Soccer Gameday: No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 16 Akron

Gameday Central \| NCAA Round 3 - No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 16 Akron
Game 21	Sunday, Nov. 25, 5:00 p.m.
Coverage	Live Stats \| ESPN3
Location	Winston-Salem, N.C. (Spry Stadium) - Facility Info \| Tickets: $8 \| Weather
Information	Wake Forest Notes \| @WakeMSoccer

The Matchup
• The No. 1-seeded and second-ranked Demon Deacons continue NCAA Championship play with a third-round game against No. 16-ranked Akron on Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN3.

Last Time Out
• Wake Forest opened NCAA Championship play with a 2-0 shutout win over Colgate on Nov. 15.
• Omir Fernandez scored an early goal, which proved to be his ACC-leading fifth game-winning goal of the season.
• Justin McMaster quieted a late Colgate rally with an insurance goal in the final 20 minutes, his sixth score of the year.
• Andreu Cases Mundet made a pair of saves en route to his sixth shutout.

Quick Kicks
• The Deacs earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Championship for the third time in Bobby Muuss' four-year tenure. Wake Forest is 9-3-0 in the tournament under Muuss, including runs to the NCAA quarterfinals each year and a trip to the College Cup final in 2016.
• Wake Forest was ranked No. 5 in the nation in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll and moved up to No. 1 in the first weekly poll. The Deacs have been ranked in the top five in 33 consecutive polls dating back to the middle of the 2016 season - 22 more weeks than any other program (Indiana - 11).
• The Deacs are once again one of the top teams in the country. Wake Forest has the third-highest winning percentage in the nation, and is second nationally with 52 goals.
• Wake Forest has a lot of new faces after sending seven into the MLS ranks following the 2017 season. Still, the Deacs brought in the No. 2 recruiting class in the country, headlined by top-50 recruits Isaiah Parente, Kyle Holcomb, Koby Carr and Aristotle Zarris.
• Since the start of the Bobby Muuss era in 2015, Wake Forest has a 73-10-7 overall record. That win total is the most of any Division I program.

Opponent & Series History
• Wake Forest has a 4-3-1 record all-time against Akron, including a 2-1 mark in Winston-Salem. This is the first postseason meeting between the teams. The Deacs have won two consecutive meetings, both by 2-1 scores in 2014 and 2015.
• The Zips have a 12-6-2 record this year, and are unbeaten over the last month. Akron has won six-straight games, including over No. 16 seed Syracuse in the second round and Rider in the first round. The Zips swept SIUE, West Virginia and Western Michigan in the MAC Tournament.
• David Egbo leads Akron with 28 points on 12 goals and four assists. The Zips also feature Morgan Hackworth (4g, 4a), the son of former Deacon player and assistant coach John Hackworth, now head coach of Louisville City FC in the USL.

Up Next
• The winner of this game plays the winner of No. 8 seed St. Mary's and No. 9 seed Stanford on either Nov. 30 or Dec. 1 in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Koby Carr

Andreu Cases Mundet

Omir Fernandez

Kyle Holcomb

Justin McMaster

Isaiah Parente

Aristotle Zarris

Wake Forest Athletics