Sports > October 23, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor

For the first time all season it was not just another week with two more wins for the Deacons’ men’s soccer team. Their perfect record was blemished when the 6-5-1 Duke Blue Devils came to Spry Stadium Oct. 18 and played the Deacons to a scoreless tie.

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Junior Austin da Luz heads the ball in a home game against UNC-Greensboro on Oct. 14. Da Luz has 14 points this season, with three goals and eight assists. Next, the Deacs will host Boston College Oct. 25 for senior night. (Luke Schwartz/Old Gold & Black)

The tie did not deter the Deacs as they rebounded to beat Davidson 3-0 on Oct. 21.

Junior Austin da Luz said the ACC rival Duke Blue Devils, who entered the game 2-2-1 in the league, would be tough and they were.

But, that doesn’t mean that the Deacons didn’t have their opportunities to win.

Wake Forest out shot Duke 14-10, but both teams managed four shots on goal. The Deacons had six corner kicks, compared to three for the Blue Devils.

The Deacons came out firing early with one of their best chances to score in the eighth minute.

Sophomore Corben Bone fired a ball off the crossbar and rebounded away. Duke goalkeeper Brendan Fitzgerald made two other stops early in the contest.

In the 54th minute Bone played the ball to senior Marcus Tracy who found himself one-on-one with the Duke keeper, but he was unable to convert firing just wide of the right post.

Junior Zack Schilawski had a chance to find the back of the net and score a win for the Deacs in the first overtime. His shot from three yards out was saved by Duke’s keeper.

Many thought Wake Forest had prevailed in the second overtime when sophomore Ike Opara netted a header, but he was ruled offside and thus the game remained tied.

The Blue Devils did not go quietly. They had three quality scoring chances in the last two minutes of the second overtime.

Junior Akira Fitzgerald made several big saves to help the Deacs keep the score tied.

Fitzgerald made one stop that forced a corner kick. Off the corner kick, Pavelid Castaneda’s shot went just high as time expired.

Bone led the Deacs with a career high six shots, while junior Cody Arnoux added three shots.

Fitzgerald made four saves for Wake Forest en route to recording the shut out.

The shutout marked the first time in 24 games that the Deacons had failed to find the back of the net. The last team to shutout Wake Forest was Boston College on Oct. 27, 2007.

Head Coach Jay Vidovich admitted being disappointed, but he said his team would learn from the tie.

If the game Oct. 21 was any indication, they did.

Behind two goals from Anroux and another from Schilawski the Deacs overwhelmed the Davidson Wildcats 3-0 in front of a school-record crowd at 1992 Team Field.

The Deacs out shot the Wildcats 25-9 with 13 of the 25 being on shots on the Wildcat goal.

The shutout was Fitzgerald’s 10th, which is second most shut outs in school history for a season. Last season Brian Edwards recorded 13.

The Deacons got on the board with 20:42 left in the first half. Senior midfielder Sam Cronin played a pass to Arnoux on the left side of the 18-yard box.

Arnoux’s fired a shot that hit off the right post and ricocheted into the left side of the net.

Just 36 seconds later Arnoux scored to make it 2-0 with his team-leading 11th goal of the season.

Senior Jamie Franks played a pass to the top of the 18-yard box, and Arnoux fired a shot that found the back of the net.

Wake Forest added its third goal of the game with 42:25 left in the game. Senior Michael Lahoud played a pass to Schilawski, who sent a shot from inside the 18-yard box into the right side of the net.

Wake Forest now leads the all-time series with Davidson 22-4-1 and the Deacs have won the last 11 meetings.

The victory and tie extends Wake Forest’s unbeaten streak against non-conference opponents to 38 games. The Deacs are 10-0 against non-ACC foes in 2008.

Fitzgerald was named ACC Men’s Soccer Co-Player of the Week along with Maryland forward Casey Townsend. Fitzgerald tied a career high with five saves in a 6-0 win over UNC-Greensboro along with his four saves to keep the game with the Blue Devils scoreless.

Fitzgerald ranks second in the ACC with a goals against average of 0.43.

Davidson was the Deacons’ final non-conference opponent of the year. Wake Forest will host Boston College Oct. 25 at Spry Stadium.

Wake Forest will honor the 2008 senior class in a pregame ceremony.