Thursday, October 31
Winston-Salem NC
7:00 p.m.
Wake Forest University
12-3-2, 7-2-1
3
vs
0
NC State
4-10-4, 1-6-3
1
2
F
NC State
0
0
0
Wake Forest
1
2
3
Photo by: Helen McGinnis / Wake Forest Athletics
No. 3 Wake Forest Nets 3-0 Shutout Against NC State in Regular Season Finale
10/31/2024 9:33:00 PM | Women's Soccer
The Demon Deacons clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament for the second-consecutive year and await results from around the league Thursday night to determine seeding.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In their final regular season contest, the No. 3-ranked Wake Forest women's soccer team netted a 3-0 shutout victory against NC State Thursday evening at Spry Stadium to clinch their spot in the ACC Tournament for the second-consecutive year.
The Demon Deacons (12-3-2, 7-2-1 ACC) struck almost instantly as senior Nikayla Small gave Wake Forest the 1-0 advantage just 61 seconds in for the fourth-fastest goal in program history. The goal came following brilliant build-up play out of the back before senior midfielder Emily Colton played a great ball to fellow senior Emily Murphy near the edge of the box, who then played it through to Small in front of goal for the finish.
It marked Small's third goal of the season and fourth of her incredible career. She now has 23-career points as she has also added 15 assists.
With her secondary assist on the opener, Emily Colton has recorded at least one goal contribution in nine of her last 12 appearances, including seven of the 10 ACC matches for the Demon Deacons and is second on the team with 17 total points.
Wake Forest doubled the advantage in the 49th minute as Murphy buried it from the spot after Hanks was taken down in the box following a great bit of skill.
Murphy has been incredible over her last six games, scoring four times, notching four assists and being involved in multiple other scoring opportunities for the Demon Deacons. She is now tied for first on the team with a career-high seven assists this season and ranks third in the squad with 15 total points. Additionally, she has 20 goals and 19 assists for her collegiate career, putting her at 59 points.
Hannah Johnson wrapped up the scoring and made it 3-0 to the hosts as she headed home a brilliant cross from Kristin Johnson. It marked Johnson's third goal of the season and seventh of her career. Johnson notched her ninth-career assist.
The Wolfpack (4-9-4, 1-5-3 ACC) recorded only four shots on the match, with only two shots testing the Demon Deacon net.
The Demon Deacons recorded their ninth clean sheet of the campaign and fifth in ACC play. The Deacs have only allowed 11 goals this season, which would be the lowest in program history
In goal, Valentina Amaral improved to 8-2-1 for her career in games she's started and has only allowed seven goals over 1,125 minutes of action for a stellar .56 career goals-against average. This season, she has the fourth-best goals-against average in the ACC (.737).
With the victory, the Demon Deacons set the record for the most ACC wins (7) and points (22) in program history.
Wake Forest improved to 20-8-3 all-time over the Wolfpack dating back to 1994. In Winston-Salem, the Deacs are now 10-2-2 against NC State and have not lost at home to the Pack since 1996.
The Deacs have posted a stellar 17-3-6 record at home since the start of 2022, with its lone loss over the past two seasons coming against No. 1 Duke on Sunday.
ACC Tournament Seeding As It Stands
1. Duke - X 25
2. Wake Forest - X 22
3. Florida State - X 22
3. North Carolina - X 21
4. Virginia Tech - X 20
6. Notre Dame - X 19
Stay tuned to GoDeacs.com and @WakeWSoccer on X/Instagram for updates throughout Thursday night.
How It Happened
The Demon Deacons will find out their ACC Tournament fate late Thursday night. Stay tuned to GoDeacs.com and the Wake Forest women's soccer social accounts for more information.
Follow The Deacs
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | #GoDeacs
The Demon Deacons (12-3-2, 7-2-1 ACC) struck almost instantly as senior Nikayla Small gave Wake Forest the 1-0 advantage just 61 seconds in for the fourth-fastest goal in program history. The goal came following brilliant build-up play out of the back before senior midfielder Emily Colton played a great ball to fellow senior Emily Murphy near the edge of the box, who then played it through to Small in front of goal for the finish.
