Sports > November 29, 2007

By Connor Swarbrick | Staff writer

The Deacons entered the Nov. 18 ACC Championship game against Boston College after defeating Clemson 3-1 and North Carolina 1-0 in overtime. The Deacons looked to avenge the only blemish on their regular season record of 15-1-2 against the Eagles.

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Senior defender Julian Valentin chases Furman's Chris Davis in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Valentin scored the game-winning goal to help the Deacs advance. (Mary Kate Wagner/Old Gold & Black)

Boston College, 13-4-1 in the regular season, got out to an early lead when Sherron Manswell notched the first goal of the match in the 37th minute. Manswell scored his 11th goal of the season by beating redshirt senior goalie Brian Edwards in a one-on-one situation. The Deacon offense was sluggish in the first half recording only three shots on goal. Throughout the match, the Deacons seemed frustrated with the Eagles’ ball control. Their 11 penalties also contributed. However, in the second half the Deacons came out reenergized. The Deacon offense forced the action and caused Eagle goalkeeper Chris Brown to make several critical saves. Boston College midfielder Mike Konicoff, however, got off a clean shot in the 47th minute to give the Eagles a 2-0 advantage. Sophmore team assist leader Austin da Luz scored the only Demon Deacon goal of the match in the 69th minute when he finished a corner kick in a crowd of Eagles served in by junior defender Evan Brown. The Deacons looked to use the goal to change the momentum and they continued to fire shots on Brown, but they came up short. Wake Forest out shot Boston College 15-3 on the evening but failed to score a tying goal. Head Coach Jay Vidovich said that he was happy with the effort put forth by his team in the second half but that they simply dug themselves too big a hole.

After capturing their first regular season conference championship, Boston College won their first ever tournament title.

Wake Forest had four 2007 ACC All-Tournament Selections. They were sophomore Cody Arnoux and juniors Marcus Tracy, Sam Cronin and Brian Edwards. The Deacons learned Nov. 19 that they earned a No. 2 seed in the 2007 NCAA tournament. The appearance is their 12th overall and seventh consecutive. The Deacons earned a first round bye along with Connecticut, Indiana and Boston College. Wake Forest hosted Furman, who defeated Campbell 2-0 in the opening round, Nov. 28 at Spry Stadium. The Deacons defeated Furman Aug. 20 in an exhibition match 2-0 in Greenville, S.C. The Paladins went on to accumulate a 19-3-0 regular season record and win the Southern Conference tournament title defeating UNC-Greensboro in overtime. The Deacons got on the board early in front of the nearly sold-out crowd when senior defender Julian Valentin netted a header. Cronin was credited with the assist on the play. The Deacons carried over their aggressive play from the second half of the Boston College game, outscoring the Paladins 12-3 in the first half.

“We may have made things a littler harder than we had to but we definitely used the lessons we used from the BC game and tried to apply them today,” Edwards said. The Paladins played the Deacons tough and made it a very physical game. “Certainly it was one of the more physical games we’ve played but I think we held our own pretty well,” Edwards said. “I thought came out and tried to neutralise their physical play.”

With the victory, the Deacons advance to the third round of the NCAA tournament. They will face West Virginia at 1p.m. Dec. 2. “We certainly aren’t looking past our next game against either West Virginia,” Edwards said. “It’s a one game season from here on out.”