No. 2 Wake Forest Picks Up Three Points at SMU

DALLAS – Behind a 78th-minute winner from junior forward Caiya Hanks, the No. 2-ranked Wake Forest women's soccer team notched its third-consecutive win with a 2-1 result at SMU Saturday night at Washburne Stadium.

The Demon Deacons (10-2-2, 5-1-1 ACC) opened the scoring right out of the halftime break, as great team play set up senior midfielder Emily Colton in the box, who took a phenomenal touch to send a defender and fired it past the keeper for her sixth goal of the season. Hanks and senior Anna Swanson logged assists on the goal.

Colton, who was recently rated as the number two player in the country by TopDrawerSoccer, has now recorded at least one goal contribution in seven of her last nine appearances for the Demon Deacons and is tied for the team lead with six goals. Additionally, her 15 total points rank second on the team behind Hanks (20).

After the Mustangs (6-8-2, 2-5-2 ACC) equalized in the 56th minute, Wake Forest took the lead for good on Hanks' strike 22 minutes later. It marked the Hawaii-native's fourth game of the season with multiple goal contributions. She also now has a team-best seven goals and 20 total points, including a goal in each of the last three matches.

With the assist on the winner, senior midfielder Nikayla Small is now tied for eighth in program history with 15 for her career. She now has seven points on the year with two goals and three assists.

Eight of the 10 outfield players for the Demon Deacons went the full 90 minutes, including the backline of seniors Laurel Ansbrow, Zara Chavoshi, Kristin Johnson and redshirt freshman Sierra Sythe. Of note, Chavoshi was also ranked in TopDrawerSoccer's top 100, as well as senior midfielder Emily Morris.

In goal, Valentina Amaral improved to 6-1-1 in games she's started, and has only allowed five goals over 855 minutes of action for a ridiculous .53 career goals-against average.

As a team, Wake Forest outshot SMU 23-to-11 (8-to-3 on-goal) throughout the 90 minutes and controlled the contest. Hanks led the team with a career-high 10 shots.

Wake Forest now has 16 points in ACC play, putting them in third following the match with three games left to play.

How It Happened

SMU's lone shot of the first half came in the fourth minute, but Amaral corralled it.
Emily Colton was inches away from an opener in the seventh minute as she fired a shot from distance and forced the keeper into a fingertip save over the bar for a Wake Forest corner.
After an excellent run down the left wing in the 14th minute, Hanks fired a shot on target and beat the keeper, but an SMU defender had a goal-line clearance to keep the match scoreless.
Emily Morris and Emily Colton both had a couple of half-chances in the 22nd and 29th minutes.
Wake Forest's final shot on goal of the first half came in the 37th minute as her free kick from the keeper's right won another corner for the Deacs.
The two sides went into the break scoreless.
- Wake Forest out-shot SMU 11-to-1 over the first 45 minutes and 3-to-1 in shots on-goal.
Wake Forest came out of the break firing, as Emily Colton found an opener in the 47th minute.
- The goal came following great team play to set up Colton in the box, who took a phenomenal touch to send a defender and fired it past the keeper for her sixth goal of the season.
SMU equalized 10 minutes later.
After continuous pressure from the Deacs, the winner finally came at the foot of Caiya Hanks.
- Her strike was her team-best seventh of the season and moved her to 20 total points on the season.
Excellent defending from the Deacs over the final 10 minutes saw out the rest of the contest as Wake Forest picked up the three points with a 2-1 victory.

Demon Deacon Details of Note

Hanks continued her great junior campaign with a goal and an assist, her fourth game of the season with multiple goal contributions.
- She now has a team-best seven goals and 20 total points, including a goal in each of the last three matches.
With her strike in the 47th minute, Emily Colton has now recorded at least one goal contribution in seven of her last nine appearances for the Demon Deacons and is now tied for the team lead with six goals.
- Additionally, her 15 total points rank second on the team behind Hanks (20).
With her secondary assist on the winner, Nikayla Small is now tied for eighth all-time in program history with 15-career assists.
Sierra Sythe and Anna Swanson both notched assists on the night as well, bringing their season points tally to nine and seven, respectively.
The Demon Deacons were recently ranked No. 2 in United Soccer Coaches Poll, the highest ranking in program history.
- Additionally, Wake Forest sits fifth in the RPI and second in the TopDrawerSoccer poll.
The Deacs enter the match ranked in the top five of the ACC in multiple categories, including goals-against average (.615), shots per game (18.54) and corners per game (6.85).
Wake Forest now has 16 points in ACC play, putting them in third following the match with three games left to play.
The Demon Deacons now have three players with double-digit points and seven players with five or more so far in 2024.
- Caiya Hanks - 20 points (7 goals, 6 assists)
- Emily Colton - 15 points (6 goals, 3 assists)
- Emily Murphy - 10 points (2 goal, 6 assists)
- Sierra Sythe - 9 points (3 goals, 3 assists)
- Anna Swanson - 7 points (3 goals, 1 assist)
- Nikayla Small - 7 points (2 goals, 3 assists)
- Hannah Johnson - 5 points (2 goals, 1 assist)
In goal, Valentina Amaral improved to 6-1-1 in games she's started, and has only allowed five goals over 855 minutes of action for a ridiculous .53 career goals-against average.
- She logged two saves against the Mustangs.
This marked the first game inside Texas in program history and just the third time the Deacs have taken on a Texas school.
Zara Chavoshi became the third active Demon Deacon to reach 60 collegiate starts, joining Emily Colton (81) and Kristin Johnson (63).
Kristin Johnson made her 70th-career appearance.
Emily Morris made her 60th-career appearance.
Caiya Hanks made her 50th-career appearance.
Dempsey Brown made her 30th-career appearance.

From Coach da Luz
"We were a little rusty tonight, but we still created a lot of good chances and two great team goals to win. Caiya, Nikki and Emily Colton were exceptional making up for the absence of Emily Murphy. Anytime you take three points on the road in the ACC you have to be happy and proud of the performance."

Up Next
The Demon Deacons will head to Pittsburgh for their final regular season road match on Thursday, Oct. 24.

The match is slated for 7 p.m. and will be shown live on ACC Network Extra.

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Team Stats

Caiya Hanks

Emily Colton

Nikayla Small

Anna Swanson

Players Mentioned

Valentina Amaral

Laurel Ansbrow

Dempsey Brown

Zara Chavoshi

Emily Colton

Caiya Hanks

Hannah Johnson

Kristin Johnson

Emily Morris

Emily Murphy

Nikayla Small

Anna Swanson

Sierra Sythe

Wake Forest Athletics