Sunday, November 19
Winston-Salem, N.C.
5:00 PM
Wake Forest University
11-3-5, 4-1-3
2
vs
3
Indiana
14-4-4, 4-2-2
1
2
3
4
F
Indiana
0
2
1
0
3
Wake Forest
1
1
0
0
2
Memorable 2023 Season Comes to an End for Wake Forest Men’s Soccer
11/19/2023 8:20:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Demon Deacons fell to Indiana 3-2 in a battle of programs annually making NCAA Tournament appearances.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- In a battle between two of men's college soccer's premier programs, Wake Forest (11-3-5) saw a memorable 2023 season come to an end on Sunday night, as the Demon Deacons fell to Big Ten regular season and tournament champions Indiana (14-4-4) 3-2 in overtime on Sunday night at Spry Stadium.
A back and forth contest saw the Demon Deacons enter the halftime break leading 1-0, as Jahlane Forbes netted a 21st-minute goal. In the second half, the Hoosiers and Deacs exchanged goals in the 54th, 67th and 73rd minutes with Wake Forest's goal coming as the result of Roald Mitchell being taken down inside the 18-yard box before Vlad Walent buried a penalty kick.
Indiana, however, scored the game-winning goal in the 94th minute.
The 2023 season provided numerous highlight moments for the program including:
"It was a great college soccer game with two of the best programs in the country. Indiana did a lot of things well that we need to get better at, and I think we did a lot of things well that caused them some problems. We came out of halftime with a 1-0 lead and a really good chance to take over the game. Their keeper makes a good save, they score and then we come back and score again. We had another chance to go two goals up in good, comfortable situations. Give Indiana credit, but it was three soft goals in my opinion and we have to do a better job. It's unfortunate that we don't have an opportunity to come out on Monday or Tuesday to try to get better at that. I take responsibility. In the end, we just didn't do enough to win it and they did. It's heartbreaking in a lot of ways, because I think this is a special group, not just a great team. They work in the community and they are leaders in the classroom. The togetherness and the enjoyability that they have every time they're in the locker room, on the field and in the community is incredible. It's something that has been unmatched since I've been here, so I'm proud they fought to the end. I want to thank Deacon Nation for coming out today. It was an electric crowd and the guys gave them something to cheer about and they helped us through it. It's a gut wrenching loss, though. It's not the way I wanted the seniors to end their careers at Spry."
2023 Season In Review
A back and forth contest saw the Demon Deacons enter the halftime break leading 1-0, as Jahlane Forbes netted a 21st-minute goal. In the second half, the Hoosiers and Deacs exchanged goals in the 54th, 67th and 73rd minutes with Wake Forest's goal coming as the result of Roald Mitchell being taken down inside the 18-yard box before Vlad Walent buried a penalty kick.
Indiana, however, scored the game-winning goal in the 94th minute.
The 2023 season provided numerous highlight moments for the program including:
- Earning a 13th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the second longest streak nationally and eight years more than any ACC program
- The fifth ACC Atlantic Division title in nine seasons, most of any conference program since the current format was unveiled prior to the 2014 season
- Becoming the first program to reach 100 home victories since the start of the 2015 season
- Head coach Bobby Muuss and the coaching staff guiding the Deacs to their 50th ACC regular season win over the last nine seasons
- Earning at least one point in each of the team's final seven ACC regular season matches
- Finishing the regular season unbeaten against non-conference foes
- The senior class becoming one of just eight programs nationally to earn 50 or more victories over the last four seasons
- An early connecting pass from an attack-minded Cristian Escribano found Roald Mitchell who then backheeled a pass to Cooper Flax in the fourth minute but his attempt was saved.
- Trace Alphin came up with an acrobatic save in the ninth minute top stop Indiana.
- The Deacs created a dangerous opportunity in the 20th minute, as activity in front of the Hoosiers' goal led to a volley from Mitchell that went wide of the frame.
- Wake Forest took a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute, as the Deacs forced the Hoosiers into a turnover before a connection from Jake Swallen to Flax to Jahlane Forbes beat the Indiana keeper.
- The goal was Forbes' fifth of the season as he tallied a career-high 17 points on the campaign.
- The assist was Flax's fourth of the season and the ninth of his career.
- The assist was Swallen's 17th career assist, 26th-most in program history.
- The Hoosiers recorded three shots on goal in the first half, all of which were saved by Alphin. Additionally, the Deacs blocked numerous attempts in the first half that led to six corners but the Hoosiers did not convert on any of the restarts.
- In the 49th and 50th minutes, Alphin stepped up with two big saves for the Demon Deacons.
- The Deacs' attack shortly after netted two solid attempts for Mitchell but neither was able to double Wake Forest's lead.
- Indiana, however, tied the match at 1-1 in the 54th minute on the team's eighth corner of the night.
- Wake Forest responded in the 67th minute after Mitchell was taken down in the box by the Indiana keeper for a Demon Deacon penalty kick. Vlad Walent stepped to the spot and buried his attempt into the top of the net for the 2-1 lead.
- Activity in front of the Deacs' net would even the scoreline at 2-2 in the 73rd minute.
- The Deacs and Hoosiers entered overtime, marking Wake Forest's first extra time appearance since a 1-1 draw with NC State on Sept. 24, 2021.
- Indiana took its first lead of the match in the 94th minute at 3-2, which proved to be the deciding goal.
- Garrison Tubbs earned his 70th career start.
