There's plenty of room on the spacious Spry Stadium scoreboard for another national-championship banner.
The first belongs to the Wake Forest men, who won the NCAA Division I title in 2007.
The Wake Forest women hope to take another step in that direction tonight, when they play Central Florida at 7 in a quarterfinal match at Spry.
The women's team (17-3-4) has never reached the College Cup — soccer's final four — but can get there with a win tonight.
Coach Tony da Luz had the Deacons on the brink of the College Cup in 2009, but they lost 5-2 to North Carolina in Chapel Hill in the quarterfinals. To get there this time, da Luz said, the Deacons have to play at a high level.
"It will be a different feeling than in '09, because we weren't at home," said da Luz, whose Deacons have a No. 1 seed and are 9-2 in NCAA tournament games at home. "Being a No. 1 seed this time, I guess we are perceived to be a favorite to win, so it's a huge game for us, and it would certainly elevate our program."
With the quarterfinal scheduled tonight, Wake Forest players didn't have the chance to go home for Thanksgiving, but da Luz and his wife, Amy, had the team to their house Wednesday night. The dinner was pot luck, and players had to bring their best dishes to share.
From all indications, da Luz said, his players also are pretty skilled in the kitchen.
"We had a top-chef competition, and everybody brought their best dish, and we had judges and everything," da Luz said. "It was a lot of fun, and I thought it was important to have everybody together at a house around Thanksgiving instead of in a restaurant somewhere."
The Deacons practiced Thursday, and da Luz said that his players have been very focused since a penalty-kick loss to Florida State in the ACC tournament final Nov. 6.
"I think about a minute after we beat Penn State (in Sunday's third round), they were already talking about not being satisfied," da Luz said. "They were talking about keeping it going, and really our practices have been very lively, and that's a good sign."
The Deacons reached the quarterfinals with the 4-2 win against the Nittany Lions, with leading scorer Katie Stengel getting two goals, Jackie Logue and Ally Berry adding one each, and keeper Aubrey Bledsoe making a career-high 11 saves.
Wake Forest defeated Central Florida on the road 1-0 on Aug. 21, but da Luz pointed out that the match was a long time ago.
"All it means is we've prepared for them once before," da Luz said. "And they haven't changed much in their attack or their lineup."
The Knights (13-4-6) are led by Tishia Jewell (7 goals, 10 assists) and Nicolette Radovcic (8 goals, 4 assists). Keeper Lianne Maldonado has played all but 16 minutes this season and has nine shutouts and 20 goals allowed.
Central Florida reached the quarterfinals by winning a shootout with North Carolina after tying 1-1.
Wake Forest also has a chance to be one of three ACC teams in the College Cup. In other quarterfinals today, Virginia will play Florida State, Duke will play Long Beach State, and Oklahoma State will play Stanford.
"It's certainly motivation to get to the College Cup to represent the ACC," da Luz said. "We were very proud that nine of our teams got into the tournament, and we still have four teams left. That obviously says a lot about the conference."
The College Cup will be at the Kennesaw State Soccer Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga., with the semifinals on Dec. 2 and the national-championship on Dec. 4.
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