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WFU soccer team rolls on
Deacons score early, often in 7-0 win over Dartmouth in third round of NCAA tourney
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
The Deacons celebrate their third goal against the Big Green.
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Published: December 1, 2008
The Wake Forest men's soccer team, the defending national champions, has been called a lot of things this season. You can add mudders to that list.
The top-seeded Deacons routed 16th-seeded Dartmouth 7-0 yesterday at soggy Spry Stadium where it looked as if Noah and his arc were going to show up at any moment. Despite the sloppy field that actually held up well considering the amount of rain that fell, the Deacons got on a roll and never looked back.
There were 584 brave souls who came out with temperatures in the mid-30s and rain was, at times, coming down sideways.
"It was a shock," said forward Marcus Tracy of the Deacons about the final score.
"But at the same time I think it shows what we are capable of doing. We haven't found that form for a while this season, but today things were clicking and guys were working for one another. It was great to rebound, especially since our last outing, so I think we are in a good place right now."
They were not only clicking in the mud, they were downright scary on their precision up front. Tracy had two assists and the Deacons fired 16 shots at goalie Sean Milligan, who if not for some brilliant saves the Deacons could have scored 10 goals.
The victory for the Deacons (20-1-1) in the third round of the NCAA Tournament pushes them to Saturday's showdown with South Florida at 4:30 p.m. at Spry Stadium. A win would put the Deacons into their third straight College Cup.
The Deacons got rolling early when Corben Bone fired a left-footed 20-yard shot that Milligan got his finger tips on but couldn't save. The 1-0 lead just 6:11 in was an indication of what was to come.
Later in the half the Deacons got another goal thanks to a Sam Cronin penalty kick. Cronin, a senior from Winston-Salem who made a school-record 96th career start, made it 2-0.
The Deacons got the penalty kick thanks to a handball from Pumi Maqubela of the Big Green.
What is even scarier for the rest of the teams in the NCAA Tournament is that the Deacons were whole again yesterday. Goalie Akira Fitzgerald, who left Tuesday's 1-0 overtime win against William & Mary with a concussion, was back in goal and defender Ike Opara was back after missing two of the last three games with a groin injury.
"Ike has been nursing an injury and we were waiting to get him back and he obviously completes us," Vidovich said. "The other thing is Austin da Luz is getting to where we can use him also. Having them all back is like having the boys together again."
Da Luz warmed up early in the second half, but wound up not playing, but the truth was they didn't need him.
Cody Arnoux, who had two goals, made it 3-0 early in the second half when the Deacons had a counter attack that left the Big Green gasping for air. The Deacons first turned away a Dartmouth chance on their end of the field, and Tracy and Arnoux worked a give-and-go perfectly as Arnoux easily scored on a tap-in.
Zack Schilawski scored two goals and Luke Norman also had one as the Deacons set a record for most goals in school history in an NCAA Tournament game.
"Definitely I'm very proud of the performance of Wake Forest coming out in these conditions," Vidovich said. "It was certainly not suited to our style of play, but the guys did an unbelievable job of adapting to it, getting the first two goals in the first half, then locking it down in the second half."
One of the practice tactics that Vidovich uses during NCAA Tournament time is alternating between the two practice fields adjacent to Spry Stadium. He makes sure that one of the fields is very wet and they practice on that field.
Tracy said that they were actually used to yesterday's sloppy conditions.
"We are prepared for this," Tracy said. "Coach sets up one of our practice fields where it's extra wet so we are used to playing on different surfaces and different kinds of conditions. He teaches us to chop our feet and thinks like that."
With the seven goals the Deacons shattered the school record for most goals in a season. They have 76, breaking the mark of 70 goals set by the 1983 team.
Vidovich said that some might believe that because the Deacons are so attack oriented that they aren't a grind-it-out kind of team.
"Our guys can play in different conditions and our game is adaptable," Vidovich said. "You can't say Wake Forest is a soft team. We go on the road and we play big teams and we play in the rain so these guys are seasoned guys and they know how to get the job done."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
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