Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest hosts West Virginia in Exhibition Match
8/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 13, 2010
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's soccer team will have its only dress rehearsal for the 2010 season when it hosts West Virginia in an exhibition match on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Spry Stadium.
The Demon Deacons, who were recently ranked No. 10 in the country by the NSCAA, have been undergoing preseason training for just over a week, and Saturday's exhibition will give them a chance to play together as a team for the first time before opening the season at UNC Wilmington on Aug. 20.
"The first few days of practice have been really good," said head coach Tony da Luz. "I've been pleasantly surprised that the intensity level hasn't dropped off with the heat. With the youth of our team, I've been very happy with the talent level and the soccer instincts."
Wake Forest returns five starters from last year's team that went 16-6-2 and reached the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time in program history. The Deacs welcome 12 new players into the fold - ten freshmen and two transfers.
"We have a lot of good returning players, so we're not absolutely reliant upon freshmen to come out and have a huge impact, but I think there are quite a few young players that are capable and will make an impact," said da Luz. "If they keep training the way they're training, they have good soccer instincts, so I have no doubt that they can step into a game and make a good impact pretty early in the season."
The heavy roster turnover means that the exhibition takes on added importance as an opportunity to test out different lineup combinations in a game environment.
"We're experimenting a little bit with our back line with the addition of a couple new players there, so we're trying to get that closer to being sorted out before the (opening game at UNC Wilmington)," da Luz said.
After their exhibition against the Mountaineers, the Deacons will have a week of training before traveling to open the regular season at UNC Wilmington on Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. Wake Forest will play its home opener against UNC Greensboro on Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. at Spry Stadium.