- Tubbs is just the 31st Demon Deacon in program history to earn 70 career starts.
- Cristian Escribano earned his 50th career start.
- Jahlane Forbes made his 70th career appearance.
- Jake Swallen made his 65th career appearance.
- Colin Thomas made his 60th career appearance.
- Roald Mitchell made his 60th career appearance.
- Trace Alphin made his 55th career appearance.
- This marked Wake Forest's sixth all-time meeting with Indiana, as the two schools are knotted at 3-3-0 in the all-time series.
"It was a great college soccer game with two of the best programs in the country. Indiana did a lot of things well that we need to get better at, and I think we did a lot of things well that caused them some problems. We came out of halftime with a 1-0 lead and a really good chance to take over the game. Their keeper makes a good save, they score and then we come back and score again. We had another chance to go two goals up in good, comfortable situations. Give Indiana credit, but it was three soft goals in my opinion and we have to do a better job. It's unfortunate that we don't have an opportunity to come out on Monday or Tuesday to try to get better at that. I take responsibility. In the end, we just didn't do enough to win it and they did. It's heartbreaking in a lot of ways, because I think this is a special group, not just a great team. They work in the community and they are leaders in the classroom. The togetherness and the enjoyability that they have every time they're in the locker room, on the field and in the community is incredible. It's something that has been unmatched since I've been here, so I'm proud they fought to the end. I want to thank Deacon Nation for coming out today. It was an electric crowd and the guys gave them something to cheer about and they helped us through it. It's a gut wrenching loss, though. It's not the way I wanted the seniors to end their careers at Spry."
2023 Season In Review
- The Demon Deacons finished the 2023 season with an 11-3-5 overall record and the program's fifth ACC Atlantic Division title in nine seasons.
- The five divisional titles are the most in the ACC since the current scheduling format was introduced in 2014.
- The 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances are most in the ACC by eight years, as Wake Forest joins Indiana as the only programs to have double-digit NCAA Tournament appearance streaks.
- Wake Forest went 8-2-3 at home this season and became the only program to reach 100 home wins since the start of the 2015 season. The Deacs reached this monumental mark in a 2-0 victory over Wofford on Oct. 10.
- With 11 victories on the season, Wake Forest reached a double-digit win total for the 12th-straight year.
- In a 1-0 victory over Boston College in September, Wake Forest reached 50 ACC regular season wins under Coach Muuss along with his staff of Associate Head Coaches Steve Armas and Dane Brenner along with Assistant Coach Ade Taiwo. With 52 ACC regular season wins over the last nine seasons, Wake Forest has earned 11 more ACC regular season victories than any other ACC program during that span.
- In a 3-0 victory over NC State in October, Wake Forest extended its 22-match unbeaten streak against the Wolfpack dating back to a 1-0 victory during the 2006 season.
- From Sept. 12-Oct. 27, Wake Forest was unbeaten in 12-straight matches, the longest unbeaten stretch for the Deacs since the 2017 season.
- Wake Forest is one of only eight programs nationally and one of only two from the ACC to earn 50 or more wins over the last four seasons.
- The Demon Deacons had six All-ACC selections: Garrison Tubbs (first-team), Hosei Kijima (second-team), Jahlane Forbes (second-team), Roald Mitchell (second-team), Trace Alphin (second-team) and Liam O'Gara (all-freshman).
- Tubbs was named the ACC's Defensive Player of the Year, as he joined Wake Forest Sports Hall of Famer Michael Parkhurst (2004), Ike Opara (2008, 2009) and Kevin Politz (2017) to earn the conference's yearly honor. He was also the first Demon Deacon to earn one of the conference's player of the year awards since Omir Fernandez was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year and Bruno Lapa was named ACC Midfielder of the Year in 2018.
Team Stats
IND
WFU
Goals
3
2
Shots
22
12
Shots on Goal
9
8
Saves
6
6
Corners
13
3
Fouls
12
20
Scoring Plays
Jahlane Forbes (5)
Assisted By: Cooper Flax , Jake Swallen
GOAL by WFU Forbes, Jahlane Assist by Flax, Cooper and Swallen, Jake.
20:38
Hugo Bacharach (4)
Assisted By: Patrick McDonald
GOAL by IND Bacharach, Hugo Assist by McDonald, Patrick.
53:40
Vlad Walent (1)
WFU Vlad Walent PENALTY KICK GOAL.
66:47
Karsen Henderlong (4)
Assisted By: Maouloune Goumballe
GOAL by IND Henderlong, Karsen Assist by Goumballe, Maouloune.
72:39
Hugo Bacharach (4)
Assisted By: Patrick McDonald
GOAL by IND Bacharach, Hugo Assist by McDonald, Patrick.
93:46
Game Leaders
Players
Shots
3
SOG
2
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
2
SOG
2
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
2
SOG
2
Goals
0
Assists
1
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
0
Assists
1
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
/ Men's Soccer
Defender
/ Men's SoccerMidfielder
/ Men's SoccerMidfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Forward
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerMidfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Defender
/ Men's SoccerMidfielder
/ Men's SoccerFootball Media Availability (9/23/25)
Tuesday, September 23
Wake Forest Football Head Coach Jake Dickert Press Conference (Week 5)
Tuesday, September 23
Coach Jake Dickert Press Conference (Sept. 22, 2025)
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Football Media Availability (9/18/25)
Thursday, September 18