Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: Fierce Competitor
6/23/2021 12:34:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Les Johns
“I think she’s a future captain for us and a likely future pro. She has incredible pride in Wake Forest and really wants to win trophies here.”
Donkey Tag is a simple team building game where one team wears 'pennies' in the back waistband of their shorts representing donkey tails, while the other team becomes hunters searching for those tails. If a player loses a tail they come and stand by the coach until all of the tails are caught. The teams then switch places.
While attending Wake Forest women's soccer camps starting at the age of five, Sophie Faircloth competed to win at everything — including Donkey Tag.
"I don't think in the history of that game Sophie ever lost," Wake Forest coach Tony da Luz said. "It's just everything she does, she's fiercely competitive. That's what sets her apart. That and her work ethic. She's constantly working on her game."
Faircloth was named Female Rookie of the Year Monday as part of the 2021 Black & Golden Globes.
"She's an amazing kid," da Luz said. "She's self motivated, and an awesome teammate who really critiques herself.
"There's not a lot of freshmen who just step in, play out of position and are able to compete and start every game. We started off with three ACC games last season and she was just unfazed."
Faircloth earned All-Freshman distinction in the ACC while leading the Demon Deacons statistically in seven categories, seemingly making a seamless transition from Reagan High School to the college level.
"I didn't know what to expect," Faircloth said. "I think anyone coming into the college atmosphere can go either of two ways. I was hoping for the best. Right before we got going was the big lockdown, but I think in a way that helped me. I was able to just focus on training all day and work out, then do some school and work out again."
"Coming into Wake Forest, I was in the best shape of my life, which is the best I could do, without games going on. I did a lot of training heading into it, which really helped."
With a relationship that had been built over the last dozen-plus years of attending Wake Forest camps, da Luz and Faircloth had discussions during the summer of 2020 about expectations.
"I had a couple of conversations with Tony about being prepared and knowing what to expect coming in," Faircloth said. "It was either in the beginning or middle of summer, we talked about what he expected of me coming in. I really focused on those things in the preseason."
"There's really no way to prepare until you're just immersed. Coming into practice, I was nervous. But it was a smooth transition, thankfully. The first couple of practices, you could definitely tell the difference between college and high school soccer."
It didn't take Faircloth long to establish herself, as she found the back of the net on a corner kick against North Carolina in just the second game of the season.
"It was a surreal moment," she said. "A lot of young athletes have these goals coming into college. You don't realize how much you've done and how much you've put in to accomplish those things.
"When I scored my first goal it was a real confidence booster. I realized that I could play at this level and compete with these girls at the ACC level. Going into the rest of the season with that under my belt was pretty nice."
Her performance is even more impressive given she learned a different position in her freshman campaign, moving from midfielder to left back.
"Tony moved me to outside back, which was interesting at first," Faircloth said. "I learned to like the position and learned more about it through the season. Going into next season, I set the standard high for myself, and I don't want to disappear."
"I want to be an impact player and not fall off. I want to keep learning the left back position, become more comfortable in it, and continue to be an impact player. That really motivates me."
Of course as the Demon Deacons start to prepare for the 2021 season, expectations will change for Faircloth. Although technically, since the NCAA allowed a free year of eligibility for everyone last season, she will still be essentially a freshman, with a year in the program under her belt, Faircloth will be expected to be more of a leader. But she will also move to the top of every opponent's scouting report.
"I feel like he (da Luz) expects a lot more from me now," Faircloth said. "Now that I'm on the team, he wants it to be a team-first environment. It's all about helping the team succeed. He has his list of expectations. Focusing on his expectations and standards is what makes things different working with Tony as a coach versus when I had camped here."
"He always tells me I just need to believe in myself and know I'm a good player. It's all about focusing on the next steps to get noticed regionally and nationally. We're going to ramp up the expectations to see what I can really do."
Faircloth imagines her game will have to continue to evolve, and that will take a lot of hard work during the offseason.
"When you're at the top of the scouting report, there are things about your game opponents are going to target," she said. "It's all about how you adapt to those things. Can you still be an impact player despite the scouting reports? What can you do now? Just trying to adapt to that and play at a high level while they know what you can do is important."
Playing college soccer at Wake Forest fulfills a dream Faircloth has had since her young childhood days.
"I've been coming to camp since I was five-or-six," she said. "I've known Tony for a long time, and it's always been my dream to play for him here at Wake Forest."
"It was probably middle school when I realized I was pretty good. Everyone always asked me if I wanted to play in college. I think I knew from going to the camps at Wake Forest, just looking up to those players, that it would be a dream of mine to do what they did and play in college. I knew from a pretty young age. It was everything I could do to work toward that from that point on."
As more players have trickled in for summer workouts, excitement is steadily increasing for the 2021 Wake Forest Women's Soccer season.
"We have a lot of young, talented players coming in," Faircloth said. "We've broken into groups and have weekly check-ins. We want to get the young player involved and be able to hold them accountable and ready to go."
"A lot of us are coming for the second summer session, and will be getting after it hard in July to get ready for the preseason. We're going to set our goals early so we have something to strive for. Getting back into the tournament is at the top of everyone's minds. We want to get that done this year."
With up to four more years of eligibility remaining, da Luz is thrilled about Faircloth's future at Wake Forest and beyond.
