Sports > September 18, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor

The Wake Forest men’s soccer team opened the ACC season in the same way they did a year ago, with a defeat of Clemson. Last year the Deacons won a close 1-0 match. This year was a different story. The Deacons came out firing early and often and won a decisive 5-0 match Sept. 13 at Spry Stadium to move to 5-0 on the year.

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Senior midfielder Sam Cronin stops the UCLA attack in a Deacon victory. Cronin, the team captain, was named one of 30 semifinalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS award. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

“We wanted to go out here and get a lot of momentum going into the ACC season,” senior forward Marcus Tracy said. “So we came out with a lot of intensity. Clemson is a pretty good team, but we did a pretty good job of taking our chances and forgetting about the ones we missed and staying determined and focused throughout the whole thing.”

A Wake Forest goal seemed imminent in the 17th minute when senior defender Evan Brown drew a foul inside the 18-yard box, setting up a penalty kick. Senior Captain Sam Cronin took the kick for the Deacs, but it was pushed wide of the left post, and the game remained scoreless.

A second penalty kick opportunity presented itself in the 25th minute when junior Cody Arnoux drew the foul inside the box. Tracy took the penalty kick, but the Tiger keeper got a hand on the ball deflecting it away.

Cronin came rushing in on the right side of the box and drilled the rebound past the keeper from 10 yards out to score his first goal of the season giving the Deacons a 1-0 lead.

Just minutes later sophomore Corben Bone pushed the Deacon lead to 2-0.

In the 30th minute, junior goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald threw a long pass down the left side of the field that found senior Jamie Franks near midfield. Franks dribbled the ball up the left side and played a ball in the middle of the field to Bone.

Bone, with some nifty footwork, split four Tiger defenders and fired a shot from 16 yards out that found the back of the net. The goal was Bone’s first of the season. Wake Forest was not done scoring for the half. Tracy scored his fifth goal of the year at the 42:03 mark.

“I was running down the side and Jamie (Franks) played me a nice ball and I saw the defense dropping off of me so instead of taking it to the line, I cut across the field and went horizontally and found myself slashing through the box and tried to put in the corner,” Tracy, the 2007 College Cup Most Outstanding Offensive Player, said.

Franks and freshman Danny Wenzel were credited with assists on Tracy’s goal. Franks now has a career high six assists on the season and leads the ACC in that category. The Deacs beat the Tigers down the field often in the first half and had numerous opportunities.

The Deacon offense was dominant.

At intermission, Wake Forest fired a total of 15 shots compared to Celmson’s two.

“We missed a lot of chances, but you have to have a quick memory in this game because you can’t harp on those chances, you just have to keep going after it,” Tracy said. “We never gave up, we kept pushing it on offense and that’s a pretty good sign for us.”

They kept pushing right into the second half and added two more goals.

Junior Zack Schilawski scored his first goal of the season in the 71st minute. Freshman Sam Redmond played a pass to Schilawski in the middle of the field and Schilawski fired from 15 yards out, finding the upper right corner of the net.

Arnoux, last year’s team leader in goals scored, put the Deacons fifth and final goal on the board in the 84th minute.

Junior Austin da Luz played a cross from the left side of the field into the right side of the box.

Arnoux fired from seven yards out and found the back of the net for his first goal of the season.

Head Coach Jay Vidovich was pleased with his team’s performance.

He also was pleased that the last 35 minutes of the game were basically made up of the team that will be playing next year, as some of the younger players got an opportunity.

Wake Forest returns to action on Sept. 21, as it travels to California to meet UC Santa Barbara.

In 2006 the Gauchos defeated the Deacons on penalty kicks in the 2006 College Cup semifinals.

“It is going to be tough one on the road in California,” Tracy said. “They have a great crowd, a great following so they’re going to be all over us but it should be fun.”

Cronin was selected as one of 30 candidates to be considered for the 2008 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Sept. 17.

Cronin is in his second season as captain for the defending national champions. He has started every game since he arrived at Wake Forest and has excelled in the classroom as well.

He was named a First Team MVP by Soccer America at the end of the 2007 season and was on the watch list for the 2008 Hermann Trophy. The list will be narrowed down to 10 in October.