Wake Forest University
7-1-0, 5-1-0
North Carolina State University
0-6-1, 0-5-1
Wake Forest Closes Out Fall Regular Season With 2-0 Victory
11/7/2020 9:41:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Demon Deacons secured their fourth clean sheet of the fall to defeat NC State.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- No. 2 Wake Forest (7-1-0, 5-1-0) secured a fourth-straight victory to close out the regular season, as the Demon Deacons on Saturday night defeated NC State (0-6-1, 0-5-1) 2-0 at Dail Soccer Field.
"I thought we managed the game well," said head coach Bobby Muuss. "We had a gameplan coming in that we wanted to rotate through the game being the last regular season game. Keeping guys hungry for the rest of the season. Little bit herky-jerky in the first half, a lot of stoppages, obviously. A physical game, but I thought the guys did well dealing with it and just putting the ball down and playing and not getting too rattled by it."
Despite taking some pressure early from the Wolfpack, it was the Demon Deacons who struck first in the 16th minute, as junior Kyle Holcomb found fellow junior Isaiah Parente for his first goal of the season. Holcomb got NC State goalkeeper Leon Krapf off his line before Parente -- who returned to the lineup after a two-game absence -- struck for his second-career goal.
Holcomb nearly doubled up Wake Forest's lead in the 19th minute, but his second penalty kick attempt of the year was saved.
After the halftime break, redshirt sophomore Koby Carr nearly got his second-career goal as well when he pressed up into NC State territory, but his shot clanked off the post. The Wolfpack countered off the miss, but were ultimately called offside.
After NC State went down a man following George Asomani's second yellow card of the match, Wake Forest took advantage of the opportunity. In the 74th minute, senior Machop Chol placed a cross onto the head of Holcomb, who put home his team-high fifth goal of the year.
Redshirt juniors Andrew Pannenberg and Dominic Peters combined for Wake Forest's fourth shutout of the season.
Wake Forest, the No. 1 seed from the South Region, will host an ACC Men's Soccer Championship quarterfinals matchup with Virginia, who was the No. 4 seed in the North Region, at 4 p.m. next Sunday at Spry Stadium.
It will mark the 20th time the two schools have met in the ACC Tournament and the third time in the last four years.
Team Stats
Isaiah Parente (1)
Assisted By: Kyle Holcomb
GOAL by WFU Parente, Isaiah Assist by Holcomb, Kyle.
15:21
Kyle Holcomb (5)
Assisted By: Machop Chol , Cristian Escribano
GOAL by WFU Holcomb, Kyle Assist by Chol, Machop and Escribano, Cristian.
73:34
