16th-straight match-up. North Carolina leads the series 14-1, with the last game favoring the Tar Heels, 3-2, in Winston-Salem during the regular season. In 15 games, North Carolina has shutout Wake Forest 13 times and has only given up three goals, while scoring 57.
Wake has faced North Carolina in the ACC tournament four times, once in the first round, twice in the semifinals and once in the championship match. North arolina has shutout Wake in all of those games.
Last time out
The Wake Forest women's soccer squad wrapped up the regular season on Saturday, suffering a heartbreaking overtime loss to Duke, 2-1, in Spry Stadium. The loss is the fourth straight ACC defeat for the Demon Deacons since opening conference play in September.
Wake Forest's Sarah Kozey shot the ball from 10 yards out, finding the back corner of the net to put the Deacs up 1-0 at the 31:53 mark in the first half on assists from Alena Thom and Alli Hunt. The scoring effort was Kozey's third straight goal and eighth of the season. Duke answered back just before the end of the half, as Brigid Bowdell dribbled the ball past the Wake defense and put it in the net.
No one scored in the second half, as Wake's Erin Regan was credited with three saves and Duke's Thora Helgadottir had two. In overtime, Duke's Casey McCluskey scored the golden goal 23 seconds into the extra period for the win.
Duke outshot Wake Forest, 15-12, including nine shots on goal to Wake's three. Kozey took four shots for the Deacs, followed by Hunt and A.B. Robbins with two each. For the match, Regan recorded seven saves, while Helgadottir had two.
With the defeat, Wake Forest finished the regular season with an overall record of 12-6-1, 2-4-1 in the ACC, while Duke moves to 8-8-2, 2-4-1.
North Carolina Tarheels
North Carolina heads into the conference tournament with an overall record of 14-1-4, 4-1-2 in the league.
North Carolina's non-conference wins this season include USC, Guilford, Washington, Texas A&M, Texas, Marquette, Florida International, Oregon, Stanford and St. Mary's. ACC victories for the Tar Heels are Clemson, Florida State, Virginia and Wake Forest. North Carolina has finished even with Nebraska, Portland, Duke and Maryland. The lone Tar Heel loss this season came against NC State.
North Carolina wrapped up the regular season this weekend with a 1-1 double overtime tie with Maryland.
100 All-Time Victories
With the 4-2 victory over UNCG on Sept. 25, the Wake Forest women's soccer program earned its 100th all-time victory. The program's record now stands at 103-74-12 since beginning in 1994.
Blue-Collar Deacs
The 2002 women's soccer squad has dubbed themselves as a "blue-collar" team and taken it to the next level. The Deacs know that it is going to take a lot of effort this year if they want to be successful. They have decided as a team to work hard and earn every goal. "Our theme has been 'blue-collar'. This team is a blue-collar team; we're going to work through everything," stated Coach da Luz. "They've created more opportunities for themselves through teamwork, pressure and trapping for goals than our prior teams have been able to do."
The efforts have paid off as the "blue-collar" Deacs wrapped up the season with an overall record of 12-6-1 and beating opponents in every category.
Breaking Records
Junior Alena Thom tallied three assists against Elon (Sept. 3), setting a single-game record in that category. The record was most recently held by Katherine Winstead with two assists against Tulane on October 12, 2001.
Senior Joline Charlton is also looking to break several records this season. She currently is second in season points (24) and shots (71), third in goals (10) and fourth (7) in assists. In career records, Charlton is tied for third with Stacey Roeck in career points (59), fourth in goals (22) and shots (161).
Senior Liz McDowell rose into the third spot in career games started with 81, passing Stacey Roeck (80). She has started in all 19 games this season to go along with the 62 starts she already owned. McDowell is three starts away from becoming Wake's all-time leader in career games started.
With her two points (one goal) against Colorado College, junior midfielder Katherine Winstead is now tied with Karli Schilling with 23 points in a season. Winstead is 10 points away from become the all-time leader in that category. Also in the Colorado College game, Winstead became tied for fourth place in season goals with Stacey Roeck and Emily Taggert (9).
Wake in the ACC
As a team, Wake Forest is third in the ACC in goals allowed per game with 1.16, fourth in shots per game with 15.84, third in goals against average with 1.13 and tied for third with five shutouts. The Deacs are second in points per game, averaging 7.05 per contest, third in assists per game with 2.53 and fifth in goals per game with 2.26.
Individually, several Deacs appear in the statistical categories as well. Katherine Winstead ranks 10th in goals with nine. Winstead, along with Alena Thom, is also tied for third with three game-winning goals and ninth with 1.21 points per game.
Thom is also eight with 2.74 shots per game while Sarah Kozey is sixth with 2.84. Goalkeeper Erin Regan ranks fourth with 1.21 goals against average.
The Deacs vs. Opponents
Wake Forest has dominated the field this season, leading their opponents in every category. The Deacs have outshot opponents 300 to 167, including 162 shots on goal to their opponents' 89. Wake has scored 43 goals on the season and only allowed 22. The Deacs have held opponents to 67 points while tallying 133. Wake has recorded 47 assists on the season as well.
Injury Report
Senior Lindsey Griffin is out for the rest of the season due to a knee injury. She will receive a medical redshirt and return to competition next season for the Deacs.
