ACC Champions! Wake Forest Claims Fourth ACC Title in Program History

CARY, N.C. – For the fourth time in program history, the Wake Forest men's soccer team has claimed an ACC Championship, as the No. 5 seeded Demon Deacons (10-4-7) completed a thrilling run to the title with a 1-1 (7-6 PKs) victory against No. 2 seeded Clemson (14-2-4) on Sunday afternoon at WakeMed Soccer Park.

The 2024 squad joins the 1989, 2016 and 2017 teams in claiming an ACC title, as the last three have come under the direction of 10th-year head coach Bobby Muuss.

Since Muuss' hiring prior to the start of the 2015 season, the Demon Deacons have claimed a conference-best three ACC Tournament titles and won a league-high five divisional titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023) under the previous scheduling format.

Additionally, Wake Forest over the last decade leads the country in total wins (151), home wins (109) and ACC regular season victories (56).

At the conclusion of Sunday's match, Wake Forest's RPI sits at eight as the Demon Deacons will await to see if they earned a top-16 seed and first round bye in the 2024 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship.

After Clemson took the lead in the 20th minute, the Deacs found an equalizer courtesy of redshirt sophomore Nico Rabiu following a great ball from sophomore Jeffrey White. It marked Rabiu's first-career goal.

Despite eventful end-to-end action late in the second half, neither team was able to find a winner in regulation or during the two overtime periods.

Wake Forest converted on seven of its eight penalty attempts, with four of the makes coming from freshmen with Mason Sullivan, Ryan Belal, Dylan Borso and Pariss Mitchell all stepping up in big moments.

Road To The 2024 Title
Wake Forest's four-match stretch to the program's fourth ACC title provided unforgettable moments, historic comebacks and new goal scorers inputting in the attack.

In the ACC Tournament first round at Spry Stadium on Nov. 6 against No. 12 seeded Syracuse, Wake Forest erased an early 1-0 deficit to score goals in the 70th and 83rd minutes to advance to the quarterfinals. With their advancement, the Demon Deacons are the only program to advance to every ACC Tournament quarterfinal round since 2015.

Once again in the quarterfinals, Wake had to dig deep to come back, this time from a two-goal deficit against No. 4 seeded SMU to strike twice in the last 12 minutes of regulation before advancing via penalty kicks to Cary to face No. 9 seeded Virginia in the semifinals.

Under consistent and heavy rain throughout the semifinals, Wake Forest recorded its largest goal output of the season in a 5-1 victory before claiming the ACC crown on Sunday following a 7-6 victory in penalty kicks against Clemson in the Championship.

ACC Tournament Titles Since 2015

Team	ACC Titles	Years Winning ACC Tournament
Wake Forest	3	2016, 2017, 2024
Clemson	2	2020, 2023
Syracuse	1	2015
Louisville	1	2018
Virginia	1	2019
Notre Dame	1	2021
Syracuse	1	2022

All-ACC Tournament Team

Prince Amponsah, Wake Forest (MVP)
Trace Alphin, Wake Forest
Bo Cummins, Wake Forest
Cooper Flax, Wake Forest
Joran Gerbet, Clemson
Adam Lundegard, Clemson
Alex Meinhard, Clemson
Alfredo Ortiz, California
Malcolm Zalayet, California
Nick Dang, Virginia
Paul Wiese, Virginia

The Latest Ranked Result
With Clemson's No. 7 United Soccer Coaches poll ranking entering Sunday's contest, Wake Forest has now claimed its fifth ranked draw of the season, with previous results against No. 21 UCF (1-1 on Aug. 31), No. 14 Elon (1-1 on Sept. 17), No. 16 Duke (0-0 on Oct. 12) and No. 15 SMU (2-2 on Nov. 10). Additionally, the Deacs picked up a 1-0 ranked victory earlier this season against No. 12 NC State on Nov. 1.

The Demon Deacons are 45-22-15 against ranked opponents under head coach Bobby Muuss and 22-11-7 against top-10 opponents during the last 10 seasons.

