One thing you don't have to worry about with Wake Forest? Being embarrassed. There's no "Please Please Please" for the Demon Deacons as they're the ones usually doing the embarassing of teams. It's been quite the season for Wake, knocking off higher-seeded teams and winning the games they're supposed to win -- which sometimes is harder than winning games you aren't supposed to. Making it back to the College Cup for the first time since 2011, the Demon Deacons will be hoping they can honor the rest of the song and not bring their fans to tears...unless of course, it's happy tears.
Recaps: Tournament, Season, Stanford
Wake Forest opened the NCAA tournament with a 4-0 win over Morehead St. In the second round, Colorado managed to score a goal on the Demon Deacons, but Wake still won that game handily 3-1. Ohio St. was a signature 1-0 win where Wake Forest grabbed a goal and then stifled the opposition. A 2-2 penalty kick win is the hardest the Deacs have had to work all tournament, knocking off a tough-to-kill USC side, 4-3 in penalties. Like Stanford, Wake Forest has won their tournament games in a variety of ways and under different degrees of pressure. It's good experience and has set Wake up with confidence, knowing they've managed to find a way through every opponent.
That tournament grit is built into Wake Forest's DNA -- at least for this season. An early win over then No. 20 Mississippi State signaled that this team had big wins in them, even if a previous 1-1 tie with Rutgers muted their potential. Losses to Iowa and North Carolina dimmed the season's potential and quieted most of the rumbles. But then Wake Forest knocked off the No. 2 and No. 1 teams in the country in quick succession -- a first for college soccer. They followed that up with a win over then No. 6 Florida St. before enduring a loss to Duke and a first-round ACC tournament loss to Florida St. (on penalty kicks.) The wins were huge, and the losses weren't shocks.
Like all of the teams still in the tournament, the Demon Deacons can score. They have 45 goals this season and limited their opponents to 15. It's the defense that's the most impressive, holding opponents to an average of 40% of their shots being on target ... and teams collectively shoot about half the number of times that Wake Forest does. It's not fun to match up against a team that frustrates any attacking threats while simultaneously capitalizing on their few chances. Even when the Demon Deacons aren't counter-attacking, they're counter-attacking. Winning duels in the midfield and pushing forward is the key to Wake's defense and offense, with Caiya Hanks serving as the conduit. So far, it's been a successful formula.
Wake Forest faced Stanford in what is the defining weekend of the season for the program. After beating the No. 2 team in the country 3-0, the Demon Deacons turned around and defeated No.1 Stanford 1-0 to cap the weekend off. Emily Colton scored, assisted by Caiya Hanks and Kristin Johnson. The Deacs led the game in just about every statistical measure, though it was a close game. More than anything, Wake Forest stifled the Stanford game plan and proved that their win against Virginia wasn't a fluke. It was a confidence boosting matchup and Wake Forest will be looking to make a similar statement this time around, just to prove that it wasn't a fluke.
Tactics and Storylines
Perhaps the best storyline for Wake Forest is that their patience paid off. With 19 seniors, it's hard not to see this season as a tribute to experience, even if Wake hasn't been in the NCAA College Cup since 2011. Sometimes, things don't click the first, or second, or even third year, but, with the right pieces and right development model, things come together just in time to reward everyone who stayed. This College Cup is both a reward to all the seniors in the program and a reminder of just how many things have to go right to make magic like this season. With the current transfer portal landscape and this being the last year of the covid eligibility, Wake Forest isn't an anomaly being so heavily weighted towards seniors. But still, it gives them a little something extra to play for.
Although it's their second time matching up against Stanford, head coach Tony da Luz was adamant that "their team's changed. They're playing with a lot of confidence down the stretch here...it was so long ago it's really irrelevant at this point." (Question by Evan Webeck, San Jose Mercury News.)
So, while Stanford is playing with confidence, they've been relatively inconsistent. Wake Forest, on the other hand, has played consistently all season long while acquiring confidence through key wins. The Deacs have been wildly successful in imposing their style of play on their opponents and thus dictating the tempo and outcome of games. The ability to come up with wins when that game plan doesn't work has also been remarkably consistent all season. Having just eked out a win over a no.1 seed where Wake surrendered the ball more than they wanted, the team has to feel prepared for however Stanford attacks in or out of possession.
Tactically, Wake Forest has had success driving up the middle of the field, collapsing the defense. Then, with a pass or two out wide, the Deacs usually find space at the top of the box. Wake Forest is perhaps the best team left in the tournament at movement off the ball and their midfield isn't afraid to go in hard to win the ball back. It's true, Stanford and Wake Forest play similarly, but the Demon Deacons have had more success with the style this year. Their superpower is the ability to always find space in the box, whether that be from taking on a defender one v one or a perfect cross. Ball movement and player movement doesn't always sync up, but with how long the Wake players have been together, it syncs more often than not.
Press Notes
Unique to the team:
"I think that we can win in different ways. Like the USC game, we weren't at our best. It was more a gritty game, gritty performance than a pretty performance. Usually we play pretty good soccer and we can keep the ball, but in that game we just had to do what we had to do."
"I think this team has a lot of personality and they can preserve. So, it's just that character that you don't see on a stat sheet, but we don't give up and we don't settle. It's not really tangible, it's not measurable, it's just a really solid group of seniors that have been together for four years that really love each other and want to win for each other."
Key Moments (Kip Coons, Press Box View):
"It didn't start this fall. It started last spring. Last spring, we knew after the spring season was over, we played a really challenging schedule with the majority of the group that's here with us. We had a great spring performance, so we knew we had something special."
"I think that the win against Mississippi St, probably, was an early indication that we had a good team and that we could beat anybody. And the weekend of the Virginia-Stanford weekend was definitely gave us a lot of confidence that we could beat any team in the country."
Special to North Carolina (Victor Olorunfemi, Top Drawer Soccer):
"I think it's just the energy, enthusiasm, within, you know we're so close together, all within an hour and half. NC State, as well, over the past five, six years they've progressed tremendously. There's a rivalry within the state. They call these four schools the big four and it's very competitive within the state for kinda bragging rights."
"I don't think it's necessarily, from a recruiting standpoint, it's not necessarily North Carolina, per say. I just think there's so much tradition in the four schools and these three schools particularly. Everybody wants to outdo the other, so it's a really good competitive environment."
Sabrina Carpenter racked up No. 1 hits like nobody's business in the lead up to Short N' Sweet and Wake Forest racked up ranked wins all season long. But, more importantly to this comparison, Sabrina wasn't a new artist, this was just the album that blew her up to another stratosphere. Similarly, Wake Forest has been a good program in a tough conference for a long time. This year, however, they've been a great team in a tough conference and people are paying attention. It's a resurgence and an evolution similar to how Short N' Sweet is the evolution of Sabrina Carpenter, filled with smash hits that are only possible because of her history and knowledge of the industry. Wake Forest is gritty, but plays beautiful soccer. They can win any type of game. And they're probably glad to be the No. 2 seed so they can still claim the underdog.
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