Sports > August 23, 2007

By Ryan Durham | Sports editor

After a shoot-out ended last season for the Wake Forest men’s soccer team, the team looks poised to make another run for the Championship.

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Ranked highly in many preseason polls, the Demon Deacons will also try and repeat their regular season ACC Championship and build on the momentum of their first ever appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals and semifinals.

Some of the Deacs’ top players have been lost to graduation, including midfielders Steven Curfman, Wells Thompson and Ryan Solle and forward Mark Ellington. These four players accounted for 16 of Wake Forest’s 39 goals last season and were instrumental in the Deacons’ run for the NCAA Championship.

Despite the loss of these key producers on offense, the Deacs will return all of their defensive players, including senior goal keeper Brian Edwards and junior defenders Julian Valentin and Pat Phelan. With the contribution of these three defensive players, Wake Forest managed to win 11 shutouts last season.

Valentin has also gained individual honors of his own. Valentin was named to College Soccer News’ preseason first team All-American squad. Valentin not only contributed defensively to the team, he also scored four goals and had one assist on the season.

Four new faces will also be seen on the field and sidelines for the Demon Deacons. Midfielders Corben Bone, Russ Coleman and Jeff Leach and defender Ike Opara make up a highly lauded freshman class, which will be instrumental in filling the holes in the middle left by Solle, Thompson and Curfman.

The impact freshmen can have on the team’s performance is proven by now-sophomore forward Austin da Luz. Da Luz scored a goal and had two assists in 16 appearances last season and is likely to build on that performance this season.

The Deacs have already proved their defense and freshmen are capable of fulfilling the preseason expectations.

In a road scrimmage Aug. 20 at Furman, Wake Forest managed to shutout the Paladins 2-0. In the endeavor, Bone scored one of the Deacons’ two goals, with the other coming from junior forward Marcus Tracy.

In the scrimmage, the Paladins were held to only eight shots on goal, and Edwards recorded two saves.

“It’s a good start to the season,” Assistant Coach Carson Porter said. “We were happy to get these results against a good Furman team.”

The Deacs’ first game of the regular season comes Aug. 31 against Old Dominion.

Their first ACC game is Sept. 21 against Clemson.