Demon Deacons Fall in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Wake Forest women's soccer team (11-5-4, 4-3-3 ACC) fell, 0-1 to the No. 2-seed Michigan State Spartans in the second round of the NCAA tournament (14-3-6, 7-1-3 B1G) Thursday night at DeMartin Stadium.

The contest proved to be a defensive fight for the Demon Deacons, as Michigan State pushed hard into the attacking zone out of the gate.

Wake Forest's backline of Sierra Sythe, Sammi Wiemann, Brooke Miller and Tahlia Zadeyan held strong despite the Spartans' attempts to take the lead. With redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Valentina Amaral to anchor the Demon Deacon defense, the squads remained drawn at the half.

The Deacs found some offensive opportunities out of the break, with senior forward Miller recording the Demon Deacons' first on-target attempt of the night. Michigan State took the lead in the 69th minute, netting what would be the decisive goal.

Three of the four members of the Wake Forest backline went the full 90, as well as freshman forwards Allie Flanagan and Kylie Maxwell.

Amaral stood tall in a phenomenal nine-save performance. Her standout effort moved her to top-10 in program history in single-season saves and now sits at 81 on the year.

Single-Season Saves | Program History

Rank	Name	Season	Saves
T5.	Beth Klein	1996	85
T5	Tracy Chao	2000	85
7.	Aubrey Bledsoe	2011	84
8.	Sari Rose	1995	82
9.	Valentina Amaral	2025	81
10.	Aubrey Bledsoe	2013	76
11.	Erin Regan	1998	75

Additionally, her .84 career goals-against average is the best in program history.

Career Goals-Against Average (Min. 2,000 Minutes)

Rank	Name	Seasons	GAA
1.	Valentina Amaral	2023-25	0.84
2.	Aubrey Bledsoe	2010-13	0.91
3.	Laura Morse	2007-10	0.94
4.	Kaitlyn Parks	2020-23	1.01
5.	Kenna Healy	2000-03	1.20

How It Happened

Wake Forest found early chances, pressuring the Spartans into their offensive zone.
In the 4th minute, Michigan State sent an attempt off the post of the Deacs' net, but the Demon Deacons were able to clear the ball.
The Spartans pushed hard into the Wake Forest side, but the Deacs' backline remained steady.
Redshirt-sophomore Valentina Amaral collected her first save of the night with a diving stretch net in the 12th minute to keep the match drawn
- Amaral was tested again in the 18th minute, but corralled the ball with ease.
The backline of Sythe, Zadeyan, Wiemann and Miller remained strong to direct any Spartan opportunities away from the net.
A yellow card on MSU in the 33rd brought Wake Forest back in control in the Michigan State offensive zone, but the Deacs were unable to build any chances on net.
Michigan State once again found themselves in the box, but a clean slide-tackle from redshirt-sophomore Sierra Sythe snuffed the Spartan ball.
In the 38th minute, Amaral made a beautiful save off a penalty kick to hold the Spartans off.
- The Oviedo, Fla.-native grabbed her fifth save of the night with two minutes left in the half.
Wake Forest entered the locker room drawn 0-0 with the Spartans and trailing in shots, 0-8.
The Spartans opened the half with an off-target attempt in the 47th minute, but junior defender Sammi Wiemann was there to make the block.
In the 50th minute, senior forward Brooke Miller ripped a shot just left of the net.
Freshman forward Allie Flanagan sent an opportunity right of the net in the 54th minute.
Amaral equaled a season-high six saves in the 56th minute, pushing the Spartans' on-target chance out wide.
Miller recorded the Deacs' first shot-on-goal of the night just a minute later, but the MSU keeper was there to collect the save.
In the 68th minute, the Spartans made an attempt on the Demon Deacon net, but Wiemann headed the ball out of the zone.
Michigan State took the lead in the 69th minute.
The Spartans sent an attempt towards Amaral, but the keeper got a hand on the ball to poke it away.
Wiemann sent a ball to the front of the box in the 81st minute to find the head of Sythe, but the Long Beach, Calif.-native was unable to get it past the Michigan State keeper.
Wake Forest battled hard, but ultimately fell on the road to the Spartans, 1-0.

