No. 3 Deacs Open Season at Hilton Garden Hokie Invitational

Aug. 16, 2012

By Alex Botoman, Wake Forest Media Relations (@SIDeacons)

Game Information

With 10 starters back from its 2011 College Cup team, No. 3 Wake Forest will open the 2012 season against Richmond and UNC Wilmington at the Hilton Garden Hokie Invitational in Blacksburg, Va.
The Deacons will face the Spiders at 5 p.m. on Friday and the Seahawks at 12 p.m. on Sunday. Both games will take place at Virginia Tech's Thompson Field.

How to Catch the Game

Virginia Tech will offer live stats from both games on its website, HokieSports.com. Links to the stats will also be available on WakeForestSports.com
The Wake Forest women's soccer Twitter account, @WakeWSoccer, will have live tweets from Friday's season opener against Richmond.

This Weekend's Opponents

Richmond was picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 this season after returning six starters from last year's squad that went 13-5-3.
Forward Natalie LeClair and midfielder Kristin Lescalleet earned second-team All-A-10 honors for the Spiders in 2011.
UNC Wilmington went 3-16-0 in 2011 and 1-10-0 in the CAA.
The Seahawks defeated North Carolina 2-1 in an exhibition match during the preseason.

Series Histories

Wake Forest and Richmond will be meeting for the first time
It is only the seventh time in 18 seasons that the Deacons will play an opponent for the first time in a season opener.
Wake Forest has won all six of its previous matchups with UNC Wilmington.
The two teams have played three times in Winston-Salem and three times in Wilmington, but are meeting on a neutral field for the first time.
In the last meeting between Wake and UNCW in 2010, Rachel Nuzzolese took a school-record 12 shots in her first college game

Top Storylines

Wake Forest is ranked No. 3 in the country in the NSCAA's current poll, marking the Demon Deacons' highest-ever position in the preseason. The Deacons topped out at No. 3 in the NSCAA rankings last season before finishing the season at No. 4. Wake is also ranked No. 3 in Soccer America's preseason poll
The Demon Deacons were picked to finish second in the ACC - their highest-ever appearance in the preseason poll - in vote of the conference's head coaches. The past two seasons the Deacs were picked seventh in the preseason and went on to finish fifth and fourth, respectively, reaching the ACC Championship Match in both seasons and winning the 2010 ACC title.
Aubrey Bledsoe needs only one more shutout to tie the Wake Forest career record for clean sheets. Bledsoe has 17 shutouts for her career; the current record is 18, held by Erin Regan (1998-2002).
Junior All-American forward Katie Stengel will be away for the team for the early part of the season as she competes as a member of the U.S. Under-20 National Team at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Japan. Richmond's Becca Wann is also a member of the team.

Wake Forest Athletics