No. 2 Wake Forest to Travel to No. 1 USC for NCAA Quarterfinal Clash

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Making its third quarterfinals appearance in program history, the No. 2-seeded Wake Forest women's soccer team will make a trip to the west coast as it takes on No. 1-seed USC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Friday, Nov. 29.

The match is slated for 2:00 p.m. pacific time and will be shown live on ESPN+. Live stats will be available here.

For those planning to attend, tickets can be purchased here.

NCAA Tournament - Quarterfinals
#2 Wake Forest (15-3-3) at #1 USC (17-1-3)
Friday, Nov. 29, 2024 - 2:00 p.m. (5 p.m. eastern) - ESPN+
Carson, Calif. – Dignity Health Sports Park

Deacs in the NCAA Tournament

Wake Forest will compete in the quarterfinals for the third time in program history, with the previous two instances coming in 2011 and 2009.
The Deacs' best-ever finish came in 2011 when they made the first College Cup in program history with the likes of Katie Stengel leading the line and Aubrey Bledsoe in goal.
Sunday marked Wake Forest's sixth all-time appearance in the round of 16 and first since 2018.
- The Deacs now hold a 3-2-1 record in the round of 16.
On Friday, the Deacs made their 16th all-time appearance in the Round of 32 and second in the last four seasons (2021).
Wake Forest is in the midst of its 23rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament, with 22 of them coming under the helm of Tony da Luz.
- The Demon Deacons have made three of the last four tournaments, just missing out last year with a record of 10-3-5 and a sixth-place ACC finish.
Wake Forest now holds an overall record of 25-21-1 in the tournament, including a 17-2-1 mark in Winston-Salem.

Historic Regular Season

Five members of the Wake Forest women's soccer team were selected for 2024 All-ACC honors, headlined by a First-Team selection for junior forward Caiya Hanks.
- A senior trio of midfielder Emily Colton, forward Emily Murphy and defender Zara Chavoshi tabbed second-team nods, while redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Valentina Amaral earned third-team honors.
- Five players earning All-ACC nods is the most in program history. Additionally, Hanks became the 10th Wake Forest player to be tabbed All-ACC First Team and first since Aubrey Bledsoe in 2013.
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 first in the TopDrawerSoccer poll.
On Sept. 19, the Demon Deacons claimed their first-ever win over a No. 1 team as they took down Stanford, 1-0.
- The Deacs became the first team in NCAA history to take down a No. 1-ranked team and a No. 2-ranked team in back-to-back matches after downing No. 2 Virginia in Charlottesville on Sept. 15.
Wake Forest finished with 22 points in ACC play as it finished second in the ACC, tied for the best finish in program history.
- 22 points and seven total wins in conference play is the most in program history.
This season, Wake Forest had three players selected as an ACC Offensive Players of the Week with Caiya Hanks, Emily Colton and Emily Murphy all garnering the honors over the last two months.
- The Deacs also placed three on the TopDrawerSoccer Top 100 list with Emily Colton (#2), Emily Morris (#45) and Zara Chavoshi (#64).
The Deacs currently have four top-10 wins this season, the most for the Deacs since 2012.
This week, Wake Forest placed six on the CSC Academic All-Region Team (Hanks, Ansbrow, Colton, Murphy, Chavoshi, Morris).
In addition to posting the best goals-against average in the conference, the Wake Forest defense only conceded seven goals during ACC play, the fewest in the conference as well as the second-most clean sheets with five.
11 goals allowed in the regular season is the fewest in program history, beating last season's record by three goals.

The Flyin' Hawaiian

With two goals and three assists so far in the NCAA tournament, star forward Caiya Hanks currently ranks inside the top 10 in program history in points (30), goals (10) and assists (10) for a single season.
With her assist in the second round, she became just the sixth player at the D1 level this season to reach 10 goals and 10 assists, and third to do so in program history, joining Anne Shropshire (1998) and Kaley Fountain (2009).
Her 30 points this year is also the most for the Deacs since 2011 and her 10 assists are the most since 2009.
Heading into the weekend, Hanks ranked sixth in the ACC in total points, seventh in goals, and eighth in assists.
- Additionally, her 18 points in conference play ranked second in the ACC and her seven goals were tied for the most.
Hanks has also added four game-winning goals this season, which ranks third in the conference.

The Emily Trifecta

Following her opening goal against Colorado, senior midfielder Emily Colton has recorded at least one goal contribution in 11 of her last 16 appearances for the Demon Deacons and is third on the team with 21 total points.
- In the tournament opener, she recorded the first multi-assist game of her career.
- She now has seven goals on the year which ties a career high she set her freshman campaign.
- Additionally, her seven assists this season also set a career high.
- She had a goal contribution in seven of Wake Forest's 10 ACC matches.
- Colton was ranked as the No. 2 player in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer earlier this season.
Continuing her incredible 11-game stretch, scoring seven times and notching five assists during that span, senior forward Emily Murphy scored the lone goal on Sunday that helped see the Demon Deacons through to the quarterfinals.
- Murphy has scored in all three NCAA Tournament games so far.
- She is now second on the team with 22 points on the year with seven goals and eight assists, all of which are career-highs.
- Additionally, she has 23 goals and 20 assists for her collegiate career, putting her at 66 points.
Emily Morris has been a crucial part of Wake Forest's success this season, playing in a versatile role throughout the season. She has scored in two of the last four matches for the Deacs, including the second goal against Colorado last Friday.
- She now has nine goals for her career in addition to seven assists for 25 points.
- Of note, she is one of four players to have started and played every match so far this year.
- Morris was named to the ACC All-Tournament team following her equalizer against Florida State in the semifinals.

