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Deacs win share of ACC soccer title
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Published: November 6, 2009
With a charged-up crowd of more than 3,000 at Spry Stadium the Wake Forest men's soccer team lit up Duke 3-0 last night.
The victory gave the Deacons a share of the ACC regular-season title with North Carolina, but because the Deacons scored more goals in conference play the Deacons earned the top-seed for next week's ACC Tournament in Cary. The win also was a fitting salute to a class of six seniors who improved its four-year record to 74-10-9, the best winning percentage for a senior class in school history.
"It's always exciting to have Spry rocking," Coach Jay Vidovich of the Deacons said.
The Deacons (13-3-2) ended the Blue Devils (12-5) five-game winning streak and did it convincingly.
Once freshman Andy Lubahn scored in the 14th minute, the Deacons loosened up and continued to apply the pressure.
The Deacons won or shared their sixth regular-season title in Vidovich's 16 years, and it was their third in the last four years.
"With the number of players that we lost (from last season) this team has grown up to be a good team and have found ways to win," Vidovich said. "They just keep getting better, and I'm very proud of their performance."
Lubahn scored his seventh goal of the season taking a crossing pass from Justin Lichtfuss. Making the initial pass from near midfield was defender Ike Opara, who found Lichtfuss down the right side.
Lichtfuss made the quick crossing pass to Lubahn who easily beat goalie James Belshaw.
"Both teams were playing tight early, but then (Lichtfuss) gave me a great ball and I was able to finish," Lubahn said.
Despite all the success the Deacons have enjoyed in recent years (three straight College Cups and a national championship in 2007), Vidovich got his young team to play with a chip on their shoulder. They were picked fourth in the pre-season ACC coaches poll.
"After the game Coach just said he was proud of us for proving the critics wrong," Lubahn said. "And to prove we are Wake Forest, so it feels good."
The Deacons made it 2-0 early in the second half when Zack Schilawski scored his 37th career goal, third-best in school history, as he followed his own shot that hit off the post. The initial pass was made by Sam Redmond, who along with Luke Norman, played very well.
Norman, who didn't start, played the best second half of his career, according to Vidovich.
"For Sam I think it was one of his better performances in fulfilling his role," Vidovich said. "I thought he did a very good job in taking a strong player like Cole Grossman out of his game."
With less than 18 minutes to go Chris Estridge made it 3-0 when Corben Bone set him up for a goal from 12 yards out.
Goalie Akira Fitzgerald, one of the six seniors, combined with another senior, Austin Chelko, for the shutout. Fitzgerald made four saves, and said that last night's game was very important.
"We treated it like a playoff game," Fitzgerald said. "If we won this game we were getting the top-seed in the tournament, so it was very big to win it. I know this was the last guaranteed home game so we wanted to win."
The Deacons will play the winner of the Virginia Tech-Clemson play-in game next Wednesday in Cary in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.
The Deacons had other good chances in the first half but couldn't convert as they managed 10 shots. For the game they had 19 shots with eight of them on goal.
The Blue Devils also had good scoring chances, but Fitzgerald turned back two good shots. On one flurry in front of Fitzgerald Grossman, one of the top scorers in the ACC, just missed a header that went over the cross bar with 6:39 left in the half.
Lubhan, one of the top freshmen in the country this season, has made a big impact up front on the Deacons' attack. He had four shots last night.
"All the seniors are good guys and they've kind of looked out for us so it was nice to win this game for them," Lubhan said.
The Deacons, who haven't won the ACC Tournament championship since 1989, had to replace eight starters from last season's team that made it into the College Cup semifinals.
"We're young, but we get better every game on defense and that's the positive signs you want," Fitzgerald said. "We did a good job keeping a clean sheet and didn't give them too many opportunities."
Freshman Anthony Arena has teamed with Opara in the back along with senior Lichtfuss and Lyle Adams.
Fitzgerald said that the victory last night was a statement.
"That was a slap in the face to us to be picked fourth," Fitzgerald said. "Just to all the doubters out there this was nice to get the top-seed for the tournament."
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