Tuesday, September 19
Winston-Salem, N.C.
7:00 PM
Wake Forest University
4-1-3, 0-1-1
3
vs
1
Liberty
5-2-0, 0-0-0
1
2
F
Liberty
0
1
1
Wake Forest
2
1
3
No. 14 Wake Forest Picks Up Fourth Win of Season in Mental Health Awareness Match
9/19/2023 9:43:00 PM | Men's Soccer
A first half brace from Roald Mitchell and a dominant percentage of possession pushed the Demon Deacons to a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The No. 14 ranked Wake Forest men's soccer team (4-1-3, 0-1-1 ACC) earned its fourth victory of the season on Tuesday night, downing Liberty (5-2-0, 0-0-0 OVC) 3-1 at Spry Stadium in the team's Mental Health Awareness Match.
The Deacs went into the halftime break holding a 2-0 lead off of two goals from Roald Mitchell, who moved into 20th in program history in career goals with 19. Additionally, the first half brace marked his fourth career multi-goal game for the junior.
In the second half, Liberty briefly cut the Wake Forest lead down to 2-1 with a 53rd-minute strike before a Sidney Paris goal just five minutes later secured the victory as 24 Demon Deacons logged minutes.
Wake Forest finished the night with nine shots on goal to Liberty's five while Trace Alphin made four saves on the night.
Wearing special green uniforms for the program's Mental Health Awareness Match, proceeds from these game-worn jerseys will benefit the Trinity Center in Winston-Salem. Bidding remains open through the end of Tuesday.
The Demon Deacons will conclude their four-match homestand with a seismic ACC regular season clash with longtime rivals Clemson on Friday night.
Kick-off for the conference contest is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will air nationally on the ACC Network.
Strongest At Spry
Over the last nine seasons, Wake Forest has registered 98 home victories – most in the country by 20 victories.
Home Wins Since The Start Of The 2015 season
1. Wake Forest (98 home victories)
2. Indiana (78 home victories)
3. Kentucky (75 home victories)
Clemson (75 home victories)
5. Virginia (72 home victories)
Georgetown (72 home victories)
Starting with a 4-0 victory over William & Mary on Oct. 5, 2021, the Demon Deacons are undefeated in their last 15 matches against non-conference opponents in the regular season with a record of 14-0-1. During that span, Wake Forest has outscored those 15 opponents by a plus-42 margin.
So far this season, Wake Forest is 4-0-2 at home:
"It wasn't pretty, but they say good teams find a way to win and I think we showed that today. It definitely wasn't our best. It was sloppy and I have to give Liberty a lot of credit. I thought we could have put the game away earlier. It was comfortable at halftime, it was 10-to-4 in shots. It's comfortable, then they stepped off and we played into them. We need to do a better job of being a little bit more proactive, playing a little bit more forward and getting the ball in their half."
Up Next
The Demon Deacons will renew their longstanding series with the Clemson Tigers on Friday night at Spry Stadium in the 55th all-time meeting between the two sides.
Kick-off will be at 6 p.m. and the match will air on the ACC Network.
The Deacs went into the halftime break holding a 2-0 lead off of two goals from Roald Mitchell, who moved into 20th in program history in career goals with 19. Additionally, the first half brace marked his fourth career multi-goal game for the junior.
In the second half, Liberty briefly cut the Wake Forest lead down to 2-1 with a 53rd-minute strike before a Sidney Paris goal just five minutes later secured the victory as 24 Demon Deacons logged minutes.
Wake Forest finished the night with nine shots on goal to Liberty's five while Trace Alphin made four saves on the night.
Wearing special green uniforms for the program's Mental Health Awareness Match, proceeds from these game-worn jerseys will benefit the Trinity Center in Winston-Salem. Bidding remains open through the end of Tuesday.
The Demon Deacons will conclude their four-match homestand with a seismic ACC regular season clash with longtime rivals Clemson on Friday night.
Kick-off for the conference contest is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will air nationally on the ACC Network.
Strongest At Spry
Over the last nine seasons, Wake Forest has registered 98 home victories – most in the country by 20 victories.
Home Wins Since The Start Of The 2015 season
1. Wake Forest (98 home victories)
2. Indiana (78 home victories)
3. Kentucky (75 home victories)
Clemson (75 home victories)
5. Virginia (72 home victories)
Georgetown (72 home victories)
Starting with a 4-0 victory over William & Mary on Oct. 5, 2021, the Demon Deacons are undefeated in their last 15 matches against non-conference opponents in the regular season with a record of 14-0-1. During that span, Wake Forest has outscored those 15 opponents by a plus-42 margin.
