Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: Loss Tooth Worth Upset Over North Carolina
1/18/2022 10:38:00 AM | Women's Soccer
A lost tooth was seemingly a good trade off for a career-defining victory over the Tar Heels in 2000.
Stacy Roeck rushed over to check on Wake Forest teammate Katherine Winstead, who had just collided with UNC's Maggie Tomecka, both contesting for the sailing soccer ball with a header.
"Are you ok?" Roeck asked Winstead.
Not getting much of a response, Winstead yelled "Tonnnnyyyy," summoning Wake Forest women's soccer coach Tony da Luz to the field to check on the fallen Demon Deacon defender.
"I had blood on my mouth and things didn't feel quite right," Winstead recalls. "They cleaned me up and I went back in. Maggie was out and never came back in."
Roeck connected on a second-half penalty kick and the Demon Deacons defeated eventual national champion North Carolina 1-0. Despite the celebration, Winstead encountered quite a sobering sight on her way to the locker room.
"Maggie was still back there getting stitches and one of my teeth was in her head," she said. "I looked in the mirror and I had lost a tooth-and-a-half. I was 18-years old at the time and I started sobbing hysterically.
"But I just remember that feeling of beating Chapel Hill. They were the team to beat, so that was pretty huge."
A lost tooth was seemingly a good trade off for a career-defining victory over the Tar Heels in 2000.
"We beat UNC one of the years they won the NCAA championship," Winstead said. "As time passes the details are lost, but I just have this positive, warm feeling about it all. I loved it and would go back and do it again in a heartbeat."
Fittingly enough, Winstead, a Raleigh native, had to choose between Wake Forest and UNC as her college destination.
"I knew early on I wanted a strong academic school with a strong soccer program," she said. "Ultimately it came down between Wake Forest and Chapel Hill. I had a nice academic offer at UNC and I'd accepted. But I told Tony I needed a little more time and I sat on it for about a week or so. I just decided it didn't feel right.
"I called Tony back and told him Wake was where I wanted to be. So I accepted the offer at Wake Forest and it ended up being the best decision I ever made."
The week spent internally debating the decision was long and torturous for Winstead.
"One of the things that led me to Wake Forest was Tony and the soccer program," she said. "I wanted to have a chance to be an impact player and I wanted to make a difference on the field. Wake was just a better fit, and I was excited to be in a smaller school with more individual academic attention."
"I was tortured and had to make that tough decision, but it ended up being the best one I ever made. It was really tough as a 17-year old. It shaped the rest of my life. I'm back in Winston with a career and a family. It changed the trajectory of everything in every way."
According to Winstead, Wake Forest felt like the perfect decision from the first day of her arrival.
"I moved in and those seniors picked me up from my dorm and I never looked back," she said. "From the beginning, everybody at Wake was so welcoming and inclusive. I loved the soccer program and what Tony had to offer. Then I got into academics and the small classes were just a great fit for me. I value education so much.
"It was so fun. I absolutely loved playing the game and we had an incredible group of teammates and coaches. We had a blast. We had some ups and downs. We cracked into the rankings, but didn't usually stay there too long."
The Demon Deacons advanced to the NCAA Tournament all four seasons Winstead played, and she earned All-ACC Second Team honors as a junior in 2002.
"Tony made every single one of us better," she said. "He is such a good technical coach. He just makes you a better player. You not only get to be a better soccer player and athlete over four years, but he was just a lot of fun to play for as well. He's a funny guy who deals with a group of 18-to-20 year old guys and he does it well. He puts up with a lot. He is one of the best and he made every one of us better.
"He was able to help us learn about the game and how it was meant to be played. We grew as soccer players tremendously. We wanted to win for him and that's a special trait that not everyone has."
It's da Luz who deserves credit for what the Wake Forest Women's Soccer program is today, according to Winstead.
"Tony really has done an incredible job building the WFU women's soccer program," she said. "He deserves so much credit. He's coached some amazing athletes, but more importantly, he's helped shape them into great people. He sincerely cares about his players, on and off the field, and he invests himself in them. That is truly special."
After finishing her career at Wake Forest, Winstead played professionally in Iceland for just a few weeks before tearing her MCL. Toying with both politics and medicine in the latter stages of her collegiate life, Winstead chose to come back to Wake Forest for medical school.
"I was a political science major and was very involved in politics," she said. "I worked with campaigns and still have a bit of a political bug. But I decided to go into medicine and it's been an extremely fulfilling career. Medicine was certainly the right call for me."
After med school, Winstead had an anesthesia residency at UNC, where she once again connected with Tomecka, without any stitches or teeth lost this time. Winstead, now Katherine Suttle, is married with three children and is working at Piedmont Triad Anesthesia.
"I'm grateful for everything Wake Forest has given me," she said. "I was lucky enough to have my education paid for between academics and athletics. I'm always so appreciative about all they did for me.
