Wake Forest Announces Challenging 2011 Schedule
6/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
June 1, 2011
2011 Men's Soccer Schedule | 2011 Printable Schedule 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Matches against three of the four 2010 College Cup teams, including 2010 national champion Akron, highlight the 2011 Wake Forest men's soccer schedule, which was announced today by head coach Jay Vidovich.
The Demon Deacons will face a late-season road test against the Zips, and will host 2010 national runner-up Louisville and national semifinalist North Carolina in contests at Spry Stadium. Overall, the Deacs will play 18 regular season matches in 2011, with 11 of them coming at home.
"We always build our schedule with the goal of being the best team in the country, "said Vidovich. "The only way to see if you're good enough is to not only play the best teams but also to play diverse types of teams from different areas of the country that play different ways."
Wake Forest will take the field for the first time in a pair of exhibition matches. The Demon Deacons will welcome Furman to Spry Stadium on August 18 before traveling to Radford on August 23.
The Deacs' will have six consecutive home matches to open the regular season, beginning with South Florida on August 27. Following that will be a marquee contest against Louisville on September 2 and then a home tilt with Oregon State two days later on September 4.
Wake starts conference play on September 9 with a match at Spry Stadium against Clemson. After a mid-week home contest against Cleveland State on September 14, the Demon Deacons will welcome North Carolina to Winston-Salem for a September 16 match.
"We have a phenomenal stretch of home matches to start the season," said Vidovich. "Our first match is against South Florida, one of the best teams in the Big East that is really climbing the ladder in the national soccer world. They will be a real challenge for us and we'll find out very quickly what we're doing wrong and what we need to fix.
"Then to take on Louisville and Oregon State the next weekend will be another tremendous challenge. Louisville made it all the way to the national championship last year so they are obviously a very quality side. You follow that with Clemson and another College Cup team in North Carolina. One of the best things about these first six games is that they give our fans the opportunity to see some of the best teams in the country coming into Spry Stadium"
The Deacons' first road game of the 2011 season will not come until September 21 when they travel to South Carolina and then follow it up with a September 23 match against Duke in Durham.
The rest of the ACC schedule sees Wake Forest face Virginia Tech (October 1) and Virginia (October 14) at home and Boston College (October 7), NC State (October 22) and Maryland (November 3) on the road.
In non-conference action, the Deacs will travel to College of Charleston (October 11), and host Davidson (September 28), Elon (October 18) and William & Mary (October 25). The final two games of the regular season will pose a challenge as Wake travels to take on defending national champion Akron on October 29 before closing the season at defending ACC champion Maryland on November 3.
"Along with great soccer, Akron and Maryland are known for their crowds. Their fans are fantastic and will create a tremendous atmosphere for us," said Vidovich. "It will be an extra challenge, but I think that if we have done enough work going into those games, it will be a stage to prepare for the ACC Tournament and then the NCAA Tournament."
The ACC Championships will begin November 8 with the NCAA Championships slated to kick off on November 18. The 2011 College Cup will begin on December 9 in Hoover, Ala.
