Wake Forest University
12-3-0, 4-2-0
Wofford College
4-7-2, 1-1-1
Wake Forest Shuts Out Wofford in 3-0 Victory
10/18/2022 9:42:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Deacs recorded their sixth clean sheet of the season as three different goal scorers led a 3-0 victory.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Behind goals from juniors Garrison Tubbs and Oscar Sears along with sophomore Leo Guarino, the No. 25 ranked Wake Forest men's soccer team (12-3-0, 4-2-0 ACC) downed Wofford (4-7-2, 1-1-1 SoCon) by a final of 3-0 on Tuesday night at Spry Stadium.
The Deacs entered the halftime break up by a score of 1-0, as Tubbs collected his third career goal in the 14th minute following a saved free kick attempt. Wake Forest then extended its lead to 2-0 four minutes into the second half as Sears netted his sixth goal of the season – tying him for the team lead – before Guarino completed the night with his fourth goal of the season with 53 seconds left.
Defensively, Wake Forest allowed just three shots on goal which were saved by sophomore Trace Alphin.
Wake Forest finished the regular season portion of the schedule 7-0-0 against non-conference opponents at home, outscoring those sides by a combined 21-5 with three clean sheets.
Wake Forest will close out the regular season with a pair of crucial ACC matches to determine seeding and potential fire round byes in the conference tournament, first playing at Virginia on Saturday night at Klockner Stadium.
Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the match will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
How It Happened
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Wake Forest recorded four shots and earned two corner kicks in the first seven minutes of action, but Wofford's defense was able to block every Demon Deacon attempt.
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After a continued effort in the attacking third, the Deacs opened the scoring in the 14th minute as junior Garrison Tubbs found the back of the net from the outside of his right foot.
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The play began on a free kick taken by sophomore Ryan Fessler, as Wofford goalkeeper Cameron Victor saved Fessler's direct attempt before freshman Vlad Walent swung in a pass for Tubbs to deliver.
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The goal was Tubbs' second of the season – setting a new single-season career-high – and Walent collected the fourth assist of his debut season.
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Sophomore Trace Alphin collected his first save of the night in the 29th minute, getting his leg on a shot from Wofford's Kameron Grost.
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Sophomore Leo Guarino created space for himself on a 33rd-minute shot that was knocked away by Victor. Senior Omar Hernandez collected a shot just 41 second after entering the match in the 33rd minute as well, but the Terriers blocked his attempt.
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Wofford recorded two quick shots to start the second half, including a hit off the crossbar, but neither put the Terriers level.
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In the 49th minute, senior Takuma Suzuki created a Wofford turnover that would lead to Wake Forest's second goal of the night. After successfully taking the ball from Grost, Suzuki found Sears to his left before he composed a shot that would beat Victor.
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The goal was Sears' sixth of the season, tying him for the team lead with sophomore Roald Mitchell. It also marked the second time this season he's scored in back-to-back matches (George Mason and Clemson).
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Suzuki, meanwhile, registered his first assist of the season.
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Just 14 seconds after entering the match, sophomore Julian Kennedy rocketed a shot that hit off the crossbar in the 75th minute.
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Alphin collected his third save of the night on a shot from Brandon Oddy in the 89th minute.
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Then in the final minute of the contest, the sophomore-to-sophomore connection of Kennedy to Guarino provided a third Demon Deacon goal.
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The goal was Guarino's fourth of the season while Kennedy collected his second assist of the year.
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Hernandez – who set up the scoring play – also recorded his first goal contribution of the season.
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Demon Deacon Details of Note
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With the victory, Wake Forest has won 92 home matches at Spry Stadium since the beginning of the 2015 season–most in the country during the eight-year span.
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Wake Forest's nine home victories this season are also most in the country, ahead of No. 1 Washington who was eight.
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Wake Forest's 127 victories since the beginning of the 2015 season are also most in the country.
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With the victory, Wake Forest has reached the 12-win mark for the eighth-straight season and the 24th time in the program's 42-year history.
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The Deacs finished the 2022 regular season 6-0-0 against non-conference opponents at Spry Stadium and 7-1-0 overall against foes from outside of the ACC.
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Wake Forest extended its record against Wofford in the all-time series to 4-0-0.
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Wake Forest utilized the same Starting XI from the team's 3-1 victory over Boston College on Saturday night.
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Sophomore Trace Alphin earned his 30th career start.
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Sophomore Roald Mitchell earned his 15th career start.
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Sophomore Bo Cummins made his 20th career appearance.
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Freshman Vlad Walent made his 15th career appearance in the start.
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Freshman Cooper Flax made his first appearance since Wake Forest's 6-1 victory over Clemson on Sept. 24.
From Coach Muuss
"We had to win the game. For NCAA Tournament hopes, I think we needed to come here and get the victory, which we did. Credit to Wofford. I think they are a really good football playing team and a well-coached team. To be honest, I think they were a little bit unlucky today. They put themselves in some decent chances to score goals with their ball movement and they moved us all over the place and I give them a lot of credit, but credit to our guys too. We bent but we didn't break. We were in some good situations. I thought we created some problems for ourselves and I thought at halftime the guys listened a little bit. We stayed a little bit more disciplined defensively. We were just flying forward trying to get the second goal. Credit to Takuma Suzuki, he made a great tackle in the middle of the park to set up the transition for the second goal. It was a good team win." - Bobby Muuss
Up Next
Wake Forest will make its first regular season appearance in Charlottesville since the 2018 season on Saturday night when the Deacs face Virginia.
Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the match will air on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
Garrison Tubbs (2)
Assisted By: Vlad Walent
GOAL by WFU Tubbs, Garrison Assist by Walent, Vlad.
13:07
Oscar Sears (6)
Assisted By: Takuma Suzuki
GOAL by WFU Sears, Oscar Assist by Suzuki, Takuma.
48:27
Leo Guarino (4)
Assisted By: Julian Kennedy , Omar Hernandez
GOAL by WFU Guarino, Leo Assist by Kennedy, Julian and Hernandez, Omar.
89:07