It marked Small's third goal of the season and fourth of her incredible career. She now has 23-career points as she has also added 15 assists.
With her secondary assist on the opener, Emily Colton has recorded at least one goal contribution in nine of her last 12 appearances, including seven of the 10 ACC matches for the Demon Deacons and is second on the team with 17 total points.
Wake Forest doubled the advantage in the 49th minute as Murphy buried it from the spot after Hanks was taken down in the box following a great bit of skill.
Murphy has been incredible over her last six games, scoring four times, notching four assists and being involved in multiple other scoring opportunities for the Demon Deacons. She is now tied for first on the team with a career-high seven assists this season and ranks third in the squad with 15 total points. Additionally, she has 20 goals and 19 assists for her collegiate career, putting her at 59 points.
Hannah Johnson wrapped up the scoring and made it 3-0 to the hosts as she headed home a brilliant cross from Kristin Johnson. It marked Johnson's third goal of the season and seventh of her career. Johnson notched her ninth-career assist.
The Wolfpack (4-9-4, 1-5-3 ACC) recorded only four shots on the match, with only two shots testing the Demon Deacon net.
The Demon Deacons recorded their ninth clean sheet of the campaign and fifth in ACC play. The Deacs have only allowed 11 goals this season, which would be the lowest in program history
In goal, Valentina Amaral improved to 8-2-1 for her career in games she's started and has only allowed seven goals over 1,125 minutes of action for a stellar .56 career goals-against average. This season, she has the fourth-best goals-against average in the ACC (.737).
With the victory, the Demon Deacons set the record for the most ACC wins (7) and points (22) in program history.
Wake Forest improved to 20-8-3 all-time over the Wolfpack dating back to 1994. In Winston-Salem, the Deacs are now 10-2-2 against NC State and have not lost at home to the Pack since 1996.
The Deacs have posted a stellar 17-3-6 record at home since the start of 2022, with its lone loss over the past two seasons coming against No. 1 Duke on Sunday.
ACC Tournament Seeding As It Stands
1. Duke - X 25
2. Wake Forest - X 22
3. Florida State - X 22
3. North Carolina - X 21
4. Virginia Tech - X 20
6. Notre Dame - X 19
Stay tuned to GoDeacs.com and @WakeWSoccer on X/Instagram for updates throughout Thursday night.
How It Happened
- The Demon Deacons wasted no time as Nikayla Small gave Wake Forest the 1-0 advantage just 61 seconds in, the fourth-fastest goal in program history.
- The goal came following brilliant build-up play from the back before Emily Colton played a great ball to Emily Murphy near the edge of the box, who then played it through to Small in front of goal for the finish.
- It marked Small's fourth-career goals and third of the season.
- Laurel Ansbrow came close to doubling the lead just over three minutes later as she got her head on the end of a beautiful cross from Sierra Sythe to the far post.
- The Deacs had another dangerous chance in the 14th minute as a great through ball from Morris set Hanks free and forced the NC State keeper into a save.
- Anna Swanson tested the keeper from distance in the 25th minute.
- Chloe Burst and Hanks fired off the last two shots of the first half before the Deacs took a 1-0 lead into the break.
- Wake Forest held 67 percent of the ball over the first 45 and out-shot the Pack 7-to-1.
- Murphy doubled the advantage from the spot in the 49th minute after Hanks was taken down in the box.
- It was Murphy's 20th-career goal and 10th in a Wake Forest uniform.
- Burst and Murphy both had half-chances to make it three for the Deacs in the 52nd and 55th minutes.
- Hannah Johnson made it 3-0 to the hosts as she headed home a brilliant cross from Kristin Johnson.
- It marked Johnson's third goal of the season and seventh of her career.
- The Demon Deacons closed it out and notched their program-record seventh ACC win of the season.
- The Demon Deacons are currently ranked No. 3 in United Soccer Coaches Poll. This season, they were ranked as high as No. 2, the highest ranking in program history.
- Additionally, Wake Forest sits seventh in RPI and third in the TopDrawerSoccer poll.
- Wake Forest now has 22 points in ACC play, putting them in second with two ACC matches still in action.
- 22 points and seven total wins in conference play is the most in program history.
