Wake Forest University
Syracuse
No. 2 Deacs Claim Second-Straight ACC Atlantic Title
10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF) 
| Photo Gallery 
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMSoccer)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Second-ranked Wake Forest men's soccer clinched its second ACC Atlantic Division title in a row Friday night when it fought to a 1-1 draw on the road against sixth-ranked Syracuse at SU Soccer Stadium.
The draw secured the outright Atlantic Division title for the Deacs, as Wake Forest accumulated 17 points over the course of the eight regular-season ACC games. Overall, Wake Forest finishes the 2016 regular season with a 12-2-3 record and a 5-1-2 mark in ACC play. Syracuse, previously ranked No. 1 in the nation earlier this season, finishes the regular season 10-3-3 and 3-2-3 in conference play.
"Obviously we're extremely proud of our team," said Wake Forest head coach Bobby Muuss. "It's incredibly difficult to win a division in the best conference in America and we've now done it in back-to-back seasons. A lot of people had some questions about us coming into the year but we've done nothing but play hard and earn our spot. We came up here to earn a result and while we didn't get the win, we're thrilled with the point and the ACC Atlantic title."
Jon Bakero notched his second goal in as many games in the 23rd minute and his fourth of the season when he found himself open in the box. Fed by Kevin Politz and Luis Argudo, Bakero beat the goalkeeper to the left side just inside the post for the 1-0 Wake Forest lead.
Syracuse knotted the game at 1-1 in the 36th minute when Kamal Miller collected a loose ball in the box and fired a shot between goalkeeper Alec Ferrell and a defender on the goal line for the score. The goal was setup by a free kick that deflected off a Deacon in the box and caromed around before settling for Miller at the top of the box.
"I don't think we played our best soccer, and we knew we couldn't commit silly fouls but we did once and got burned for it to let them back in it," Muuss said. "Being up a man I thought we could have managed the game better, but Syracuse is a fantastic team -- one of the toughest team's we've faced this season down a man or not."
The tone of the game was set in the sixth minute when Syracuse's Miles Robinson was sent off with a red card for an elbow during a corner kick. In all, six yellow cards and the one red card were issued in the game while Syracuse was whistled for 16 fouls to Wake Forest's 13.
Wake Forest secured the outright Atlantic Division title by virtue of Louisville's loss to Clemson. If Louisville and Wake Forest had both tied on Friday night, the two teams would've been crowned co-champions of the division.
With 17 points in ACC play this season, Wake Forest has earned a first-round bye in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The Demon Deacons will open their conference tournament run on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 1 p.m. at Spry Stadium. The Deacs' opponent will be determined on Wednesday, Nov. 2, when the first-round matchups are contested and Wake Forest will take on the winner of the No. 7/10 matchup. Final seeding for the tournament will be determined Saturday when NC State takes on Boston College. The No. 10 seed in the tournament is Duke. The No. 7 seed will be decided based on the result of the Boston College/NC State game. If Boston College does anything less than beating NC State by nine goals, Notre Dame will be the No. 7 seed and host Duke in the first round. During the regular season, Duke beat Notre Dame 2-1 in overtime in Durham, N.C.
This year's ACC Tournament format changed from 10 teams making the tournament to all 12 conference sides earning a spot in the bracket. The top four seeds (North Carolina, Wake Forest, Louisville and Clemson, in that order) in the conference earn byes to the quarterfinals. All first-round, quarterfinal and semifinal games are played at campus sites before the final heads to Charleston, S.C., and MUSC Health Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 13. Tickets to the ACC Tournament Final are on sale now and can be purchased through theACC.com and can also be found through WakeForestSports.com.
Your 2016 @ACCMSoccer Atlantic Division Champions, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons!!!!! #GoDeacs #BackToBack pic.twitter.com/SxrmVL6IEb
-- Wake Men's Soccer (@WakeMSoccer) October 29, 2016
