Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Men's Soccer Announces 2006 Schedule
5/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
May 9, 2006
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The 2006 Wake Forest men's soccer schedule was announced on Tuesday. The slate includes 12 teams from last year's NCAA Tournament field including College Cup participants Maryland and Clemson. The Demon Deacons will host four of those teams this fall at Spry Stadium.
"We wanted to put together a challenging schedule that would help us prepare for the rigors of the ACC, the best conference in the country, and the NCAA Tournament," head coach Jay Vidovich said. "We have done exactly that."
The Deacons kick off the season with the Wake Forest adidas Classic the weekend of August 25-27. Wake Forest, which last hosted the tournament in 2003, will face UCF on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and William & Mary on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. North Carolina will also participate in the tournament.
Wake Forest will make the short trip to Chapel Hill over Labor Day Weekend (September 1-3) for the UNC Nike Classic. The Demon Deacons have not only played in the event each of the past two years, but taken home the title both times. Wake Forest will play Big Ten powers and 2005 NCAA tournament qualifiers, Penn State on Friday at 5:00 p.m. and Ohio State on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
The Demon Deacons will open their conference schedule with defending ACC Tournament champion Duke on Friday, September 8. Kickoff at Spry Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
After three consecutive away matches (Elon, Virginia Tech and Davidson), Wake Forest returns home to play defending National Champion Maryland on Saturday, September 23. The Demon Deacons have defeated the Terrapins three straight times at Spry Stadium.
The home schedule also includes Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Boston College, UNC Greensboro and NC State. Wake Forest will travel to ACC rivals Clemson, North Carolina and Virginia and also make a trip to Storrs, Conn., to face Big East foe Connecticut.
The ACC Tournament will be held November 1-5 at SAS Stadium in Cary, N.C.
The Demon Deacons bring back 10 starters and several key reserves from last year's 13-8-2 squad that reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Wake Forest returns three All-American selections in midfielder Ryan Solle, defender Pat Phelan and defender Julian Valentin. The Deacs also return ACC All-Freshman choices in forward Michael Lahoud and defender Sam Cronin.
