Thursday, October 3
Winston-Salem NC
7:00 p.m.
Wake Forest University
9-2-2, 4-1-1
4
vs
1
Florida State
7-1-2, 2-1-1
1
2
F
Florida St.
0
1
1
Wake Forest
2
2
4
Photo by: Helen McGinnis / Wake Forest Athletics
No. 4 Wake Forest Picks Up Statement Win Over No. 6 Florida State, 4-1
10/3/2024 10:56:00 PM | Women's Soccer
The Demon Deacons ended the Seminoles’ 32-game unbeaten streak through excellent performances from several seniors.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In one of the most dominant performances of the 2024 campaign, the No. 4-ranked Wake Forest women's soccer team took down reigning national champions and No. 6-ranked Florida State Thursday evening at Spry Stadium.
The Demon Deacons (9-2-2, 4-1-1 ACC) opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a counter-attack goal by senior Emily Murphy following a brilliant ball from fellow senior Nikayla Small.
Senior Emily Morris doubled the lead five minutes later with a beautiful curled shot into the top-right corner from the edge of the box. It was Morris' first goal of the season and seventh of her career, bringing her career points total to 20.
The Seminoles (7-1-2, 2-1-1 ACC) would get a goal back 15 seconds into the second half to cut the lead, but Deacs would regain their lead after junior Caiya Hanks tapped in a cross from Murphy in the 56th minute.
This season, Hanks leads the team with a career-high 17 points and six goals. The strike was her third goal over the last two games following her brace on Sunday at Syracuse. Additionally, her 33 points over the last two seasons lead the team as well as her 12 goals and nine assists during that span.
On her senior night, Small would add a fourth for Wake Forest nine minutes later as she rifled a shot into the top left corner while falling down.
It marked Small's second goal of the season and first since her game winner against No. 20 Mississippi State. Of note, she also now has 14 assists for her career, putting her one away from cracking the top 10 in the Wake Forest record books.
Murphy has been on fire over the last three games, scoring twice, notching three assists and being involved in multiple scoring opportunities for the Demon Deacons. She leads the team with six assists on the season, which ties a career high.
On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore goalkeeper Valentina Amaral came up with a penalty save in the 85th minute to keep the game at 4-1. She improved to 5-1-1 in games she's started, and has only allowed four goals over 765 minutes of action for a .47 career goals-against average.
Once again, the entire back line went the full 90, as seniors Zara Chavoshi, Laurel Ansbrow, Kristin Johnson and redshirt freshman Sierra Sythe limited the Seminoles to just three shots on target.
Despite not getting on the score sheet, senior Emily Colton, who also went the full 90 minutes, was great once again in the midfield and generated plenty of attacking opportunities for the Deacs.
With the win, the Demon Deacons broke the record for longest home unbeaten streak in program history at 15 matches. Spry Stadium has been a fortress for the Demon Deacons over the last three seasons, as Wake Forest has posted a stellar 16-2-6 record at home since the start of 2022.
The win also ended Florida State's nation-leading 32-match unbeaten streak. Additionally, Wake Forest now leads the all-time series with the Seminoles, 14-13-5 dating back to 1995. It was the first win for the Demon Deacons in the series since 2017.
Coming into the game, the Seminoles had only allowed three goals all season and had not given up four goals to an opponent since they lost 4-0 to Notre Dame on Oct. 9, 2022.
The team wore pink jerseys for the match, which are currently being auctioned off, with all proceeds raised going to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Cancer Health Equity Patient Care Fund. Bidding will remain open until midnight tonight (10/3).
In addition to Small, Wake Forest women's soccer honored graduate student Paige Nurkin before the game for their contributions to the program.
How It Happened
"We put in our most complete performance tonight against a very good Florida State side. Our response to their goal early in the second half was fantastic to go up 3-1. Emily Morris was special tonight, our midfield controlled the game and we were very organized defensively throughout. Proud of our team for rising to this ACC scheduling challenge."
Up Next
The Demon Deacons will now 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.
Follow The Deacs
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | #GoDeacs
The Demon Deacons (9-2-2, 4-1-1 ACC) opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a counter-attack goal by senior Emily Murphy following a brilliant ball from fellow senior Nikayla Small.
