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Deacs soccer home to Terps
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Published: October 24, 2009
Wake Forest and Maryland were expected to meet for the 2008 Division I men's soccer championship. But North Carolina got in the way, upsetting the Deacons 1-0 in the College Cup semifinals before losing to Maryland in the final.
The Deacons and Terrapins -- winners of the last two NCAA titles -- will meet at 7 p.m. today at Spry Stadium. The stakes won't be as high, but the ACC regular-season title could be on the line. Maryland (10-3-1, 4-1-1) is at the top of the standings. Second-place Wake Forest (10-2-2, 3-1-1 ACC) is riding a three-match winning streak. Wake Forest won last year's regular-season meeting 4-2 in College Park.
"That was one of the best regular-season games I've been involved with, and it was great for college soccer," Coach Jay Vidovich of Wake Forest said. "There's no doubt this will be one of the premier games in the country because of what both Maryland's program has done and what our program has done over the last few years."
Seniors Zack Schilawski (8 goals, 4 assists) and Austin da Luz (3 goals, 11 assists) lead the Deacons in scoring, and freshman Andy Lubahn (5 goals) has become an impact player in ACC matches. Ike Opara and keeper Akira Fitzgerald (4 shutouts, 0.79 goals-against average) anchor the defense.
Maryland's Jason Herrick also has eight goals to share the ACC lead with Schilawski, and sophomore keeper Zac MacMath is having another outstanding season. As a freshman last season, MacMath led the nation in goals-against average (0.44) and tied the school record for shutouts (12). This season, he has a 0.89 GAA and four shutouts.
Both teams lost several key players from last season -- a combined 11 players were picked in the MLS SuperDraft -- but both have remained among the nation's best (Wake Forest is No. 3 and Maryland is No. 5 in the NSCAA rankings).
"Both us and Maryland kind of have targets on for what we've done in the past and teams kind of want to get a piece of each of us," Vidovich said. "But I think both teams have done well in not allowing that to happen…."
jdell@wsjournal.com | 727-4081
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