"My teammates were much better soccer players than I ever was, and they are awesome and inspirational people who have gone on to do a lot of great things. It's interesting because as time passes, the details of the practices and games slowly fade. But I vividly remember who was there with me and how they made me feel. More than wins and losses, it really is the people and the relationships that make the WFU women's soccer so special."
"Are you ok?" Roeck asked Winstead.
Not getting much of a response, Winstead yelled "Tonnnnyyyy," summoning Wake Forest women's soccer coach Tony da Luz to the field to check on the fallen Demon Deacon defender.
"I had blood on my mouth and things didn't feel quite right," Winstead recalls. "They cleaned me up and I went back in. Maggie was out and never came back in."
Roeck connected on a second-half penalty kick and the Demon Deacons defeated eventual national champion North Carolina 1-0. Despite the celebration, Winstead encountered quite a sobering sight on her way to the locker room.
"Maggie was still back there getting stitches and one of my teeth was in her head," she said. "I looked in the mirror and I had lost a tooth-and-a-half. I was 18-years old at the time and I started sobbing hysterically.
"But I just remember that feeling of beating Chapel Hill. They were the team to beat, so that was pretty huge."
A lost tooth was seemingly a good trade off for a career-defining victory over the Tar Heels in 2000.
"We beat UNC one of the years they won the NCAA championship," Winstead said. "As time passes the details are lost, but I just have this positive, warm feeling about it all. I loved it and would go back and do it again in a heartbeat."
Fittingly enough, Winstead, a Raleigh native, had to choose between Wake Forest and UNC as her college destination.
"I knew early on I wanted a strong academic school with a strong soccer program," she said. "Ultimately it came down between Wake Forest and Chapel Hill. I had a nice academic offer at UNC and I'd accepted. But I told Tony I needed a little more time and I sat on it for about a week or so. I just decided it didn't feel right.
"I called Tony back and told him Wake was where I wanted to be. So I accepted the offer at Wake Forest and it ended up being the best decision I ever made."
The week spent internally debating the decision was long and torturous for Winstead.
"One of the things that led me to Wake Forest was Tony and the soccer program," she said. "I wanted to have a chance to be an impact player and I wanted to make a difference on the field. Wake was just a better fit, and I was excited to be in a smaller school with more individual academic attention."
"I was tortured and had to make that tough decision, but it ended up being the best one I ever made. It was really tough as a 17-year old. It shaped the rest of my life. I'm back in Winston with a career and a family. It changed the trajectory of everything in every way."
According to Winstead, Wake Forest felt like the perfect decision from the first day of her arrival.
"I moved in and those seniors picked me up from my dorm and I never looked back," she said. "From the beginning, everybody at Wake was so welcoming and inclusive. I loved the soccer program and what Tony had to offer. Then I got into academics and the small classes were just a great fit for me. I value education so much.
"It was so fun. I absolutely loved playing the game and we had an incredible group of teammates and coaches. We had a blast. We had some ups and downs. We cracked into the rankings, but didn't usually stay there too long."
The Demon Deacons advanced to the NCAA Tournament all four seasons Winstead played, and she earned All-ACC Second Team honors as a junior in 2002.
"Tony made every single one of us better," she said. "He is such a good technical coach. He just makes you a better player. You not only get to be a better soccer player and athlete over four years, but he was just a lot of fun to play for as well. He's a funny guy who deals with a group of 18-to-20 year old guys and he does it well. He puts up with a lot. He is one of the best and he made every one of us better.
"He was able to help us learn about the game and how it was meant to be played. We grew as soccer players tremendously. We wanted to win for him and that's a special trait that not everyone has."
It's da Luz who deserves credit for what the Wake Forest Women's Soccer program is today, according to Winstead.
"Tony really has done an incredible job building the WFU women's soccer program," she said. "He deserves so much credit. He's coached some amazing athletes, but more importantly, he's helped shape them into great people. He sincerely cares about his players, on and off the field, and he invests himself in them. That is truly special."
After finishing her career at Wake Forest, Winstead played professionally in Iceland for just a few weeks before tearing her MCL. Toying with both politics and medicine in the latter stages of her collegiate life, Winstead chose to come back to Wake Forest for medical school.
"I was a political science major and was very involved in politics," she said. "I worked with campaigns and still have a bit of a political bug. But I decided to go into medicine and it's been an extremely fulfilling career. Medicine was certainly the right call for me."
After med school, Winstead had an anesthesia residency at UNC, where she once again connected with Tomecka, without any stitches or teeth lost this time. Winstead, now Katherine Suttle, is married with three children and is working at Piedmont Triad Anesthesia.
"I'm grateful for everything Wake Forest has given me," she said. "I was lucky enough to have my education paid for between academics and athletics. I'm always so appreciative about all they did for me.
"My teammates were much better soccer players than I ever was, and they are awesome and inspirational people who have gone on to do a lot of great things. It's interesting because as time passes, the details of the practices and games slowly fade. But I vividly remember who was there with me and how they made me feel. More than wins and losses, it really is the people and the relationships that make the WFU women's soccer so special."
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