Deacs Advance Past No. 8 West Virginia in Penalties

Friday, November 16

Morgantown, WV

6:00 PM

Wake Forest University

9-8-2, 4-6

West Virginia University

15-4-4, 7-2

OT 1

OT 2

Wake Forest

West Virginia

11/16/2018 9:58:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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Wake Forest reaches the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2013.

By: Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWSoccer)

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- Wake Forest survived a thrilling back-and-forth 110 minutes of game action and outlasted No. 8 West Virginia in penalties to advance into the round of 16 of the NCAA Championship at Dlesk Stadium on Friday night.

The back-and-forth game saw the second-seeded Mountaineers (15-4-4) twice erasing Demon Deacon (9-8-2) leads, but Nonie Frishette saved a pair of WVU penalty kick attempts to help Wake Forest win the shootout, 6-5 after a 2-2 draw in the run of play.

Wake Forest advances into the third round and will play No. 14 Penn State on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Morgantown.

"What a great game. People got their money's worth," head coach Tony da Luz said. "West Virginia is a really, really good team and gave us everything they had to tie the game late. That team is really good, and it's too bad that both teams can't move on. I thought our kids played well...I'm really proud of our players to stick with it after giving up a game-tying goals with a minute and a half left. A lot of teams would fold, but our kids came back in overtime and performed well, and obviously penalties worked out."

Corners were the difference for the Wake Forest offense, as both goals came directly off services from Kate Ravenna. In the 30th minute, Abby McNamara put away a header inside the near post to put the Deacs ahead, 1-0.

In the 41st minute, West Virginia got a free kick from just outside the penalty box. Jordan Brewster snuck a shot over the wall and into the back of the net to even the score at 1-1.

Ravenna found Bayley Feist for another header goal in the 77th minute. The goal was Bayley Feist's seventh of the season and 22nd of her career, moving her into a tie for 10th in program history for goals in a career.

Sh'Nia Gordon found the equalizer for the Mountaineers with less than 90 seconds to play in regulation, scoring after Nadya Gill's assist got her behind the defense.

After shots were even at 10-10 at the end of regulation, WVU took all five in the two overtime periods but the defense held strong to get the Deacs into penalties.

Frishette saved two of West Virginia's seven attempts to continue her impressive play in shootouts. Last year, she helped Wake Forest advance past Georgetown on penalties in the opening round.

"I kind of enjoy penalties," Frishette said. "Keepers aren't supposed to save them, so when I do, I have fun with it."

Meanwhile, the Deacs connected on 6-of-7 attempts, including makes from Feist, Estelle Laurier, Oliwia Wos, Ryanne Brown, Madison Hammond and the clincher from Hulda Arnarsdottir.

Earlier this year, Wake Forest defeated Penn State, 1-0, in Winston-Salem.

"We know what they're about," da Luz said. "They're a good team. They did a really good job today against South Carolina, and they're a difficult team to play against us. It definitely helps us having played them one time. It's NCAA soccer, so we're going to try to put something together and try to find a way to win."