- With the result, the Demon Deacons officially clinched their second-consecutive appearance in the ACC Tournament.
- ACC Tournament Seeding As It Stands
- 1. Duke - X 25
- 2. Wake Forest - X 22
- 3. Florida State - X 22
- 3. North Carolina - X 21
- 4. Virginia Tech - X 20
- 6. Notre Dame - X 19
- Nikayla Small's opener was the fourth-fastest goal in program history at 61 seconds and was the fastest for the Deacs since 2006.
- It marked Small's third goal of the season and fourth of her incredible career.
- She now has 23-career points as she has also added 15 assists.
- With her secondary assist on the opener, Emily Colton has recorded at least one goal contribution in nine of her last 12 appearances, including seven of the 10 ACC matches, for the Demon Deacons and is second on the team with 17 total points.
- Additionally, her five assists rank third on the team.
- Colton was recently ranked as the No. 2 player in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer.
- Emily Murphy has also been incredible over her last six games, scoring four times, notching four assists and being involved in multiple other scoring opportunities for the Demon Deacons.
- She is now tied for first on the team with a career-high seven assists this season and ranks third in the squad with 15 total points.
- Additionally, she has 20 goals and 19 assists for her collegiate career, putting her at 59 points.
- Wake Forest has posted a stellar 17-3-6 record at home since the start of 2022, with its lone loss over the past two seasons coming against No. 1 Duke on Sunday.
- The Deacs currently have three top-10 wins this season, the most for the Deacs since 2012.
- Wake Forest entered the match ranked in the top five of the ACC in multiple categories, including ranking third goals-against average (.688), fifth in shots per game (17.63) and fifth in corners per game (6.44).
- In goal, Valentina Amaral improved to 8-2-1 for her career in games she's started and has only allowed seven goals over 1,125 minutes of action for a stellar .56 career goals-against average.
- This season, she has the fourth-best goals-against average in the ACC (.737).
- It was her fifth complete-game clean sheet and ninth overall.
- The Demon Deacons have three players with double-digit points and seven players with five or more so far in 2024.
- Caiya Hanks - 23 points (8 goals, 7 assists)
- Emily Colton - 17 points (6 goals, 5 assists)
- Emily Murphy - 15 points (4 goals, 7 assists)
- Sierra Sythe - 9 points (3 goals, 3 assists)
- Nikayla Small - 9 points (3 goals, 3 assists)
- Anna Swanson - 7 points (3 goals, 1 assist)
- Hannah Johnson - 7 points (3 goals, 1 assist)
- Wake Forest improved to 20-8-3 all-time over the Wolfpack dating back to 1994.
- In Winston-Salem, the Deacs are now 10-2-2 against NC State and have not lost at home to the Pack since 1996.
- So far this season, Wake Forest has had three players selected as an ACC Offensive Players of the Week with Caiya Hanks, Emily Colton and Emily Murphy all gardening the honors over the last month.
- The Deacs also placed three on the TopDrawerSoccer Top 100 list with Emily Colton (#2), Emily Morris (#45) and Zara Chavoshi (#64).
The Demon Deacons will find out their ACC Tournament fate late Thursday night. Stay tuned to GoDeacs.com and the Wake Forest women's soccer social accounts for more information.
Follow The Deacs
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | #GoDeacs
Team Stats
NCSU
WFU
Goals
0
3
Shots
4
17
Shots on Goal
2
7
Saves
4
1
Corners
4
5
Fouls
11
10
Scoring Plays
Nikayla Small (3)
Assisted By: Emily Murphy , Emily Colton
GOAL by WFU Small, Nikayla Assist by Murphy, Emily and Colton, Emily.
00:59
Emily Murphy (3)
WFU Emily Murphy PENALTY KICK GOAL.
48:29
Hannah Johnson (3)
Assisted By: Kristin Johnson
GOAL by WFU Johnson, Hannah Assist by Johnson, Kristin.
79:33
Game Leaders
Shots
3
SOG
2
Goals
1
Assists
1
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
1
Assists
0
Shots
3
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
1
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's SoccerMidfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's SoccerForward
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's SoccerFootball Media Availability (10/16/25)
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