Sports > October 23, 2008

By Gary Pasqualicchio | Staff writer

The 16th-ranked Wake Forest women’s soccer team fell on the road on Oct. 16 to the No. 8 Seminoles of Florida State by a score of 5-0. The loss was only the second time Wake Forest has been shut out on the season, and the five Seminole goals were the most allowed by the Lady Deacs all year.

The Lady Deacons and Seminoles were locked in a 0-0 battle with neither team clearly dominating play for the first half hour of play. Florida State then sent the Tallahassee crowd into a frenzy with 13:10 left in the half when Becky Edwards found Toni Pressley eight yards out for a header that snuck just inside the left post to give the Seminoles their first goal of the afternoon.

The Deacs fought back with two good opportunities off corner kicks in the final 10 minutes of the half but were unable to capitalize on either. Perhaps the best chance for the Deacons on the day came off of one of those corner kicks when freshman Eleanor Davidson’s potential game-tying shot flew just high of the net.

Despite only trailing by one at the half, things got ugly fast for the Lady Deacs. In the 57th minute Sanna Talonen headed another goal past junior keeper Laura Morse to double the Seminole lead to 2-0.

Head Coach Tony da Luz inserted sophomore Amanda Barasha, who has been battling injuries this season, in goal for the Deacons. After recording an assist on the first goal, Florida State’s Edwards would score one of her own in the 75th minute to put the game out of reach. Barasha came out of the net to corral a save, but Edwards would poke the loose ball in the net to make the game 3-0.

Two late goals from Marissa Kazbour would be the final scores of the afternoon and make up the final tallies of the 5-0 shutout.

“That was a game where nothing went right,” da Luz said.

He firmly thinks his team is capable, talented and mature enough to play better against strong opponents but feels they need to get more resilient when the going gets tough.

“We played decent in the first half, but in general we need to work on fighting back and taking the game to these tough ranked teams,” he said.

Despite the 5-0 loss to the Seminoles, Wake Forest still holds the all-time series record at 8-7-3. In the contest, senior Amy Smerdzinski played in her 79th game for the Deacs, four shy of fifth all-time in school history and eight off the record, held by Ann Shropshire.

If Smerdzinski plays the rest of the Lady Deacs’ contests this year, there is a good chance she can challenge Shropshire for first all-time.

For the team’s next game, home on Oct. 23 against the N.C. State Wolfpack, da Luz plans on making some changes. He wants to try and shake things up for the Lady Deacs, who have lost four of their last five games after an 8-1 start to the season.

“We are going to move (junior) Sarah Winslow from the front to the back to try and get more attack back there,” da Luz said. “Also, the forwards did not perform well against Florida State so we will be looking to improve there as well.”

Da Luz still believes the team’s long-term goals are well within reach, hoping that the team will win its final four conference games to finish in the top four of the standings.

He believes there is a good opportunity for the team to do just that and is excited about their chances in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

Although glancing slightly ahead, da Luz is firmly focused on the upcoming ACC competition against the Wolfpack.

He indicated that despite N.C. State’s 0-6 record in conference play that his team is not taking anyone lightly.

“I like our effort in practice this week. A lot of players are fighting for their jobs and have really turned it up,” he said.

The Deacs hold the all-time series against N.C. State 10-5-1 including a 4-2 win in Raleigh last year.