Deacs Head to South Bend for Match with Notre Dame

Photo by: Eric Roth

3/19/2021 10:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Competing away from Spry Stadium for the first time this spring, No. 5 Wake Forest faces a tough test at Notre Dame.

SOUTH BEND, IND. -- No. 5 Wake Forest (9-2-1, 1-0-1) will return to action on Saturday night to take on Notre Dame (8-5-0, 1-1-0) in the Demon Deacons' first road match of the spring.

Kick-off for the match is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

The Matchup

The Demon Deacons reached a special milestone earlier this week, being ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll for the 80th-straight week. Additionally, Wake Forest has remained in the top-10 of the rankings for 60 consecutive weeks.
No other school has been ranked at least 70 times during this run that began on Sept. 1, 2015.
Entering the weekend, Wake Forest and Notre Dame are two of only six schools in the country with at least eight wins on the season, joining No. 1 Clemson, No. 7 Pittsburgh, No. 11 Kentucky and Georgia State.
The Demon Deacons are 3-1-0 on the road this season, highlighted by a 2-1 victory over Duke on Oct. 23 in which an 85th-minute free kick goal from Omar Hernandez secured the victory.
Notre Dame has been stout on home turf as well with five victories at Alumni Stadium this season.

Last Time Out

Fought to a 0-0 draw against NC State last Saturday at Spry Stadium.
Was the team's first tie of the season as Cole McNally earned his second career clean sheet.
Oscar Sears earned the first start of his career and played a personal-best 76 minutes.
Cristian Escribano made the 10th start of his freshman campaign.
In total, six freshmen were in the Starting XI.

Quick Hits

Wake Forest leads the ACC in goal differential (+13) while also ranking second in the conference in goals against average (.732).
Leading goal scorer Kyle Holcomb tallied five goals in the fall and needs just one more to become the 19th player in program history with 20 career goals.
During the winter, Isaiah Parente (Columbus Crew) and Machop Chol (Atlanta United) signed Homegrown contracts in the MLS while Calvin Harris (FC Cincinnati), Michael DeShields (DC United), Justin McMaster (Minnesota United) and Andrew Pannenberg (Orlando SC) were selected in the MLS SuperDraft.
Head coach Bobby Muuss needs two more victories to reach 100 wins at Wake Forest.

Scouting the Fighting Irish

The Fighting Irish won their home spring opener earlier this week in a 1-0 decision against Calvin.
Notre Dame's Jack Lynn leads the ACC in goals (8) and is second in the conference in shots on goal (15).
Lynn earned ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week last week after recording a brace in the team's 2-0 victory over Duke.
Philip Quinton was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week as well, as he anchored a backline that did not concede a single Blue Devil shot.
Notre Dame has kept a clean sheet six times this season and has allowed just one goal in four matches this spring.

Looking Ahead

Wake Forest will return to Spry Stadium for the final home match of the regular season on Saturday, March 27 to host Louisville. The match will begin at 7 p.m.