"I can't even fathom where she's going to be when she's a senior," he said. "I think she's a future captain for us and a likely future pro. She has incredible pride in Wake Forest and really wants to win trophies here."
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While attending Wake Forest women's soccer camps starting at the age of five, Sophie Faircloth competed to win at everything — including Donkey Tag.
"I don't think in the history of that game Sophie ever lost," Wake Forest coach Tony da Luz said. "It's just everything she does, she's fiercely competitive. That's what sets her apart. That and her work ethic. She's constantly working on her game."
Faircloth was named Female Rookie of the Year Monday as part of the 2021 Black & Golden Globes.
"She's an amazing kid," da Luz said. "She's self motivated, and an awesome teammate who really critiques herself.
"There's not a lot of freshmen who just step in, play out of position and are able to compete and start every game. We started off with three ACC games last season and she was just unfazed."
Faircloth earned All-Freshman distinction in the ACC while leading the Demon Deacons statistically in seven categories, seemingly making a seamless transition from Reagan High School to the college level.
"I didn't know what to expect," Faircloth said. "I think anyone coming into the college atmosphere can go either of two ways. I was hoping for the best. Right before we got going was the big lockdown, but I think in a way that helped me. I was able to just focus on training all day and work out, then do some school and work out again."
"Coming into Wake Forest, I was in the best shape of my life, which is the best I could do, without games going on. I did a lot of training heading into it, which really helped."
With a relationship that had been built over the last dozen-plus years of attending Wake Forest camps, da Luz and Faircloth had discussions during the summer of 2020 about expectations.
"I had a couple of conversations with Tony about being prepared and knowing what to expect coming in," Faircloth said. "It was either in the beginning or middle of summer, we talked about what he expected of me coming in. I really focused on those things in the preseason."
"There's really no way to prepare until you're just immersed. Coming into practice, I was nervous. But it was a smooth transition, thankfully. The first couple of practices, you could definitely tell the difference between college and high school soccer."
It didn't take Faircloth long to establish herself, as she found the back of the net on a corner kick against North Carolina in just the second game of the season.
"It was a surreal moment," she said. "A lot of young athletes have these goals coming into college. You don't realize how much you've done and how much you've put in to accomplish those things.
"When I scored my first goal it was a real confidence booster. I realized that I could play at this level and compete with these girls at the ACC level. Going into the rest of the season with that under my belt was pretty nice."
Her performance is even more impressive given she learned a different position in her freshman campaign, moving from midfielder to left back.
"Tony moved me to outside back, which was interesting at first," Faircloth said. "I learned to like the position and learned more about it through the season. Going into next season, I set the standard high for myself, and I don't want to disappear."
"I want to be an impact player and not fall off. I want to keep learning the left back position, become more comfortable in it, and continue to be an impact player. That really motivates me."
Of course as the Demon Deacons start to prepare for the 2021 season, expectations will change for Faircloth. Although technically, since the NCAA allowed a free year of eligibility for everyone last season, she will still be essentially a freshman, with a year in the program under her belt, Faircloth will be expected to be more of a leader. But she will also move to the top of every opponent's scouting report.
"I feel like he (da Luz) expects a lot more from me now," Faircloth said. "Now that I'm on the team, he wants it to be a team-first environment. It's all about helping the team succeed. He has his list of expectations. Focusing on his expectations and standards is what makes things different working with Tony as a coach versus when I had camped here."
"He always tells me I just need to believe in myself and know I'm a good player. It's all about focusing on the next steps to get noticed regionally and nationally. We're going to ramp up the expectations to see what I can really do."
Faircloth imagines her game will have to continue to evolve, and that will take a lot of hard work during the offseason.
"When you're at the top of the scouting report, there are things about your game opponents are going to target," she said. "It's all about how you adapt to those things. Can you still be an impact player despite the scouting reports? What can you do now? Just trying to adapt to that and play at a high level while they know what you can do is important."
Playing college soccer at Wake Forest fulfills a dream Faircloth has had since her young childhood days.
"I've been coming to camp since I was five-or-six," she said. "I've known Tony for a long time, and it's always been my dream to play for him here at Wake Forest."
"It was probably middle school when I realized I was pretty good. Everyone always asked me if I wanted to play in college. I think I knew from going to the camps at Wake Forest, just looking up to those players, that it would be a dream of mine to do what they did and play in college. I knew from a pretty young age. It was everything I could do to work toward that from that point on."
As more players have trickled in for summer workouts, excitement is steadily increasing for the 2021 Wake Forest Women's Soccer season.
"We have a lot of young, talented players coming in," Faircloth said. "We've broken into groups and have weekly check-ins. We want to get the young player involved and be able to hold them accountable and ready to go."
"A lot of us are coming for the second summer session, and will be getting after it hard in July to get ready for the preseason. We're going to set our goals early so we have something to strive for. Getting back into the tournament is at the top of everyone's minds. We want to get that done this year."
With up to four more years of eligibility remaining, da Luz is thrilled about Faircloth's future at Wake Forest and beyond.
"I can't even fathom where she's going to be when she's a senior," he said. "I think she's a future captain for us and a likely future pro. She has incredible pride in Wake Forest and really wants to win trophies here."
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