WFU soccer gets No. 3 seed

By: By John Dell | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: November 17, 2009

The Wake Forest men's soccer team, hoping for its fourth straight College Cup appearance, will open the NCAA Tournament at Spry Stadium on Sunday.

The Deacons were one of 16 teams that received byes in the first round of the 48-team tournament. The Deacons will play the winner of the UNC Wilmington at UNC Charlotte first-round game.

The Deacons had a tough time with UNC Charlotte earlier this year, losing 3-1 at Spry Stadium on Sept. 29. The Deacons did not play UNC Wilmington, which is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance this season.

All first-round games are scheduled for Thursday.

The Deacons are the No. 3 seed with unbeaten Akron (20-0) the No. 1 seed. Getting the second seed was Virginia, the ACC Tournament champion, with Ohio State the fourth seed.

Defending champion Maryland, which beat North Carolina for the title last season, is not seeded and will play a first-round game at home against Loyola of Maryland.

Duke will also play in a first-round game at home against Winthrop. North Carolina, the fifth seed, will play the winner of the Stony Brook-Brown game. N.C. State, the 15th seed, will play the winner of the Portland-New Mexico first-round game.

The Deacons (14-3-3) are in familiar territory after getting knocked out of the ACC Tournament in a shootout loss to Virginia in the semifinals last week. They have had past disappointments in the ACC Tournament but have regrouped when it mattered most -- in the NCAA Tournament.

On Sunday, instead of playing in the ACC Tournament final in Cary, many players were at Spry Stadium watching the Wake Forest women beat West Virginia 3-0.

Senior Austin da Luz said that the Deacons are looking forward to the final phase of the season.

"We're prepared and we think we can go pretty far in the tournament," said da Luz, who is part of a class that has been to three straight College Cups, with a national championship in 2007. "We've shown throughout the year that we've been ranked inside the top five and we have just as good a chance of getting to the final four as any other year."

The College Cup, which will be in Cary next month, is where the Deacons won the school's first national championship in soccer in 2007. After Coach Jay Vidovich lost eight starters from last year's team, not a lot was expected but the Deacons shared the ACC regular-season title and are one of the more balanced teams in the country.

Junior Corben Bone, the winner of the ACC's offensive player of the year award, said he's not surprised how well they have played.

"All season we've been growing as a team," Bone said. "This will be another chance to grow as a team and overcome some more obstacles in the tournament. It's another test that I think we can accomplish."

The veteran Deacons are used to going to the College Cup, and Bone expects to make another run.

"It's not in my mind that we aren't going to make it," Bone said. "That's the mentality we have, to get there to the College Cup and try to win another national championship."

The College Cup is scheduled for Dec. 11 with the semifinals and the final to be at 1 p.m. on Dec. 13 at WakeMed Park in Cary.

jdell@wsjournal.com

727-4081

State/area pairings

Thursday's first-round games

Loyola, Md. (11-7-3) at Maryland (12-5-2), 7 p.m.

UNC Wilmington (14-2-4), at UNC Charlotte (11-3-5), 7 p.m.

Winthrop (11-5-4) at Duke (12-6), 7 p.m.

Dartmouth (10-6-1) at Boston College (12-8), 7 p.m.

Sunday's second-round games

UNCW-UNCC winner at Wake Forest (14-3-3), TBA

Portland-New Mexico winner at N.C. State (13-6-2), 1 p.m.

Bucknell-Princeton winner at Virginia (14-3-3), 1 p.m.