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WFU wins soccer opener over William & Mary
Senior Schilawski scores only goal in 1-0 victory; Vidovich gets yellow card
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Ike Opara of Wake Forest and Chris Perez of William & Mary struggle for the ball.
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Published: September 2, 2009
As opening acts go, the Wake Forest's men's soccer team hit all the right notes last night in a 1-0 victory over William & Mary at Spry Stadium.
The Deacons applied their trademark pressure and played solid defense, and senior Zack Schilawski had the only goal, taking a perfect pass from Nick "Javy" Courtney to score from about seven yards out with 18 minutes left.
"Austin (da Luz) got it to me out there wide, and Zack just put it away," said Courtney, who will be counted on for defense.
The Deacons dominated most of the play against a veteran Tribe team that lost just one starter from last season, which ended for William & Mary with an overtime loss to Wake Forest in the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Jay Vidovich of Wake Forest said he was pleased with how things went.
"I'm happy with everybody right now," Vidovich said. "We have so many new faces, we're just trying to figure ourselves out."
Vidovich wasn't happy when a Tribe player cut down freshman Andy Lubahn near the Deacons' bench with 3:22 to play. No foul was called by referee Jeff Muschik, and Vidovich was hot enough that he drew a yellow card for arguing.
"When our guy got scissored over there I just said that's a red-card offense," Vidovich said of what he told Muschik. "I just said you better take care of that, or we'll have to.
"But that's my first (yellow) in 15 years, so I'm very surprised -- and pretty (mad) about it."
The Deacons had 18 shots and 15 corner kicks and held the Tribe without a corner kick.
Goalie Akira Fitzgerald made three big saves, including a key stop with 12:04 left as the Tribe tried to mount a comeback.
Fitzgerald, one of the few starters back for the Deacons, had 13 shutouts last season.
Ike Opara, one of the nation's top defenders, started the game in the midfield then moved to defense in the second half. Vidovich said that moving Opara will help the Deacons find the right mix.
"We've been working with him as a midfielder to kind of see where our best collection of players might be," Vidovich said. "We moved him back for a tactical reason so his diagonal balls could find Austin and Corben (Bone) on the flanks."
Vidovich started two freshmen, Lubahn at forward and Anthony Arena in the midfield.
Four other freshmen, Sean Randolph, Ben Newnam, Chris Estridge and Luciano Delbono played as reserves.
Courtney took a step up from his position as a role player the past three seasons -- he played in just 13 games last year -- and several of his teammates and Vidovich noticed marked improvement in the offseason. That led to the nickname.
"Javy is his twin brother," Vidovich joked, "and he's much better than Nick."
Courtney said he doesn't mind the inside joke about his nickname. "It comes from my middle name which is Javier," he said. "I've kind of embraced the nickname."
The Deacons, who won the 350th game in program history, will play at Notre Dame on Friday and at Indiana on Sunday.
"I'm impressed that we put a lot of pressure on a team like William & Mary, and we did control the game," Vidovich said. "At this time of the year, that's good. And for the freshmen like Andy Lubahn and Anthony Arena to come in and do so well is nice to see."
Courtney said it was frustrating that the Deacons had so many chances to score but managed just one goal. But he also knows that staying patient while continuing to attack is a critical.
"There's some pressure," Courtney said of the season, "but it's a new year, and we know we are going to be good."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
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