Wake Forest Athletics
Demon Deacons Stay Perfect, Down Golden Bears
9/17/2026 9:57:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Two late goals from Sierra Sythe and Chloe Burst saw the Deacs improve to 9-0-0 on the season.
BERKELEY, Calif. -- Becoming the first team in the country to reach nine wins this season, the No. 3 Wake Forest women's soccer team (9-0-0, 2-0-0 ACC) took down the Cal Golden Bears (2-4-3, ACC 0-2-0), 3-1, Thursday night at Edwards Stadium.
Wake Forest remains just one of two teams in NCAA Division I soccer with zero blemishes on their record, alongside conference foe Boston College.
The Demon Deacons struck first in the 36th minute as graduate forward Henley Tippins tallied her third goal of the season and first in ACC play. The goal came after clever bit of work to beat her defender and enter the 18 before slotting it into the bottom corner.
Sophomore forward Kylie Maxwell picked up her second assist of the season on the opener as she nicked the ball off a Golden Bear in the midfield before finding Tippins.
Just six minutes after Cal's equalizer in the 72nd minute, the Demon Deacons retook the lead thanks to yet another dangerous Sierra Sythe free-kick. The redshirt junior has a team-high six goals this season and 12 for her career.
Junior Chloe Burst added an insurance goal in the 85th minute as Riley Cross found her in open space before she calmly converted a 1-on-1 chance with the keeper. The goal opened the New Orleans native's account for the season while she became the eighth different Wake Forest player to find the back of the net in 2026.
Despite conceding for just the second time this season, redshirt junior Valentina Amaral continued to submit her case as one of the best shotstoppers in the country. In her 50th-career appearance in the Old Gold & Black, the Oviedo, Fla. native finished the match with six saves and brought her career total to 155, now just eight away from cracking the top five in program history having already made her mark in the record books.
Sythe, alongside fellow defenders Sammi Wiemann and Taylor Maxwell, once again went the full 90 and provided great protection in front of Amaral throughout the match.
Brick Wall Amaral
Across 50 appearances and 46 starts, redshirt-junior Valentina Amaral has positioned herself as one of the top goalkeepers in the country. Her performances in net have led to 18 individual career shutouts, six combined shutouts and 31 wins. In 2024, she finished the season with the best goals-against average in program history at 0.69 and her results since then have spoken for themselves. This season, Amaral leads the conference with a 0.26 GAA, 0.929 save percentage and five individual clean sheets.
Additionally, she holds the lowest career goals against average in program history.
How It Happened
Demon Deacon Details to Note
From Coach da Luz
"The team responded to the challenge today. Cal was a difficult opponent and really tested us. We had a slow start but solved some problems, and gradually got a better hold of the game. That was a special turn and goal by Henley, and another clutch goal from Sierra and Chloe wrapped it with a perfect finish. Team spirit is high and we look forward to Sunday's match at Stanford."
Up Next
The Deacs stay in North Cali and head to Palo Alto to face No. 6 Stanford on Sunday, Sept. 20th. The contest will be streamed on ACCNX with live stats available here.
Wake Forest remains just one of two teams in NCAA Division I soccer with zero blemishes on their record, alongside conference foe Boston College.
The Demon Deacons struck first in the 36th minute as graduate forward Henley Tippins tallied her third goal of the season and first in ACC play. The goal came after clever bit of work to beat her defender and enter the 18 before slotting it into the bottom corner.
Sophomore forward Kylie Maxwell picked up her second assist of the season on the opener as she nicked the ball off a Golden Bear in the midfield before finding Tippins.
Just six minutes after Cal's equalizer in the 72nd minute, the Demon Deacons retook the lead thanks to yet another dangerous Sierra Sythe free-kick. The redshirt junior has a team-high six goals this season and 12 for her career.
Junior Chloe Burst added an insurance goal in the 85th minute as Riley Cross found her in open space before she calmly converted a 1-on-1 chance with the keeper. The goal opened the New Orleans native's account for the season while she became the eighth different Wake Forest player to find the back of the net in 2026.
