Demon Deacons Earn Second-Straight Victory With 2-0 Decision Against ETSU

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Through a pair of second half goals from graduate Colin Thomas and junior Cooper Flax, Wake Forest men's soccer (4-3-3, 1-1-1 ACC) logged its second-straight victory with a 2-0 decision over ETSU (1-5-3, 0-0-0 SoCon) on Tuesday night at Spry Stadium.

After a 0-0 halftime scoreline, Wake Forest opened up the scoring in the 61st minute as Thomas beat ETSU keeper Marc Kouadio for his fourth career goal and the first since a game-winning strike against Virginia Tech on Sept. 16, 2022.

Then five minutes later, junior Cooper Flax notched his third goal of the season.

The Demon Deacons finished the night with a 28-5 advantage in shots including 17 shots on goal to the Buccaneers' two.

Senior goalkeeper Trace Alphin stopped both shots on goal he faced on the night and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Jonah Mednard made his collegiate debut as Wake Forest recorded its second clean sheet of the season.

Wake Forest will resume ACC action this Saturday, hosting Boston College for a 7 p.m. start at Spry.

The Spry Homefield Advantage
Wake Forest extended its nationally best mark at home over the last decade with its 105th home victory since the start of the 2015 season. Over this span, Wake Forest has recorded 18 more home victories than any other program and 21 more than any ACC school.

School	Home Victories Since 2015
Wake Forest	105
Indiana	87
Clemson	84
Virginia	80
4. Georgetown	80

With Tuesday night's result, Wake Forest also sports an impressive 19-1-2 record against non-conference opponents in regular season action dating back to a 4-0 victory over William & Mary on Oct. 5, 2021.

During this 22-match stretch, the Demon Deacons and have outscored opponents by a +50 margin:

Wake Forest 2, ETSU 0 (Oct. 1, 2024)
Wake Forest 1, No. 10 Elon 1 (Sept. 17, 2024)
Wake Forest 1, Radford 0 (Sept. 9, 2024)
Wake Forest 3, Central Arkansas 2 (Aug. 25, 2024)
Wake Forest 1, VCU 2 (Aug. 22, 2024)
Wake Forest 5, Robert Morris 1 (Oct. 17, 2023)
Wake Forest 2, Wofford 0 (Oct. 10, 2023)
Wake Forest 3, Liberty 1 (Sept. 19, 2023)
Wake Forest 4, Gardner-Webb 0 (Sept. 12, 2023)
Wake Forest 5, Furman 1 (Sept. 4, 2023)
Wake Forest 1, Cal 1 (Aug. 27, 2023)
Wake Forest 3, Grand Canyon 1 (Aug. 24, 2023)
Wake Forest 3, Wofford 0 (Oct. 18, 2022)
Wake Forest 1, Jacksonville 0 (Oct. 4, 2022)
Wake Forest 6, George Mason 1 (Sept. 20, 2022)
Wake Forest 3, FDU 2 (Sept. 13, 2022)
Wake Forest 5, Winthrop 1 (Sept. 6, 2024)
Wake Forest 2, Air Force 1 (Aug. 28, 2024)
Wake Forest 1, UCF 0 (Aug. 25, 2022)
Wake Forest 7, Loyola University Maryland 0 (Oct. 19, 2021)
Wake Forest 3, George Washington 0 (Oct. 12, 2021)
Wake Forest 4, William & Mary 0 (Oct. 5, 2021)

How It Happened

Wake Forest dominated possession in the early minutes, as graduate Sidney Paris attempted the first shot of the night in the third minute that went into the side netting.
After sophomore Jeffrey White was fouled just outside of the 18, Wake Forest had two attempts inside the box that were saved and blocked in the sixth minute.
The Deacs' best opportunity at an opener in the opening 25 minutes came when freshman Amoni Thomas' run down the right created an opening for White to take an attempt that was saved.
- Wake Forest outshot ETSU 8-1 in the first 25 minutes.
The Demon Deacons spent a majority of the first half in the attacking third, as Wake Forest finished the first half with advantages in shots (14 to 2), shots on goal (7 to 1) and possession (64 percent).
In the 58th minute, Wake Forest nearly got the first goal on the board as an in-swinging corner kick from junior Cooper Flax found the head of graduate Prince Amponsah who headed it over to freshman Daniel Krueger who's attempt went narrowly over the crossbar.
Wake Forest would take a 1-0 lead in the 61st, as graduate Colin Thomas bagged his fourth career goal, taking advantage of Demon Deacon pressure on a poorly cleared ball by the Buccaneers.
- The goal was Thomas' first since a game-winning strike against Virginia Tech on Sept. 16, 2022.
Five minutes later, Flax logged his third goal of the campaign, one-timing a saved shot from Thomas.
- With the goal, the Dix Hills, N.Y., native has set a new career-high for goals in a single season.
Wake Forest would finish the night with 28 shots to ETSU's five and 17 shots on goal, tied for most in a match this season, as 22 Deacs contributed to the victory.

Demon Deacon Details of Note

Graduate Prince Amponsah earned his 71st career start, 29th-most in program history.
Junior Basit Umar earned his 25th career start.
Sophomore Travis Smith Jr. earned his 15th career start.
Graduate Colin Thomas made his 70th career appearance.
Senior Trace Alphin made his 65th career appearance and earned his 45th straight start dating back to a 3-1 victory over Virginia Tech on Oct. 16, 2021.
Senior Ryan Fessler made his 55th career appearance.
Redshirt freshman Jonah Mednard made his collegiate debut, entering the match in the 83rd minute.
With the result, Wake Forest remains unbeaten in the all-time series against ETSU at 2-0-1 with both victories coming under head coach Bobby Muuss.

From Coach Muuss
"I think it was a really good, 90-minute team performance. I was a little bit frustrated in the first half with a couple of chances we missed, but hats off to their goalkeeper. He made some big-time saves tonight. Fourteen saves. We played all the healthy guys on the roster tonight, so it's a good team performance with a big game coming up on Saturday."

Up Next
Wake Forest will remain at Spry Stadium for its second-straight home contest, facing Boston College on Saturday evening in ACC action.

Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

Wake Forest Athletics

Demon Deacons Earn Second-Straight Victory With 2-0 Decision Against ETSU

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Players Mentioned

Trace Alphin

Prince Amponsah

Ryan Fessler

Cooper Flax

Daniel Krueger

Jonah Mednard

Sidney Paris

Travis Smith Jr.

Amoni Thomas

Colin Thomas

Basit Umar

Jeffrey White

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