How It Happened

Wake Forest logged the first shot of the afternoon in the seventh minute, as Borso's attempt from distance went just wide left.
Alphin was called into action for the first time in the 15th minute and he calmly corralled a Clemson header following a free kick.
Following a corner in the 20th minute, the Tigers took a 1-0 lead.
Borso recorded his second shot of the contest a few minutes later after driving into the box from the left, however his attempt was blocked by a Clemson defender.
The Tigers had a chance to double their lead in the 27th minute, but Alphin came up with a huge one-on-one save and kept the Deacs within a goal.
With 10 minutes to go in the first half, White launched an attempt from way out that forced the Clemson keeper into an awkward save.
Rabiu found an equalizer in the 39th minute after a brilliant ball from White set him free into the box for his first-career goal.
- It marked White's third assist of the season and of his career.
The Tigers came close to once again taking the lead with two minutes to go in the half, but Alphin got a hand to it and tipped it over the bar for a corner.
The two sides went into the locker rooms level at 1-1.
- Alphin finished the first half with three saves.
Amoni Thomas won Wake Forest its first corner of the match after his shot was blocked behind in the 52nd minute.
The battle remained physical over the following 20 minutes with neither team being able to create a dangerous chance.
Kennedy forced the Clemson keeper into a tough save with a powerful shot in the 76th minute, which resulted in another Wake forest corner.
- The senior came back two minutes later with another hard shot being saved.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Flax had his attempt from the edge of the box saved.
Alphin came up huge once again with a kick-save in the 80th minute to keep the match level.
Amponsah recorded a block in the 88th minute just seconds before Kennedy had a one-on-one on the other end, but the Clemson keeper corralled the ball before he was able to get a shot off.
The two sides couldn't be separated in regulation as the match went into sudden death extra time.
Smith Jr. recorded the first shot of extra time just 25 seconds in, but his attempt was blocked.
- Clemson recorded the remaining four shots of the first extra time period, but none of them were on frame.
Kennedy logged his fifth shot of the afternoon in the 105th minute, but just missed the target left.
- He had another attempt blocked two minutes later.
Wake Forest earned a last-ditch corner kick with 20 seconds remaining in the second overtime period, but wasn't able to find a winner as the match went to penalty kicks.
The Demon Deacons prevailed in penalty kicks, 7-6, to claim the ACC Championship.
- Both teams were perfect through three rounds, with Flax, Sullivan and Belal stepping up for the Deacs first.
- Umar had his attempt saved and Clemson's fourth attempt hit the bar as the teams entered the fifth round even.
- O'Gara buried his penalty, but Clemson matched him and the penalty kicks went to sudden death.
- Borso and Mitchell were the third and fourth Wake Forest freshmen to step up and convert from the spot, but once again Clemson matched the Deacs and forced an eighth round.
- After Perez made the seventh penalty of the afternoon, Clemson's final attempt sailed over the bar to give Wake Forest the victory.

Demon Deacon Details of Note

Graduate Prince Amponsah earned his 81st career start, tied for ninth-most in program history with Craig Conger (1989-91), and made his 89th career appearance, also tied for ninth-most in program history with Evan Brown (2005-08).
Senior Trace Alphin earned his 75th start in program history, 23rd-most in program history.
Sophomore Travis Smith Jr. earned his 25th career start.
Sophomore Jose Perez earned his 20th career start.
Graduate Colin Thomas made his 80th career appearance, tied for 24th-most in program history with Craig Johnson (1988-91), Justin Moose (2002-05), Wells Thompson (2003-06), 2007 National Champion Austin da Luz (2006-09) and Bruno Lapa (2016-19).
Senior Ryan Fessler made his 65th career appearance.
Junior Cooper Flax made his 55th career appearance.
Redshirt sophomore Nico Rabiu made his 25th career appearance.
Sophomore Liam O'Gara made his 20th career appearance.
With the result, Wake Forest's lead in the all-time series against Clemson is 26-22-9.
Wake Forest is 5-1-3 all-time against Clemson in ACC Tournament matches.
The seven ties this season are the most in a single season in program history.

From Coach Muuss
"I thought we played well in the first half. We conceded against the run of play. That's not saying that Clemson didn't have their chances. We were imposing ourselves. Our turnovers led to some of their transitional moments. They are one of the best teams in the country in transition, you don't want to isolate them. I can't say enough about our outside back's performance today. It didn't matter who it was. Danny Krueger was out today. He's been a big part of our team. He's the piano carrier of our team, so we lost some size defending set pieces, we lost some aggression in the back, but those three outside backs played a heck of a game today and we needed every bit.Nobody thought that we would be here except for the 30 guys in the locker room. I said it after the semifinal and I said it before. We've been playing with house money for a long time and that's a dangerous team with great culture. I've been fortunate to be in three of these, but this one is special. With the adversity, the resiliency, I've never seen a team like it. Hats off to the players."

Up Next
Wake Forest will turn its attention to the Selection Show for the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The show will be streamed on NCAA.com at 1 p.m.

With Sunday's victory, the Demon Deacons have secured the ACC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, extending a conference-best NCAA Tournament appearances streak to 14-straight seasons.

Wake Forest Athletics

ACC Champions! Wake Forest Claims Fourth ACC Title in Program History

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Players Mentioned

Trace Alphin

Prince Amponsah

Ryan Belal

Dylan Borso

Bo Cummins

Ryan Fessler

Cooper Flax

Pariss Mitchell

Liam O'Gara

Jose Perez

Nico Rabiu

Travis Smith Jr.

Mason Sullivan

Amoni Thomas

Colin Thomas

Jeffrey White

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