College Cup Update
12/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Dec. 13, 2007
Hello Deacon Soccer Fans! Here's a quick update from the NCAA Final Four
Cary, N.C. - The team headed to SAS Soccer Park on Thursday morning for the first College Cup practice session. The field is beautiful; the grass is so green, it's hard to believe they can keep it so healthy in the middle of December! The UMass team, set to play Ohio State in the second semifinal matchup, is definitely pumped to be playing on the lush grounds... they played the third and fourth rounds of the tournament in Amherst and the field was frozen solid!
SAS is like a second home to the Demon Deacons, who have played ten fall season games at the facility since it opened in May of 2002, and numerous spring season events as well. The stadium, just a little over 90 minutes from Winston-Salem, was the home of the ACC Championships this year, just three weeks earlier.
After practice the Deacs started making the rounds with the media. Some of the guys had special "locker room" interviews (even the smell was authentic!) with ESPN2, which will air during the broadcast of the semifinal match vs. Virginia Tech on Friday night. Brian Edwards, Sam Cronin, Julian Valentin and Pat Phelan all got to pose beside the championship trophy for ESPN extra film, while head coach Jay Vidovich entertained the guys with catcalls in the background. Be sure to look for Julian and his "angry face" in one of the trophy clips!
Sam, Julian and Pat joined Jay at the press conference, the transcript can be found here. The guys also talked with the folks from MLSnet.com, who shot some interview footage that will be available on the website in the near future.
For dinner on Thursday, all four teams were treated to a stretch limousine ride to the NCAA banquet. Co-captain Sam Cronin was the Wake Forest representative who spoke to the crowd about the team's spectacular 20-2-2 season, while the Demon Deacon stats were shown on the big screen. There was definitely some buzz around the room when WFU-WFU Opponent goal numbers popped up: 63-13, wow!
Now that the media circus has died down and the NCAA presentations are over, the team is in full on game-day mode. The Demon Deacons will leave early Friday morning for a final walk-thru at SAS before taking the field for the 5 p.m. game against Virginia Tech.
Throughout the interviews on Thursday, the Deacs mentioned one thing over and again: how excited they are to share this experience with Wake Forest fans, who have certainly been the 12th man on the team all year long. So grab your blanket, the kids and grandma, and head on over to Cary, because it's game time baby!