Senior Emily Morris doubled the lead five minutes later with a beautiful curled shot into the top-right corner from the edge of the box. It was Morris' first goal of the season and seventh of her career, bringing her career points total to 20.
The Seminoles (7-1-2, 2-1-1 ACC) would get a goal back 15 seconds into the second half to cut the lead, but Deacs would regain their lead after junior Caiya Hanks tapped in a cross from Murphy in the 56th minute.
This season, Hanks leads the team with a career-high 17 points and six goals. The strike was her third goal over the last two games following her brace on Sunday at Syracuse. Additionally, her 33 points over the last two seasons lead the team as well as her 12 goals and nine assists during that span.
On her senior night, Small would add a fourth for Wake Forest nine minutes later as she rifled a shot into the top left corner while falling down.
It marked Small's second goal of the season and first since her game winner against No. 20 Mississippi State. Of note, she also now has 14 assists for her career, putting her one away from cracking the top 10 in the Wake Forest record books.
Murphy has been on fire over the last three games, scoring twice, notching three assists and being involved in multiple scoring opportunities for the Demon Deacons. She leads the team with six assists on the season, which ties a career high.
On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore goalkeeper Valentina Amaral came up with a penalty save in the 85th minute to keep the game at 4-1. She improved to 5-1-1 in games she's started, and has only allowed four goals over 765 minutes of action for a .47 career goals-against average.
Once again, the entire back line went the full 90, as seniors Zara Chavoshi, Laurel Ansbrow, Kristin Johnson and redshirt freshman Sierra Sythe limited the Seminoles to just three shots on target.
Despite not getting on the score sheet, senior Emily Colton, who also went the full 90 minutes, was great once again in the midfield and generated plenty of attacking opportunities for the Deacs.
With the win, the Demon Deacons broke the record for longest home unbeaten streak in program history at 15 matches. Spry Stadium has been a fortress for the Demon Deacons over the last three seasons, as Wake Forest has posted a stellar 16-2-6 record at home since the start of 2022.
The win also ended Florida State's nation-leading 32-match unbeaten streak. Additionally, Wake Forest now leads the all-time series with the Seminoles, 14-13-5 dating back to 1995. It was the first win for the Demon Deacons in the series since 2017.
Coming into the game, the Seminoles had only allowed three goals all season and had not given up four goals to an opponent since they lost 4-0 to Notre Dame on Oct. 9, 2022.
The team wore pink jerseys for the match, which are currently being auctioned off, with all proceeds raised going to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Cancer Health Equity Patient Care Fund. Bidding will remain open until midnight tonight (10/3).
In addition to Small, Wake Forest women's soccer honored graduate student Paige Nurkin before the game for their contributions to the program.
How It Happened
- The two teams battled for possession over the opening 15 minutes with limited chances in the attacking third for both sides.
- The first shot for the Demon Deacons came in the 17th minute after Nikayla Small won the ball and played it to Emily Murphy, who's attempt was blocked behind for a corner.
- A minute later, Murphy tested the keeper from distance and forced her into a tough diving save for yet another corner.
- Wake Forest opened the scoring in the 25th minute on the counter attack following an excellent ball from Nikayla Small found Murphy, who beat a Florida State defender and slipped it past the keeper.
- Emily Morris doubled the lead five minutes later with a beautiful curled shot into the top-right corner from the edge of the box.
- The Demon Deacons dominated the remainder of the first half, outshooting the Seminoles 11-to-4.
- Florida State pulled a goal back out of the halftime break.
- Wake Forest regained their two-goal advantage as junior Caiya Hanks tapped in a cross from Murphy to make it 3-1 in the 56th minute.
- Nine minutes later, Small rifled a left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net to give the Deacs a 4-1 lead in the 65th.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Valentina Amaral came up clutch for the Demon Deacons, saving a penalty shot in the 85th minute to keep the score 4-1.
- 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.
- With the win, the Demon Deacons broke the record for longest home unbeaten streak in program history at 15 matches.
- Spry Stadium has been a fortress for the Demon Deacons over the last three seasons, as Wake Forest has posted a stellar 16-2-6 record at home since the start of 2022.
- The Deacs entered 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).
- Nikayla Small had an unbelievable performance on her senior night, scoring a wonder goal as well as recording an assist for a career-high three points.