Despite conceding for just the second time this season, redshirt junior Valentina Amaral continued to submit her case as one of the best shotstoppers in the country. In her 50th-career appearance in the Old Gold & Black, the Oviedo, Fla. native finished the match with six saves and brought her career total to 155, now just eight away from cracking the top five in program history having already made her mark in the record books.
Sythe, alongside fellow defenders Sammi Wiemann and Taylor Maxwell, once again went the full 90 and provided great protection in front of Amaral throughout the match.
Brick Wall Amaral
Across 50 appearances and 46 starts, redshirt-junior Valentina Amaral has positioned herself as one of the top goalkeepers in the country. Her performances in net have led to 18 individual career shutouts, six combined shutouts and 31 wins. In 2024, she finished the season with the best goals-against average in program history at 0.69 and her results since then have spoken for themselves. This season, Amaral leads the conference with a 0.26 GAA, 0.929 save percentage and five individual clean sheets.
Additionally, she holds the lowest career goals against average in program history.
| Player (Year Played) | Career Goals Against Average |
|
0.75 |
|
0.91 |
|
0.94 |
|
1.01 |
How It Happened
- The Golden Bears tested Amaral early, with the keeper recording her first save of the afternoon in the second minute.
- Maxwell recorded the Deacs' first shot-on-goal in the eighth minute.
- The Demon Deacons held Cal without a shot between the second and 34th minutes, when Amaral was once again called into action and kept the match deadlocked.
- Wake Forest grew into the game as the half went on and found the much-deserved breakthrough in the 36th minute as Tippins beat her defender at the edge of the box with ease and slotted it home into the bottom left corner.
- Maxwell logged the assist on the goal as she picked the ball off a Cal player in the midfield and drove towards the 18 before finding Tippins.
- Sasadeusz tried to double the advantage 10 minutes later, but was unable to beat the Cal keeper from distance.
- The Golden Bears had their best chance 20 seconds before the break, but a diving stop from the reigning ACC Goalkeeper of the Week sent the Deacs into the locker room with a 1-0 advantage.
- The Demon Deacons held a 6-4 edge in shots over the first 45 minutes.
- The two sides traded three shots apiece over the first 25 minutes of the second half until Cal found an equalizer in the 72nd minute.
- It took Wake Forest just six minutes to retake the lead, as Sythe's free-kick from distance found its way into the back of the net for her sixth goal of the season and the 12th of her career.
- Burst doubled the advantage in the 85th minute following a good ball from Cross to set her free before she calmly beat the keeper 1-on-1.
- Amaral made her sixth, and final, save of the match in the last second to secure the 3-1 victory.
Demon Deacon Details to Note
- Redshirt-junior goalkeeper Valentina Amaral made her 50th career appearance.
- Midfielders Amaya Dawkins, Lola Ressler and Riley Cross as well as forward Chloe Burst all made their 30th career collegiate appearances.
- Graduate student forward Henley Tippins made her 80th career appearance.
- Sophomore forward Allie Flanagan made her 25th career start.
- Sythe and Wiemann went the full 90 for the eighth time this season while Taylor Maxwell did so for the sixth time.
- Sythe's goal was her sixth of the season and brought her career point total to 37 (12 goals and 13 assists)
- Burst tallied her second career goal and first of the season.
- With Thursday's opener, Tippins now has 23 goals and 55 points throughout her five-year career and has found the back of the net three times this season.
From Coach da Luz
"The team responded to the challenge today. Cal was a difficult opponent and really tested us. We had a slow start but solved some problems, and gradually got a better hold of the game. That was a special turn and goal by Henley, and another clutch goal from Sierra and Chloe wrapped it with a perfect finish. Team spirit is high and we look forward to Sunday's match at Stanford."
Up Next
The Deacs stay in North Cali and head to Palo Alto to face No. 6 Stanford on Sunday, Sept. 20th. The contest will be streamed on ACCNX with live stats available here.
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
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Forward
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Midfielder
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Midfielder
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Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
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Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Defender
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