Wake Forest University
13-7-1, 4-3-1
University of Notre Dame
14-5-3, 4-2-2
Wake Forest Falls in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament
11/28/2021 7:39:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Demon Deacons end the 2021 season with 13 wins and their seventh-straight Sweet Sixteen appearance.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Wake Forest (13-7-1) men's soccer was beaten by No. 4 seeded Notre Dame (14-5-3) in the Round of 16 of the 2021 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship 2-0 on Sunday night at Alumni Stadium.
The Fighting Irish found goals in the 19th and 57th minutes. The Deacs and the Irish finished the match tied on shots with 12 apiece. However, the Deacs were unable to break through a stingy Notre Dame backline that has now recorded six-straight clean sheets.
Wake Forest concludes the 2021 season with 13 victories including six against programs that made this year's NCAA Tournament.
How It Happened
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Notre Dame got off to a quick start with some early attacks, but a stout defensive effort from Wake Forest kept the game level through the beginning stages of the match.
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Senior Kyle Holcomb registered the first shot of the match in the eighth minute, but Notre Dame goalkeeper Bryan Dowd was equal to it.
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Notre Dame opened the scoring in the 19th minute through Mohamed Omar.
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Sophomore Hosei Kijima nearly tied the contest in the 24th minute with a right-footed strike that swerved just wide of the post.
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The Deacs went into the half trailing for only the fourth time all season at 1-0.
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Freshman goalkeeper Trace Alphin made an excellent save to deny the Irish a second goal.
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The Irish doubled their lead in the 57th minute through Matthew Roou.
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After some brilliant individual play by sophomore Garrison Tubbs, freshman Julian Kennedy had a shot that was blocked by a Notre Dame defender in the 78th minute.
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The Deacs recorded 12 shots over the 90 minutes of play but were unable to find a breakthrough.
Demon Deacon Details of Note
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Senior Holland Rula appeared in his 75th career match.
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Redshirt junior Jake Swallen appeared in his 50th career match.
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With his 27th game as a freshman, Ryan Fessler set the new program record for career appearances by a freshman, surpassing Ike Opara (26, 2007).
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The match marked the third-ever NCAA Tournament meeting between Wake Forest and Notre Dame. In 2007, the Demon Deacons defeated the Fighting Irish before winning the National Championship. In 2013, Notre Dame scored a victory before winning the National Championship.
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Was the team's 23rd NCAA Tournament match under head coach Bobby Muuss.
Muuss' Musings
"We did not perform well enough to get a result. Notre Dame is an extremely good team and are the ACC champions for a reason and the ACC in the best soccer conference in the country for a reason. They're box defense is as good as I've seen. But, we let up a goal midway through the first half and that hurt us. I felt in the second half we had the better of the run of play. We just couldn't break them. They bent but they did not break. We got a little bit unlucky with some blocked shots, but the execution in the final third just wasn't there tonight."
2021 Season Recap
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Wake Forest extended its ACC-best streak of NCAA Tournament appearances to 11-straight, five more years than the next conference school in Virginia Tech.
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The 11-straight NCAA Tournament appearances is also tied for the second-longest streak nationally behind only Indiana.
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The Demon Deacons and the Hoosiers are also the only two programs to make each of the last seven Sweet Sixteens.
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Wake Forest earned 13 victories on the season, highlighted by home wins over top-five foes Pitt and Virginia Tech and NCAA Tournament victories over Mercer and FIU.
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The Demon Deacons also earned their largest margin of victory in four seasons when they defeated Patriot League champions Loyola Maryland 7-0 on Oct. 19.
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Wake Forest once again ranked in the top-10 nationally in total attendance and average attendance per home match. The Demon Deacons won 10 matches at Spry Stadium this season.
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Senior Kyle Holcomb cracked the program's top-10 for career goals and career assists.
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Over the last four seasons, Holcomb and fellow senior Holland Rula helped lead the Demon Deacons to 60 wins, the second-most wins in the country during that span.
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Holcomb earned All-ACC First-Team honors while redshirt junior Jake Swallen and juniors Omar Hernandez and Nico Benalcazar earned All-ACC Third-Team selections.
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Sophomore defender Garrison Tubbs was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week on Sept. 21 following a week in which he scored against No. 5 Pitt and helped secure a shutout against George Mason.
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Freshman goalkeeper Trace Alphin earned ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors on Nov. 2 for an eight-save effort against Syracuse.
Team Stats
Mohamed Omar (4)
Assisted By: Tyler Shea
GOAL by ND Omar, Mohamed Assist by Shea, Tyler.
18:06
Matthew Roou (7)
Assisted By: Ben Giacobello , Ethan O'Brien
GOAL by ND Roou, Matthew Assist by Giacobello, Ben and O'Brien, Ethan.
56:16
