Wake Forest Primed for First Ranked Clash of 2024

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- After a thrilling 4-0 victory in the home opener against Temple, the Wake Forest women's soccer team turns its attention to a clash with No. 20-ranked Mississippi State at Spry Stadium Sunday afternoon.

The contest is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be shown live on ACC Network with live stats available here.

Wake Forest will honor Zara Chavoshi, Emily Morris, Olivia Duvall and Kate Dobsch before the game with a senior day presentation.

Need to Know - Game 3
No. 20 Mississippi State (3-0-0) at Wake Forest (2-0-1)
Thursday, Aug. 25, 2024 - 2 PM - ACC Network
Winston-Salem, N.C.. – Spry Stadium

Quick Hitters

Wake Forest is one of nine ACC schools to remain unbeaten after the first three matches of the 2024 campaign.
The Bulldogs enter the contest ranked No. 20 nationally in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and No. 11 in the TopDrawerSoccer poll. Wake Forest is receiving votes.
With the victory over Temple on Thursday, Wake Forest extended its unbeaten stretch at home to 10 games after an undefeated season at Spry last season and now holds a 12-2-5 at home since the start of 2022.
Junior Hannah Johnson leads the team with five points so far this season, which has already set a career high, and has a goal contribution in all three games so far to start the year.
Senior Nikayla Small, who led the team with seven assists last year, now has 13 for her career and is now three away from cracking the top 10 in Wake Forest history.
Junior Caiya Hanks picked up her eighth-career assist to go along with eight career goals. Her 24 career points for Wake Forest are the most by any active Demon Deacon after leading the team in 2023.
The Demon Deacons have only allowed four goals at Spry Stadium during the 10 match home unbeaten run.
Against ranked opponents last season, Wake Forest earned a 2-0 victory over No. 22 Virginia and a 1-1 draw with No. 3 North Carolina.

Last Time Out

Using a strong second-half surge, the Wake Forest women's soccer team earned a dominant 4-0 victory in the home opener against Temple Thursday evening at Spry Stadium.
The opening goal came two minutes into the second half when senior Anna Swanson found herself on the end of a great ball from junior Caiya Hanks at close range and had no trouble putting it into the back of the net with her right foot. It marked her fourth-career goal as she brought her career points tally to 10.
In the 71st minute, junior Hannah Johnson continued her hot start to the season with her second goal of the campaign after junior Nikayla Small served it on a platter in front of goal as Wake Forest doubled the lead.
Six minutes later, redshirt freshman Sierra Sythe bagged her first-career goal after a great bit of work from senior Emily Murphy set her up for the third goal of the evening.
- Additionally, Sythe earned her first-career start after a great showing last weekend against Army and Rutgers.
The fourth, and final, goal of the night came just 85 seconds later as Sythe put the ball into a dangerous area before junior Carly Wilson poked it past the keeper for her second-career goal.
The Demon Deacons dominated the ball throughout the contest and controlled 70 percent of the possession over the 90 minutes. Additionally, Wake Forest outshot Temple 38-to-2 (11-to-1 on-goal) and won 14 corners.
In goal, graduate transfer Paige Nurkin earned the start in her Wake Forest debut. She recorded the 13th clean sheet of her collegiate career.
Additionally, it marked the most goals and shots in a game for the Deacs since the 6-0 victory over Iona last September.

Scouting the Bulldogs

Mississippi State has opened the season 3-0 for the first time since 2018 and for the second time in program history.
The Bulldogs have also not allowed a goal in their opening three matches for the first time since 1996.
The No. 20-ranked Mississippi State squad has seen seven different goals scorers throughout the opening few matches.
Goalkeeper Maddy Anderson has only been forced into two saves during her three clean sheets to open the year.

Series History vs. Mississippi State

Sunday will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
The Demon Deacons have not lost a regular-season matchup against an SEC opponent since 2018.
- Last year, Wake Forest defeated Auburn, 2-0.

Home Ticket Information
To experience The Best Fan Experience in North Carolina, single game bleacher general admission for non-conference action starts at $5 while reserve chairbacks are $10. For all ACC action, 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.

This year, Demon Deacon women's soccer will host 2023 National Champion Florida State, 2023 National Championship runner up Stanford, 2023 NCAA Tournament team Mississippi State and Big Four foes Duke and NC State in a loaded home slate.

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
The Demon Deacons will hit the road for three-consecutive matches after the clash with the Bulldogs, beginning with a matchup with Richmond on Thursday, August 29.

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Players Mentioned

Zara Chavoshi

Kate Dobsch

Olivia Duvall

Caiya Hanks

Hannah Johnson

Emily Morris

Emily Murphy

Paige Nurkin

Nikayla Small

Anna Swanson

Sierra Sythe

Carly Wilson

Wake Forest Athletics