No. 17 Wake Forest Downs Charleston

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Highlighted by the first-career goal for sophomore forward Chloe Burst, the No. 17 Wake Forest women's soccer team (5-1-0, 0-0-0 ACC) captured its first road victory of the season with a 2-0 clean sheet win over the College of Charleston Cougars (1-3-1, 0-0-0 CAA) Thursday night at Ralph Lundy Field at Patriots Point Complex.

The Burst strike came just over two minutes into the second half after fellow sophomore Lola Ressler set her up in front of goal for the finish. It marked the first-career assist for Ressler.

Of note, Burst is the fourth Wake Forest player this campaign to record their first-career goal, joining Ressler as well as freshmen Kylie Maxwell and Allie Flanagan.

Flanagan added to her tally in the 75th minute as she doubled the Deacs' advantage and became the third Demon Deacon with multiple goals in 2025 alongside Maxwell and redshirt-sophomore defender Sierra Sythe.

Through the first six games of the season, standout redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Valentina Amaral has tallied 19 saves while maintaining a .34 goals against average and a stellar .905 save percentage. The week one ACC Defensive Player of the Week entered the contest leading the conference in shutouts per game and now has five on the year.

For her career, the Oviedo, Fla.-native has been a part of more clean sheets (17) than goals allowed (14). Additionally, Amaral improved to 17-4-3 in matches she started.

How It Happened

Charleston registered the first shot of the contest in the ninth minute, but Amaral covered the zone to keep the contest even.
The Cougars were awarded a free kick in the 14th minute, but a header from redshirt sophomore Sierra Sythe cleared the ball and kept the Cougars scoreless.
Just seconds after entering the match, sophomore Chloe Burst recorded the Deacs' first shot of the night in the 31st minute.
The Cougs recorded their second shot in the 34th minute but sent it wide of the net.
Freshman Kylie Maxwell saw her first shot attempt of the night off a corner just before the half.
The two sides went into the break deadlocked at 0-0.
- Amaral finished the first 45 with three saves.
Wake Forest broke through the Charleston keeper less than three minutes into the second half.
- Sophomore Lola Ressler directed the ball to the front of the zone and for Burst to tap in and give the Deacons the 1-0 lead.
- This is Burst's first goal of her career and Ressler's first assist of her career.
In the 65th minute, Amaral recorded her fourth save of the night to maintain the one-goal lead.
The Deacons struck again in the 75th minute, as freshman Allie Flanagan buried a shot deep to put Wake Forest up 2-0.
The Deacs saw a stellar scoring opportunity as multiple Deacons attempted to bury the ball, but the Cougars scrambled to clear it in the 82nd minute.
Charleston drove in one final shot with two seconds of the clock however, Amaral responded to secure the 2-0 victory.

Demon Deacon Details of Note

Freshman Rachael Wright made her first career start.
Senior Brooke Miller made her 30th career start.
Sophomore Chloe Burst recorded her first career goal in her tenth career appearance.
- Sophomore Lola Ressler recorded her first career assist on Burst's goal.
Junior Sammi Wiemann made her first career appearance in the 88th minute.

From Coach da Luz
"Charleston put us under a ton of pressure in the first half and we were lucky to be tied at halftime. We made some adjustments just before halftime and executed very well in the second half. It was great to see Chloe Burst perform so well and get her first goal. Taryn Chance gave us strong minutes and Tahlia Zadeyan was excellent in the back. Our game changers made impactful contributions to turn the game our way and getting another shutout shows we're taking pride in team defense. We were resilient on the road, which is a good sign for our future! I'm proud of the team's performance this week in training and in the match tonight."

Up Next
Wake Forest returns to Spry Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 7 at noon to face the Brown University Bears during the annual We Are Wake Green Game. The match will be streamed on ACCNX with live stats available here. Sunday will serve as the program's We Are Wake match, as Demon Deacon student-athletes will wear special green warm-up shirts and staff will wear green ribbons for the contest.

Next Event

Team Stats

Chloe Burst

Allie Flanagan

Lola Ressler

Addison Roberts

Players Mentioned

Valentina Amaral

Chloe Burst

Taryn Chance

Allie Flanagan

Kylie Maxwell

Brooke Miller

Lola Ressler

Sierra Sythe

Sammi Wiemann

Rachael Wright

Tahlia Zadeyan

Wake Forest Athletics