National Championship Central: Wake Forest vs. Stanford
12/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMSoccer)
| National Championship Gameday Central| Wake Forest vs. Stanford | |
| vs. Stanford | Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2:00 p.m. EST |
| Location | Houston, Texas (BBVA Compass Stadium) - Facility Information | Weather |
| Game Coverage | ESPNU/WatchESPN |  |
| Game Info | @WakeMSoccer  | Wake Forest Game Notes  |
| NCAA Info | Buy Tickets | Championship Central | 2016 Bracket |
HOUSTON -- Would anyone wearing Old Gold and Black have it any other way?
Exactly 372 days ago, Wake Forest men's soccer and Stanford met at Spry Stadium on a chilly night in Winston-Salem, both programs looking to return to the College Cup for the first time this decade. In front of 4,906 screaming fans, Stanford pulled off the upset with a goal resulting from a long free kick after then-redshirt junior Alec Ferrell stopped a penalty kick in overtime that seemed destined to push the Demon Deacons to victory. It all came to a screeching halt in the blink of an eye.
Exactly 8,920 hours ago. Or 535,239 minutes ago. Or 32,114,340 seconds from the end of that Elite Eight game at Spry to kickoff in tomorrow's national championship game, one team has been in the back of the Wake Forest soccer community's mind: Stanford.
Now, Wake Forest has another chance at redemption, just like it had in the ACC Tournament championship game.
"Obviously when you lose a game like that last year, the whole spring and the whole summer we were thinking about it trying to get back and this year we've been able to do so," said junior forward Jon Bakero. "It's a great opportunity and we can get a little bit of revenge."
Wake Forest is riding a 13-game unbeaten streak, which stands as the fifth-longest in program history. Last time the Demon Deacons lost? Sept. 30 on the road at Clemson.
A little more than six weeks after dropping the match, Wake Forest got its second chance and didn't miss with a clinical performance in scoring three first-half goals on the way to taking down Clemson in the ACC title game, 3-1. It marked the first ACC Tournament title since 1989, a longer period of time between titles than any student-athlete on Wake Forest's 2016 roster has been alive.
Now 372 days after an Elite Eight game that left Spry Stadium so quiet you could hear a pin drop, Wake Forest's 28-member team has its second chance at Stanford.
On the line Sunday, Wake Forest goes for the program's second national championship, the second potentially coming nine years after winning the first in Cary, N.C., with a come-from-behind, 2-1 win over Ohio State. Stanford is looking to become the first program to hoist the trophy in back-to-back seasons since Indiana claimed the crown in 2003 and 2004 after winning the 2015 title with a 4-0 victory over Clemson in last year's national championship in Kansas City.
Though two of the nation's very best teams here at season's end in December, neither program got off to the start it desired back in August. Both programs lost key players from the 2015 season with the Deacons losing MLS SuperDraft No. 1 pick Jack Harrison and four-year standout Michael Gamble, among others. The Cardinal went into 2016 without now-MLS Rookie of the Year Jordan Morris and No. 4 overall draft pick Brandon Vincent.
For Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons were upset by Saint Louis in the season-opener on Aug. 26 by the final of 1-0 after going scoreless in two previous preseason exhibitions against Furman and UNCW. On the West coast, Stanford -- the preseason No. 1 team in the nation according to multiple soccer outlets -- drew its first two games against Penn State and Saint Mary's, lost to No. 4 Notre Dame and tied No. 5 Indiana to open the year 0-1-3. Both teams dropped deep into the national rankings, and Wake Forest even fell out of the polls at one point in the early going.
Since those early-season blemishes, Wake Forest is 19-1-3 in its last 23 games while Stanford is 14-2-2 in its last 18 matches. Both teams won its respective conference title and both teams have put on clinics in the 2016 NCAA Tournament in combining to outscore opponents 13-2 across the eight games thus far. Stanford has not allowed a goal in NCAA Tournament play since that cold Saturday night in Winston-Salem 372 days ago when Ian Harkes buried a penalty kick that eventually sent the game into overtime.
In the national semifinals Friday night, both teams went to double overtime with Harkes scoring the winner in the 102nd minute against sixth-seeded Denver and Stanford going 10 rounds of penalty kicks against ninth-seeded North Carolina after 110 scoreless minutes.
Friday night had its own storylines for the Demon Deacons with head coach Bobby Muuss going up against his former team and Denver head coach Jamie Franks going up against his alma mater with which he won the 2007 national title as a player. But Sunday's national championship is for all of the marbles, and Wake Forest hasn't forgotten how last season ended.
"It was a game of two halves," Harkes said. "It was a little hectic in the first half with Stanford kind of controlling a lot and maybe kind of taking it to us. We were kind of on the back foot. But then we got back to our game and started settling it down, they started to drop in and for the second half and most of overtime we controlled the game.
"We want to start fast and do that again against them tomorrow and hopefully take out their strong point."
Both teams know what happened in 2015 and have an idea of what it will take to go home Sunday night with another carry-on at the airport, the national championship trophy.
"We just need to stick to our game plan," said junior defender Kevin Politz. "Sometimes when you play a team that's a little bit more direct, things might get frantic and you might start to give-in to their game plan a little bit but we have to believe in our system, keep the ball on the ground and get it moving and we think that'll bring a result."
"They're in the national championship for a reason," Muuss said of Stanford. "They're a good team. We pride ourselves on being a pretty good defensive team as well and I think all four teams that were in the final four take great pride in not conceding goals. Stanford is a very well-balanced team, they're a hard-working team and they believe -- a confident group. So we know we have a challenge in front of us. To win a national championship certainly is not going to be easy and I think we saw that last night. But we're excited for the opportunity. It didn't matter if we were playing Stanford or (North) Carolina ... Wake Forest has got to worry about Wake Forest and just sticking to what we do and doing it well and try to impose our game on any of our opponents."
The Demon Deacons and Cardinal kick it off again for the second time in just over one calendar year on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. EST on ESPNU. For Wake Forest's eight seniors, it marks the final time they'll wear the Old Gold and Black. And nothing would be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning -- with another national championship trophy.
