No. 4 Demon Deacons Set to Host No. 6 Florida State

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- After rising one spot to No. 4 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll, the Wake Forest women's soccer team will host No. 6 Florida State in yet another highly-ranked matchup this Thursday, Oct. 3 at Spry Stadium.

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

The team will be wearing pink jerseys for the match, which will be auctioned off, with all proceeds raised going to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Cancer Health Equity Patient Care Fund. Bidding is open now through Thursday night.

Prior to the match, Wake Forest women's soccer will honor seniors Nikayla Small and Paige Nurkin for their contributions to the program.

Pro Humanitate -- Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts
The impact of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Helene has been catastrophic, with entire communities in western North Carolina and across the Southeast now facing the daunting task of recovery and rebuilding. Wake Forest Athletics will have donation boxes at all home events this week, including tomorrow's soccer match. The generosity of fans will go towards the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund or to the United Way of North Carolina - Helene.

Need to Know - Game 13
No. 6 Florida State (7-0-2, 2-0-1 ACC) at No. 4 Wake Forest (8-2-2, 3-1-1 ACC)
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024 - 7 PM - ACC Network Extra
Winston-Salem, N.C. – Spry Stadium

Quick Hitters

The Demon Deacons were recently ranked No. 4 in United Soccer Coaches Poll, the highest ranking for Wake Forest since 2012.
- Additionally, Wake Forest sits fourth in the RPI and third in the TopDrawerSoccer poll.
Spry Stadium has been a fortress for the Demon Deacons over the last three seasons, as Wake Forest has posted a stellar 15-2-6 record at home since the start of 2022 and is currently on a 14-game unbeaten stretch.
- A win on Thursday would set the program record for longest home unbeaten streak.
The Deacs enter the match ranked in the top five of the ACC in multiple categories, including goals-against average (.583), shots per game (18.58) and corners per game (6.83).
Individually, Caiya Hanks and Emily Colton are tied for 10th in the conference with five goals apiece.
- Additionally, Hanks and Emily Murphy are fourth in the ACC with five assists.
- Hanks sits eighth in the conference with 15 total points and Colton is 11th with 13.
Wake Forest now has 10 points in ACC play, putting them in third as of Wednesday with five matches left to play.
The Demon Deacons have two players with double-digit points and six players with five or more so far in 2024.
- Caiya Hanks - 15 points (5 goals, 5 assists)
- Emily Colton - 13 points (5 goals, 3 assists)
- Sierra Sythe - 8 points (3 goals, 2 assists)
- Emily Murphy - 7 points (1 goal, 5 assists)
- Anna Swanson - 6 points (3 goals)
- Hannah Johnson - 5 points (2 goals, 1 assist)
Six of Wake Forest's 12 games so far this season have come against teams currently ranked in the top 25 with current No. 6 Florida State and No. 2 Duke still to play.
- The Demon Deacons have picked up three ranked victories in 2024, the most in a season since 2018 (4).
A win would also mark the third win over a top-10 team so far this year, which would mark the most in a season since 2012.
17-year old freshman Chloe Burst became the youngest player to appear for Wake Forest as she made her collegiate debut against Syracuse and logged 30 minutes.

Last Time Out

Backed by a brace and an assist from junior Caiya Hanks, the No. 5-ranked Wake Forest women's soccer team picked up a dominant 3-0 road victory over Syracuse Sunday afternoon at SU Soccer Stadium.
The Demon Deacons (8-2-2, 3-1-1 ACC) took an early lead as great team build up and an excellent drive into the box from senior Emily Murphy set up Caiya Hanks in front of goal for her fourth tally of the season.
The dynamic duo up top combined once again in the 56th minute, as Hanks bagged her second goal and Murphy recorded her second assist of the afternoon in almost identical fashion to the opener.
- It marked Hanks' second brace in as many weeks following her stellar performance against Virginia on Sept. 15, which saw her named ACC Offensive Player of the Week.
The third, and final, goal of the afternoon came at the feet of senior midfielder Emily Colton, as Hanks slid a great ball across the box and, following a dummy from Murphy, Colton finished it with ease.
- Coming off of her own ACC Offensive Player of the Week award, Colton has now scored in three-consecutive matches and has recorded a goal-contribution in six of the last seven outings.
Hanks' five points marked a career-high as she now leads the team with 15 points and is one point shy of her career-best set last season. Her 31 points over the last two seasons lead the team as well as her 11 goals and nine assists during that span.
With her first-career milti-assist game, Murphy now has a team-best five assists on the year, the most since her freshman season. Her first assist was her 50th-career point as she now has 17 goals and 17 assists over her stellar four-year career.
In goal, Valentina Amaral kept her seventh-career clean sheet in just 10 appearances (solo and combined). She has only allowed three goals in 675 minutes throughout her young career for a stellar 0.40 goals-against average.
- Graduate transfer Paige Nurkin made her second appearance for the Demon Deacons as she entered with 11 minutes remaining. She made an excellent save with four minutes to go to keep the clean sheet intact.
In front of the keepers, senior defenders Zara Chavoshi, Laurel Ansbrow, Kristin Johnson along with redshirt freshman Sierra Sythe defended well throughout the contest and only allowed two shots on-goal. Chavoshi was the lone outfield player to go the full 90, as she did so for the 10th time this season.

Scouting the Seminoles

Florida State is coming off of its fourth national championship and fourth-consecutive ACC championship and is currently on a 32-match unbeaten streak.
- It is also on a 12-match road unbeaten streak.
- Additionally, the Seminoles have scored in 43-consecutive matches.
At 7-0-2, Florida State is the last unbeaten ACC school and is 2-0-1 in conference play thus far.
They lead the conference and rank top-10 nationally in goals (33), total points (101), shots per game (25.44), shutout percentage (.667) and goal differential (+30).
The team is led by Taylor Huff, who ranks top-five in the conference goals (8) and assists (4) for 21 total points.
In goal, Addie Todd has posted five complete-game clean sheets with a .864 save percentage, both rank top-five in the ACC.

Series History vs. Florida State

Wake Forest and Florida State have split the all-time series between the two schools at 13-13-5 dating back to 1995.
- Of note, Wake Forest is 8-3-2 against Florida State at home.
- The first-ever meeting was a 4-1 victory for the Demon Deacons, marking the first ACC win in program history on Oct. 30, 1995.
- Wake Forest won the first five meetings with the Seminoles.
The last win for the Deacs in the series came in 2017 with a 2-1 victory at Spry.
Florida State has won four-consecutive meetings, with the last coming in the 2021 ACC Tournament, as they defeated Wake Forest, 2-1, in overtime.

Home Ticket Information
To experience The Best Fan Experience in North Carolina, single game bleacher general admission is $10 with reserve chairbacks at $15.

To order, visit godeacs.com/tickets or call the Wake Forest Ticket Office at 336.758.3322.

Accessibility Information
Wake Forest Athletics strives to provide content at games, social media and on GoDeacs.com that is accessible to all people. In the continued effort to improve accessibility of the technology and digital content at tomorrow's game, fans can access closed captions here for the public address announcer and in-venue content.

Up Next
Following the match, the Demon Deacons will have a 16-day break before returning to action in Dallas as they take on SMU on Saturday, Oct. 19.

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

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Players Mentioned

Valentina Amaral

Laurel Ansbrow

Chloe Burst

Zara Chavoshi

Emily Colton

Caiya Hanks

Hannah Johnson

Kristin Johnson

Emily Murphy

Paige Nurkin

Nikayla Small

Anna Swanson

Sierra Sythe

Wake Forest Athletics