Brick Wall Amaral

Against Ohio State, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Valentina Amaral recorded her eighth clean sheet of the season (solo and combined) and recorded an enormous finger-tip save with three minutes remaining.
Her .640 goals-against average this season is the best in the ACC and currently ranks as the lowest in program history.
- Additionally, her five clean sheets in conference play ranked as the second-most in the ACC.
In her first full season, Amaral started all 10 ACC matches and only allowed seven goals, the fewest in the conference.
Amaral is now 11-2-2 in matches she has started for her career.
She came up with a huge penalty save in the victory over No. 6 Florida State and logged a career-high four saves in the historic 1-0 win against No. 1 Stanford.

Fast Starters

The Demon Deacons have wasted no time getting on the board this season, scoring eight goals within the first 20 minutes so far this campaign and six within the first 10.
- Nikayla Small - :59 vs. NC State (10/31/24)
- Anna Swanson - 1:47 vs. Morehead State (11/15/24)
- Abbie Colton - 2:00 vs. Mississippi State (8/25/24)
- Emily Murphy - 2:17 vs. Syracuse (9/29/24)
- Emily Colton - 5:10 vs. Colorado (11/22/24)
- Emily Murphy - 9:05 vs. California (9/22/24)
- Caiya Hanks - 12:26 vs. Morehead State (11/15/24)
- Caiya Hanks - 16:30 vs. Virginia (9/15/24)
Nikayla Small's opener against NC State was the fourth-fastest goal in program history at 59 seconds and was the fastest for the Deacs since 2006.

Last Time Out

For the third time in program history and first since 2011, the No. 2-seeded Wake Forest women's soccer team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament with a 1-0 victory over No. 3-seed Ohio State Sunday afternoon at Spry Stadium.
The Demon Deacons dominated throughout the contest and finally found the breakthrough at the foot of senior forward Emily Murphy in the 76th minute on a counter-attack. The Windsor, England-native received the ball from junior forward Hannah Johnson and drove into the box before firing it between two defenders and into the back of the net.
Murphy has scored in all three NCAA Tournament games and is now second on the team with 22 points on the year with seven goals and eight assists, all of which are career-highs.
Wake Forest had four players go the full 90 minutes, including defenders Laurel Ansbrow, Zara Chavoshi, Sierra Sythe and midfielder/defender Emily Morris. All four played a major role in limiting the Buckeyes to just three shots (two on-goal) over the 90 minutes. The Demon Deacons finished with a +13 advantage in shots and +4 in shots on-goal.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Valentina Amaral stopped both shots that tested the Wake Forest net, including a finger-tip save with three minutes to go to seal the victory. This marked her eighth clean sheet of the season (solo and combined) as she improved to 11-2-2 in starts for her career.
With the win, Wake Forest improved to 9-1-1 at home this season and 20-3-6 since the start of 2022. Of note, the Deacs are also 3-0 all-time against the Buckeyes with two wins in tournament play.

Scouting the Trojans

Two-time national champions USC went unblemished in the Big Ten play this season, posting a mark of 10-0-1 in conference play and head into Friday's match with a 17-1-3 overall record.
- The lone loss came on Sept. 8 in a 2-1 road defeat to No. 1 Stanford.
In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Trojans advanced with a 5-0 victory over Sacramento State.
In the second round, they advanced in a 4-3 overtime thriller with Saint Louis on a last-minute golden goal penalty kick.
On Sunday, USC took down fellow Big Ten opponent Wisconsin with a 3-1 victory.
The Trojans have spread the wealth this season, with five players scoring at least five goals and 13 notching at least one.
Senior Maile Hayes leads the squad with 11 goals and five assists for 27 points.
- Five of her 11 goals have gone down as game winners, including the winning penalty against Saint Louis.
- She has recorded three goals and two assists so far in the NCAA Tournament.
The primary creator for USC this season has been senior midfielder Helena Sampaio, who has a team-best seven assists in addition to five goals.
In goal for the Trojans is graduate student Laurence Gladu, who has recorded 11 clean sheets this season, the sixth most in the nation.
- Additionally, the Canadian has the fifth-best goals-against average (.762) in the Big Ten.

Series History vs. USC

Wake Forest is 1-0 all-time against USC, with the first meeting coming on Sept. 15, 2002.
- The Demon Deacons picked up a 2-1 victory at home against the 12th-ranked Trojans.
This will mark the third match against a Big Ten opponent this season for the Deacs, following the only non-conference loss to Iowa (0-2) and the round of 16 victory over Ohio State on Sunday (1-0).

Up Next
The winner of the match will advance to the College Cup and take on the winner of an All-ACC quarterfinals match between No. 1-seed Duke and No. 7-seed Virginia Tech. The semifinal match will take place in Cary, N.C. on Friday, Dec. 6.

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No. 2 Wake Forest to Travel to No. 1 USC for NCAA Quarterfinal Clash

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Valentina Amaral

Laurel Ansbrow

Zara Chavoshi

Abbie Colton

Emily Colton

Caiya Hanks

Hannah Johnson

Emily Morris

Emily Murphy

Nikayla Small

Anna Swanson

Sierra Sythe

Wake Forest Athletics

No. 2 Wake Forest to Travel to No. 1 USC for NCAA Quarterfinal Clash

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Valentina Amaral

Laurel Ansbrow

Zara Chavoshi

Abbie Colton

Emily Colton

Caiya Hanks

Hannah Johnson

Emily Morris

Emily Murphy

Nikayla Small

Anna Swanson

Sierra Sythe

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