Sports > November 6, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor

The No. 1-ranked Wake Forest men’s soccer team clinched the ACC regular season title when they knocked off the No. 7-ranked UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels Saturday, Nov. 1 at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C. It is their fourth regular season championship in the last seven years. The four ACC regular season championships rank Wake Forest in a tie for second in the ACC with Duke. Both schools trail Virginia who has 10 regular season titles. The Deacs have captured titles in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

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Senior Lyle Adams chases down a ball in a recent game. The Deacons 16-0-1 will meet Virginia Nov. 7 in the final game of the regular season before heading to Cary, N.C., for the ACC tournament. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

UNC-Chapel Hill was able to outshoot the Deacons 13-10, a rare occurrence for the Deacs this season. Wake had seven shots on goal, while the Tar Heels only attempted six. The16-0-1 Deacs struggled against the 11-5-1 Tar Heels defense in the first half and were unable to attempt a single shot.

In the 44th minute UNC-Chapel Hill got on the board first. Cameron Brown sent a shot from the left side of the 18 yard box and defeated junior keeper Akira Fitzgerald to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 edge. Brian Shriver was credited with the assist on the play.

After trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Deacon offense took control in the second half and scored four consecutive goals in dominating fashion. Three of those goals came in a span of five minute and 26 seconds.

Wake Forest tied the game at one apiece when junior Cody Arnoux scored in the 64th minute. The Tar Heel keeper, Jacob Wescoe, left the net open when he came 35 yards out. Arnoux scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season when he floated a ball over a Tar Heel defender and found the left side of the net.

Just 52 seconds later the Deacs went up 2-1. Junior Zack Schilawski came off the bench and netted a goal from 20 yards out. Arnoux played a ball that found Schilawski at the top of the 18-yard box. Schilawski beat a Tar Heel defender to make the score 2-1.

In the 69th minute Schilawski tacked on his second goal of the game to make the score 3-1. Senior forward Marcus Tracy played a pass to Schilawski on the right side of the 18-yard box. Schilawski attempted to feed the ball back to Tracy, but the pass was deflected into the net by a Tar Heel defender to give Schilawski his eighth goal of the season and the fifth multi-goal game of his career.

Senior captain Sam Cronin added a fourth unanswered goal in the 80th minute when a foul by a Tar Heel inside the box set up a penalty kick. Cronin took the penalty kick and found the left side of the net to extend the lead to 4-1.

The Tar Heels converted a penalty kick of their own in the 82nd minute to cut into the Deacon lead. Michael Callahan scored his second goal of the year, but the Tar Heels were unable to do any more damage and the game ended in a 4-2 victory for the Deacs.

The victory was the Deacons’ third straight against UNC-Chapel Hill. Fitzgerald made four saves in the game to pick up his 16th win of the season.

Schilawski’s performance earned him the ACC Men’s Soccer Player of the Week award. He has also earned national accolades this week, being named to the College Soccer News Team of the Week.

Schilawski, of Cary, N.C., ranks third on the team in goals with eight and fourth in points with 20 and is the fifth different Wake Forest player to earn ACC Player of the Week honors.

The Deacons will try to finish their season with a victory and extend their unbeaten streak to 23 games when they travel to Charlottesville, Va., Nov. 7 to meet Virginia, who is 9-6-1 on the season and 4-3-0 ACC.