- It marked her second goal of the season and first since her game winner against No. 20 Mississippi State.
- She also now has 14 assists for her career, putting her one away from cracking the top 10 in Wake Forest history.
- Emily Morris bagged her first goal of the season and seventh of her career, bringing her points total to 20.
- Emily Murphy has been on fire over the last three games, scoring twice, notching three assists and being involved in multiple scoring opportunities for the Demon Deacons.
- She leads the team with six assists on the season, which ties a career high.
- Murphy became the third Demon Deacon to reach double-digit points this season joining Caiya Hanks and Emily Colton. She has reached double digits all four years of college.
- Additionally, she has 18 goals and 18 assists for her collegiate career, putting her at 54 total points.
- With her second-half strike, Caiya Hanks leads the team with a career-high 17 points and six goals.
- It was her third goal over the last two games following her brace on Sunday at Syracuse.
- Her 33 points over the last two seasons lead the team as well as her 12 goals and nine assists during that span.
- Wake Forest now has 13 points in ACC play, putting them in second following the match with four 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 - 17 points (6 goals, 5 assists)
- Emily Colton - 13 points (5 goals, 3 assists)
- Emily Murphy - 10 points (2 goal, 6 assists)
- Sierra Sythe - 8 points (3 goals, 2 assists)
- Nikayla Small - 6 points (2 goals, 2 assists)
- Anna Swanson - 6 points (3 goals)
- Hannah Johnson - 5 points (2 goals, 1 assist)
- Seven of Wake Forest's 13 games so far this season have come against teams currently ranked in the top 25 with current No. 2 Duke still to play.
- The Demon Deacons have picked up four ranked victories in 2024, the most in a season since 2018.
- The victory also marked the third win over a top-10 team so far this year, the most in a season for the Deacs since 2012.
- In goal, Valentina Amaral made a stellar penalty save in the 85th minute.
- She improved to 5-1-1 in games she's started, and has only allowed four goals over 765 minutes of action for a ridiculous .47 career goals-against average.
- Six Wake Forest players went the full 90, including the entire backline: Emily Colton, Kristin Johnson, Emily Morris, Laurel Ansbrow, Zara Chavoshi and Sierra Sythe.
- Wake Forest ended Florida State's nation-leading 32-match unbeaten streak.
- Wake Forest now leads the all-time series with Florida State, 14-13-5 dating back to 1995.
- Of note, Wake Forest is now 9-3-2 against Florida State at home.
- It was the first win for the Demon Deacons in the series since 2017.
- The last time that Florida State gave up four goals in a game, as well as lost by more than three goals was a 4-0 loss to Notre Dame on Oct. 9, 2022.
"We put in our most complete performance tonight against a very good Florida State side. Our response to their goal early in the second half was fantastic to go up 3-1. Emily Morris was special tonight, our midfield controlled the game and we were very organized defensively throughout. Proud of our team for rising to this ACC scheduling challenge."
Up Next
The Demon Deacons will now 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.
Follow The Deacs
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | #GoDeacs
Team Stats
FSU
WFU
Goals
1
4
Shots
8
18
Shots on Goal
3
8
Saves
4
2
Corners
4
7
Fouls
10
17
Scoring Plays
Emily Murphy (2)
Assisted By: Nikayla Small
GOAL by WFU Murphy, Emily Assist by Small, Nikayla.
24:50
Emily Morris (1)
Assisted By: Kristin Johnson
GOAL by WFU Morris, Emily Assist by Johnson, Kristin.
29:53
Kameron Simmonds (4)
Assisted By: Jordynn Dudley
GOAL by FSU Simmonds, Kameron Assist by Dudley, Jordynn.
45:15
Caiya Hanks (6)
Assisted By: Emily Murphy , Abbie Colton
GOAL by WFU Hanks, Caiya Assist by Murphy, Emily and Colton, Abbie.
55:32
Nikayla Small (2)
GOAL by WFU Small, Nikayla.
64:16
Game Leaders
Shots
6
SOG
4
Goals
1
Assists
1
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
1
mid
Shots
3
SOG
2
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
3
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
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Defender
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Defender
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Midfielder
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Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's SoccerForward
/ Women's Soccer
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
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