Wake Forest is headed back to familiar territory, and Zack Schilawski is headed home again.
Wake Forest scored twice in the second half and held on for a 2-0 win over UCLA last night at Spry Stadium, sending the Deacons to their fourth straight College Cup.
"You just always want to go back," Coach Jay Vidovich said. "It's something your student-athletes work for all the time. We've worked on it, it's in our goals, and we've been working very hard for that since we lost last year to North Carolina. We're very excited to be heading back to Cary."
Wake Forest will meet ACC rival Virginia next Friday at either 5 p.m. or 7:30 in Cary at WakeMed Soccer Park, where the Deacons won the 2007 NCAA Championship.
Senior Zach Schilawski of Wake Forest, who grew up in Cary, gave the Deacons a 1-0 lead when he found himself in the right place at the right time.
Luke Norman sent a cross to Austin da Luz, whose shot bounced off the right post and rolled to Schilwaski.
Schilwaski blasted the rebound past goalie Brian Perk from 7 yards out at 52:13. It was his 11th goal in the NCAA Tournament, two shy of the tournament record.
His 14th goal of the season was the 40th of his career, which is third all-time at Wake Forest.
Schilwaski, who also scored the game winner for Wake Forest in the 2007 championship game, said he was looking forward to heading home for another chance at a national title.
"It's a fun place to play for me, obviously," Schilawski said. "I've got lot of friends and family there. It's a good field; it's been good to us in the past."
Freshman Andy Lubahn gave Wake Forest a 2-0 lead at 80:50 when he took a pass from Corben Bone and drilled a shot that Perk deflected, but still found the back of the net.
It was the 10th goal of the season for Lubahn, which ties a WFU record for goals by a freshman.
"When I was looking at colleges last year, it was Wake and then everybody else," Lubahn said. "Every year they are expected to be in the national championship. I'm very happy to be a part of this and to help these seniors get back to the Final Four."
Wake Forest had another scoring chance early in the second half when da Luz was tripped in the box and was awarded a penalty kick. His shot went toward the upper-right corner but was deflected out of bounds by Perk, who finished with three saves.
After the first goal by Wake Forest, UCLA controlled the action on offense, only to come up empty-handed. Fernando Monge's header hit the right post, and David Estrada was denied when keeper Akira Fitzgerald of Wake Forest deflected Estrada's shot over the crossbar and out of bounds.
"It was one of those things where they made the plays that made a difference," said Coach Jorge Salcedo of UCLA. "They (Wake) were bunkering in after they scored for about 10 minutes. We had some broken plays in and around the box that we didn't finish. I thought the game was there for us to score a goal."
UCLA finished its season 12-4-4.
Vidovich and the Deacons will now turn their attention toward the Cavaliers. Virginia beat them 1-0 at Spry Stadium on Sept. 18 and in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament when they advanced to the championship 5-4 on penalty kicks after playing to a 0-0 tie.
"They're a tournament team, and they are very good at locking up defenses and staying around to survive," Vidovich said.
"They know they aren't going to get a chance that often, but when they do, they finish with opportunities. They're a tremendous team; we've got a lot of experience with them and a lot of history with them. We're looking forward to playing them one more time."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement