Wake Forest Faces Duke on Senior Night
10/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 31, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Deacons Face Duke on Senior Night at Spry Stadium...
the Duke Blue Devils, owners of a five-match winning streak, stand in the way of the third-ranked Demon Deacons on Senior Night at Spry Stadium.
- Friday's night match between Wake Forest (11-3, 3-2 ACC) and Duke (7-8-1, 2-3 ACC) has major implications for ACC Tournament seeding.
- A victory against the Blue Devils combined with a Virginia win at Maryland on Friday night would result in the Deacons, Cavaliers and the Terrapins sharing the ACC regular season title. The Cavaliers would be the tournament's top seed (see page 2).
- The Demon Deacons are in the midst of a spectacular month of October. Wake Forest has gone 7-0 in the month including road victories over 25th-ranked South Carolina (4-0) and Clemson (3-2), plus home wins against NC State (2-0) and third-ranked UNC (4-0).
- Wake Forest is 8-0 at home this season, outscoring its opponents 26-5. With a victory tonight, the Deacons would set a new program record for longest home winning streak.
- Wake Forest will conduct a pre-game ceremony to honor its eight seniors including Vicente Bastidas, Gideon Coronel, Adam Hakes, William Hesmer, Kelvin Jones, Brad McEachern, Wiggy Saunders and Jeremiah White.
Last Time Out...
An enormous crowd of more than 3,800 fans packed Spry Stadium and The Hill to watch fifth-ranked Wake Forest drill third-ranked North Carolina 4-0 last Saturday night. Jeremiah White scored two goals while Tomy Szczypiorski and Mark Ellington chipped in a goal each. It was William Hesmer's fifth shutout.
- The victory extended Wake Forest's unbeaten streak against North Carolina to three games and propelled the Deacons back into the top three in the national rankings for the first time since early September.
A Wake Forest Win Today Would...
improve the Deacons' record to 12-3 overall, 4-2 in the ACC... set a new school record for consecutive home wins at nine... give the Deacons a chance at a share of the ACC regular season title (see page 2) ... extend Wake's regular season home unbeaten streak to 28 games, dating back to September 2001... push Wake Forest's regular season home unbeaten streak to nine ACC games ... increase Wake Forest's unbeaten streak against Duke to four games... give 10th-year head coach Jay Vidovich his 116th career victory.
A Wake Forest Loss Today Would...
drop the Deacons to 11-4 overall, 3-3 in the ACC... snap Wake Forest's seven-game winning streak, giving the Deacons their first loss since Sept. 27... snap its eight-game home winning streak dating back to last year's NCAA Tournament game against Clemson... snap its 27-game Spry Stadium regular season unbeaten streak, the first regular season home loss since Sept. 8, 2001 against Dartmouth... snap Wake Forest's eight-game regular season home ACC unbeaten streak, its first loss since October 21, 2000 against Clemson.
Scouting the Blue Devils...
with a five-game winning streak, Duke is one of the hottest teams in the ACC. During that span, the Blue Devils have outscored their opponents by a wide margin of 14-2 including shutouts of NC State, Dartmouth and Charlotte.
- Duke's top scoring threat is Owoicho "Nigi" Adogwa. The junior from Trinidad has nine goals and four assists to rank second in the ACC in scoring. Blake Camp leads the ACC and ranks among the nation's leaders with nine assists.
- In goal, junior Justin Trowbridge has allowed 1.35 goals per game.
- Head coach John Rennie is the dean of ACC coaches. Now in his 25th year, Rennie has amassed 350 wins with the Blue Devils.
Scoreboard Watching...
the Deacons have a chance to earn a share of the regular season ACC title but they'll need some help from rival Virginia. Maryland currently leads the league at 4-1. Virginia and Wake Forest are tied for second place at 3-2. UNC is fourth at 2-2-1. If Wake Forest defeats Duke, the Deacons will improve to 4-2 in the ACC. If Virginia beats Maryland, that will create a three-way tie for first place. In the event of a three-way tie, head-to-head records would be used as a tiebreaker. Using that formula, Virginia would get the top seed, Maryland would get the two and Wake Forest would get the three.
- Wake Forest could get the two-seed with a win over Duke and a Virginia loss or tie against Maryland.
- Depending on the results from tonight and Saturday, the Demon Deacons can finish anywhere from a tie for first to fifth. Duke can land anywhere from second to seventh.
Jeremiah White 4, Everyone Else 0... senior All-American Jeremiah White has scored four career goals against the Blue Devils, more than any other opponent. In last year's meeting in Durham, White scored both goals in a 2-0 Wake Forest victory. In the 2001 match at Spry Stadium, it was White again who scored two goals in a 2-0 Wake Forest victory.
Scott Sealy: Mr. October...
no player has had a better month for the Deacons than junior forward Scott Sealy. All eight of his goals on the season have come in the last six games. He scored two against High Point, two against South Carolina, one against Clemson and had a hat trick on Wednesday against Gardner-Webb.
- With that performance, Sealy became the seventh leading scorer in Wake Forest history with 58 points (23 goals, 12 assists).
Balanced Attack...
amazingly enough, 16 different players have scored goals for Wake Forest in 14 games. Only three players, Scott Sealy, Tomy Szczypiorski and Jeremiah White have more than three goals.
Poll Position...
Wake Forest is ranked third this week by the NSCAA and fourth by Soccer America. The Demon Deacons have now spent 36 straight weeks in the top 25 and 21 straight weeks in the top 10. They are in the top five for the first time since September.
- Six of WFU foes are in the top 25 this week including Coastal Carolina, Maryland, Old Dominion, St. John's, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Other Wake Forest opponents that have made top 25 appearances this season include South Carolina, Connecticut, Virginia and Duke. Wake is 6-3 vs. teams that have been ranked in the top 25.
Deacons Among Nation's Leaders in Attendance...
last year, Wake Forest enjoyed a great home field advantage in front of enormous crowds at Spry Stadium. The Deacons drew crowds of 3,000 or more for five of their 11 games. That allowed Wake Forest to rank third nationally, first in the ACC, with an average of 2,067 fans to lead the ACC and rank third nationally in attendance for the third time in four years. The Deacons are currently ahead of pace, averaging 2,088 fans per home date this season.
