Sports > November 13, 2008

By Matt Six | Staff writer

“Winning too often is as disastrous as losing too often. Both get the same results, falling off of the public’s enthusiasm.” Knute Rockne, former football coach of Notre Dame, made this statement after his team won consecutive national championships in 1929 and 1930. Rockne’s statement applies not only to his Notre Dame teams, but also to the Wake Forest men’s soccer team.

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With the football team in the hunt for an Atlantic Division crown, and with the basketball team boasting a preseason ranking, it may be easy for Wake fans to overlook the Deacon soccer team.

That would be a shame.

The Demon Deacons finished the 2008 regular season with a 2-0 win at Virginia Nov. 7. This marked their first ever undefeated season in school history.

The win also pushed their unbeaten streak to 23 games, the longest in program history.

Not only are the Deacs winning, they are winning in convincing fashion.

Take their games against two of the 2007 College Cup participants, Virginia Tech and UMass. Wake defeated these opponents by a combined margin of 10-2.

Furthermore, the Demon Deacons dominated last year’s ACC Champs, the Boston College Eagles, by a score of 5-2 on Senior Night.

Perhaps the true sign of the greatness of this team is when the fans were disappointed by the two-goal margin of victory against perennial ACC powerhouse UVA last week.

How good is Wake’s offense? With 62 goals in 18 games, they are averaging 3.44 goals per game. Wake’s opponents have a mere 12 goals and an average of 0.67 goals per game.

Let’s put this into perspective. The second-highest scoring offense in the country is Loyola. They have a total of 45 goals in 18 games. This is an average of 2.5 goals per game. In other words, Wake is averaging nearly a goal more than the second-highest scoring offense in the country.

Opposing defenses cannot lock down on a single Wake player, making their offense all the more lethal. Junior Cody Arnoux leads the team with 14 goals and he has a knack for finding the ball in the box.

Close behind is senior Marcus Tracy with 11 goals. Tracy uses his speed to run past defenders.

He is a prime time player, with game-winning goals earlier in the season against VCU and USC. And who could forget Tracy’s performance in the College Cup, scoring two goals against VT and one goal and an assist to set up junior Zack Schilawski’s game-winning goal against OSU?

Not to go unnoticed amidst the high-scoring offensive attack is the Wake Forest defense.

Junior Akira Fitzgerald has filled in very nicely for Brian Edwards as goalkeeper. Fitzgerald recorded his 11th shutout of the season against UVA.

Sophomore defender Ike Opara earned ACC Player of the Year honors. Opara contributed five goals on the offensive end, using his height and leaping abilities to convert on headers. Evan Brown brings senior leadership to the defense, and freshman Danny Wenzel is a very talented defender.

With the ACC Tournament in Cary, N.C., Wake fans do not have to travel far to root on the Deacs. The team will take UVA Nov. 14 in the semifinal. The championship game is Nov. 16.

Wake enters the NCAA Tournament Nov. 21 and will likely host multiple matches. Wake fans can look forward to drinking hot chocolates as they stomp on the bleachers for corner kicks.

More importantly, we can look forward to cheering on the team as they strive to achieve their goals. The Deacs have accomplished their first goal of a regular season championship. Now they have the tasks of prevailing in Cary and in Frisco if they want to achieve all three of their main objectives..

Good luck, guys. With the way you’ve played thus far, you shouldn’t need it.