Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Receives No. 4 Seed in NCAA Tournament
11/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 8, 2010
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The ACC Champion Wake Forest women's soccer team has been awarded a No. 4 seed in the 2010 NCAA Tournament and will travel to Irvine, Calif. to take on San Diego in the opening round on Friday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
The winner of that match will take on the winner of the match between UC Irvine (17-2-2) and Arizona State (9-7-3) in the second round on Sunday.
The Deacons (12-7-3) won the 2010 ACC Championship to earn an automatic bid to the tournament and are making their 15th straight NCAA appearance. Wake Forest has been seeded in each of the last three tournaments and last year, the Deacs advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
Wake Forest is fresh off of its first-ever ACC tournament title. The Deacons took down No. 9 Florida State in the quarterfinals before winning back-to-back penalty kick shootouts against No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 Maryland to claim the conference crown.
In the championship match, freshman goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe saved three Terrapin penalty kicks in the shootout to earn ACC Tournament MVP Honors. Fellow freshman Katie Stengel scored her 15th goal of the year against Maryland, setting a new Wake Forest single-season record. Bledsoe and Stengel, along with Marisa Park and Jackie McSally were named to the All-Tournament Team.
In San Diego, Wake Forest will take on the program that head coach Tony da Luz started back in 1992. Da Luz, a 1986 graduate of San Diego, was the first-ever coach of the Toreros, serving in that capacity from 1992-1996 before coming to Wake Forest. He was named the 1996 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year.
The Deacons have split their only two previous matchups with the Toreros, posting a 5-1 win at Spry Stadium in 2005 before falling 2-1 in San Diego in 2007.
San Diego (11-7-2) earned at at-large bid after finishing in third place in the West Coast Conference. The Toreros are riding a two-match winning streak with victories over Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. Their only success against ranked teams this season has come in a pair of wins over USC. Stephanie Ochs has led the team with eight goals and 23 points this year.
The Deacs have never played either UC Irvine or Arizona State.