So far this season, Wake Forest is 4-0-2 at home:
- Wake Forest 3, Grand Canyon 1 (Aug. 24)
- Wake Forest 1, Cal 1 (Aug. 27)
- Wake Forest 5, Furman 1 (Sept. 4)
- Wake Forest 4, Gardner-Webb 0 (Sept. 12)
- Wake Forest 1, No. 7 Syracuse 1 (Sept. 16)
- Wake Forest 3, Liberty 1 (Sept. 19)
- After dominating the first few minutes of possession, Cooper Flax nearly made the Liberty keeper pay on a seventh-minute shot from the top of the 18 that went wide.
- In the 12th minute, a second miscue in the back for the Flames nearly cost Liberty, but Roald Mitchell's shot was off target.
- Mitchell would, however, record his sixth goal of the season just one minute later as a shot from Flax deflected off a Flames defender before the Montclair, N.J., native one-timed a ball into the back of the net.
- Trace Alphin was first tested in the 23rd minute off a Liberty throw in into the box that was headed towards the Demon Deacon goal before the Wake Forest junior dove to his right to save the attempt.
- In the 28th minute, Mitchell logged a second goal of the first half, controlling a cross in from Cristian Escribano to beat Flames goalkeeper Blake Franzen for the second time on the night.
- The tally marked Mitchell's 19th career goal, moving him into 20th all-time in program history in career goals.
- The assist was Escribano's first of the season and the fifth of his career.
- Jeffrey White blasted a 38th-minute shot that Franzen had to extend for to stop a third Deacon first-half goal.
- Wake Forest finished with a 10-4 advantage in shots and 63 percent of possession.
- Liberty cut into the Wake Forest lead in the 53rd minute off a header from a Flames corner kick.
- The Deacs would respond just four minutes later, as Vlad Walent – who possessed a ball headed down by Roald Mitchell – lifted a cross into the box that Sidney Paris would turn into the third Wake Forest goal of the night and his third of the season.
- The assist was Walent's second of the season while the secondary assist for Mitchell marked his fifth point of the night.
- It also marks the second time Paris has scored in consecutive matches in his collegiate career as he also scored on a penalty kick against No. 7 Syracuse last Saturday.
- Wake Forest pushed for a fourth goal in the 62nd minute with back-to-back shots that were saved by the Liberty backline.
- Just seconds after entering the match, Julian Kennedy forced the Liberty keeper into his third save of the night before a Deacs corner resulted in a second shot for the junior.
- Garrison Tubbs earned his 60th career start.
- Prince Amponsah earned his 50th career start.
- Colin Thomas made his 55th career appearance.
- Bo Cummins made his 30th career appearance.
- Babacar Niang made his 30th career appearance.
- With the victory, Wake Forest now has 100 more wins than losses under head coach Bobby Muuss as the Demon Deacons sport a 133-33-15 record in nine seasons under his leadership.
- The victory marked Wake Forest's fourth all-time against Liberty and the first since Sept. 8, 1999.
- With tonight's outcome, this year's senior class has propelled the Deacs to 44 wins over the last four seasons – tied for the fourth-highest win total since the beginning of the 2020-21 season.
"It wasn't pretty, but they say good teams find a way to win and I think we showed that today. It definitely wasn't our best. It was sloppy and I have to give Liberty a lot of credit. I thought we could have put the game away earlier. It was comfortable at halftime, it was 10-to-4 in shots. It's comfortable, then they stepped off and we played into them. We need to do a better job of being a little bit more proactive, playing a little bit more forward and getting the ball in their half."
Up Next
The Demon Deacons will renew their longstanding series with the Clemson Tigers on Friday night at Spry Stadium in the 55th all-time meeting between the two sides.
Kick-off will be at 6 p.m. and the match will air on the ACC Network.
Team Stats
LIB
WFU
Goals
1
3
Shots
11
16
Shots on Goal
5
9
Saves
4
4
Corners
4
5
Fouls
23
7
Scoring Plays
Roald Mitchell (7)
GOAL by WFU Mitchell, Roald.
12:45
Roald Mitchell (7)
Assisted By: Cristian Escribano
GOAL by WFU Mitchell, Roald Assist by Escribano, Cristian.
27:44
Lucas Kelly (1)
Assisted By: Ocho Fasteen
GOAL by LIB Kelly, Lucas Assist by Fasteen, Ocho.
52:44
Sidney Paris (3)
Assisted By: Vlad Walent , Roald Mitchell
GOAL by WFU Paris, Sidney Assist by Walent, Vlad and Mitchell, Roald.
57:12
Game Leaders
Players
Shots
4
SOG
2
Goals
2
Assists
1
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
2
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
1
Shots
0
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
1
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
/ Men's Soccer
Defender
/ Men's Soccer
Defender
/ Men's SoccerDefender
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Forward
/ Men's SoccerForward
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerMidfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Defender
/ Men's SoccerMidfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
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