Sports > October 16, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor

For the No. 1-ranked Wake Forest men’s soccer team it wasn’t just another week with two more wins to advance their unblemished record to 13-0-0 and 4-0 in the ACC. The second victory, a 6-0 defeat of UNC-Greensboro, marked Head Coach Jay Vidovich’s 200th career victory.

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Junior Austin da Luz battles a UNC-Greensboro Spartan for the ball in the first half of the Deacons victory, which was Head Coach Jay Vidovich’s 200th. (Luke Schwartz/Old Gold & Black)

Fifty of Vidovich’s wins are with this year’s senior class and while he humbly gives credit to them, they are thankful for the opportunity to play for him.

“All credit to him,” junior Austin da Luz said. “Coach Vidovich is in my opinion the best college coach in the country right now, no doubt about it. And it’s an honor to play here under him, and I think all the players feel the same way.”

Vidovich is the winningest coach in Wake Forest men’s soccer history. His career record is 200-81-27 winning 69 percent of his games as the Demon Deacon head coach over a 15 year period.

In the game against Greensboro, Oct. 14, the Deacons dominated the Spartans out-shooting them 28-7.

The Deacs also had nine corner kicks compared to three for the Spartans despite an altered lineup. Several of the starters only played one of the two halves.

“A lot of people have been playing a lot of minutes, so coach was just giving some other people a chance that have been playing well in practice and trying to keep other people fresh,” da Luz said.

The Deacons got on the board when sophomore Ike Opara skied the Spartan offense to head a corner kick from senior Jamie Franks into the back of the net. The goal was Opara’s fifth of the season.

Junior Cody Arnoux put the Deacons up 2-0 just when da Luz fed him a pass at the edge of the 16 yard box.

Arnoux took the ball and lobbed it over the Spartan keeper and notched his ninth goal of the season.

With one minute to go in the half junior Zack Schilawski drove a ball past the Spartan keeper from 15 yards out to extend the Deacon lead to 3-0.

In the 62nd minute senior captain Sam Cronin put the Deacons up by four when he took a pass from Arnoux and beat the keeper from 17 yards out. Arnoux notched his second goal of the game, and eighth goal in the past five games.

Senior Evan Brown dribbled the ball up the right side and turned the corner on a Spartan defender and hooked a bass into a sliding Arnoux who found the back of the net from five yards out.

Freshman Alfredo Rodriguez-Allen scored his first collegiate goal to make the final margin of victory 6-0. Freshman Danny Wenzel headed the ball forward to Brown who crossed the ball to Rodriguez-Allen who scored from inside the six-yard box.

“I think right now our team is on a different level than they are, playing in the ACC,” da Luz said. “We got three goals in the first half and we were able to coast a little bit for the rest of the game, but there were definitely things we could have done better and we’re going to work on for some big games coming up.”

The win extends the Deacons’ home unbeaten streak to 29, which is the seventh longest in NCAA history.

Earlier in the week, Oct. 11, the Deacons defeated N.C. State 4-1.

Wake Forest out-shot N.C. State 20-6 in the contest and had 9 more shots on goal.

Sophomore Corben Bone played a cross from the right side of the field and senior Marcus Tracy found the back of the net to put the Deacs up 1-0 in the 14th minute.

With 24:41 remaining in the first half da Luz took a free kick that was deflected by the Wolfpack keeper. Bone controled the rebound and put the Deacs up 2-0.

Da Luz played a pass to the center of the field where Cody Arnoux fired from 18 yards out to put the Deacons up 3-0 with 36 minutes remaining in the contest.

Tracy scored his 10th goal of the season when Brown played a corner kick high into the box. Tracy was able to head the ball into the net near the left post for his second goal of the contest.

The Wolfpack added a goal with eight minutes remaining to make the final score 4-1.

The Deacons will host ACC rival Duke Oct. 19 at Spry Stadium. The Blue Devils are 6-5-1 on the season.

“Right now it’s the little things, we’ve had a few lopsided games in the past few games but coach keeps us grounded and encourages us to get the little things right that we are going to need down the road when we play more talented teams,” da Luz said.

The Deacs finish the regular seasons with games against Davidson and three ACC opponents