Season Highlights

Wake Forest finished the regular season 10-4-4 with an 8-0-3 record at home.
- Additionally, the Deacs are a stellar 23-2-8 at home over the last three seasons.
Wake Forest made its 24th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, with the last 23 coming under the helm of Tony da Luz.
- The Demon Deacons have made four of the last five tournaments, highlighted by a national finalist runner-up finish in the 2024 College Cup.
- Wake Forest holds an overall record of 27-23-2 in the NCAA Tournament, including a 18-2-1 mark in Winston-Salem.
Ranked No. 10 to begin the season on United Soccer Coaches, the squad remained in the top-25 for nine consecutive weeks, and continued to receive votes throughout the remainder of the season.
Three Demon Deacons earned All-ACC honors, highlighted by the All-ACC Freshman of the Year selection for Kylie Maxwell.
- Maxwell also earned a spot on the Third Team and Freshman Team, joined by redshirt-sophomore Valentina Amaral on the third team and freshman Allie Flanagan on the freshman team.
This season, Wake Forest had two players selected as ACC Players of the Week with Valentina Amaral and Kylie Maxwell earning the honors over the past few months.
- The Deacs placed two on the TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Freshman Top 100 list with Maxwell (#1) and Allie Flanagan (#19).
- Two Demon Deacons also earned spots on the TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Freshman Top 100 with Sierra Sythe (#40) and Valentina Amaral (#95).
This past September, the Deacs snapped a 15-year-long road drought at Koskinen Stadium with their 3-2 victory at No. 9 Duke.
The Demon Deacons equaled the longest home unbeaten streak in program history, tying the mark set just last season at 15 matches following a phenomenal 1-1 draw with No. 1 Notre Dame to close out the regular season home slate.
In her rookie season with the Demon Deacons, freshman forward Kylie Maxwell showed veteran experience as she led the team with 17 points and six goals.
- Additionally, the Langhorne, Pa.-native recorded five assists, which placed her fifth in program history for single-season freshman assists.
Redshirt-sophomore Sierra Sythe remained a standout piece of Wake Forest's backline, starting all 20 contests for the Deacs and totaling over 1,700 minutes on the pitch, the most of any player in the outfield.
- Sythe broke into the record book with her nine assists this season and wrapped the 2025 campaign sixth among the program for most assists in a single season.
Between the posts, redshirt sophomore Valentina Amaral completed the regular season at fifth in the conference both with a .784 save percentage and 69 total saves. Additionally, Amaral recorded six shutouts, with five of them occurring on home turf.
- The Oviedo, Fla., native moved her to top-10 in program history in single-season saves and now sits at 81 on the year.
The Demon Deacons wrapped the season with three or more players in double-digit points and four with five or more.
- Kylie Maxwell - 17 points (6 goals, 5 assists)
- Sierra Sythe - 15 points (3 goals, 9 assists)
- Allie Flanagan - 11 points (5 goals, 1 assist)
- Lola Ressler - 9 points (4 goals, 1 assist)
- Brooke Miller - 7 points (1 goal, 5 assists)
- Hannah Johnson - 5 points (2 goals, 1 assist)
- Alex Wood - 5 points (2 goals, 1 assist)
The Deacs featured a varied roster of goal contributors with 13 different players and four freshmen supplying the Deacs' offense. Of note, freshmen have accounted for 14 of the Deacs' 32 goals this campaign (44 percent).

From Coach da Luz
"I'm super proud of this group. After graduating 19 seniors and nearly 80 percent of our starting lineup, a lot of people underestimated what this team could accomplish. Nobody thought we would even make it to the NCAA tournament, let alone have the quality of the season we had. This team represents the program and the high standards that we hold ourselves to. I'm really proud of the effort we put forth. We had a great season and we have a young team with a bright future. The team got better all year long, and Valentina Amaral was a huge part of it, but overall we just grew together."

Wake Forest Athletics

Demon Deacons Fall in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

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Players Mentioned

Valentina Amaral

Allie Flanagan

Hannah Johnson

Kylie Maxwell

Brooke Miller

Kaitlyn Parks

Lola Ressler

Sierra Sythe

Sammi Wiemann

Alex Wood

Tahlia Zadeyan

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