No. 18 Wake Forest claims third seed in ACC Tournament with 4-2 win over Maryland

Wake Forest Athletics Press Release

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – No. 18 Wake Forest scored three goals in the second half to erase a 2-1 halftime deficit and hand No. 1 Maryland its first loss of the season 4-2 on Thursday evening at Spry Stadium to wrap up the 2012 regular season.

The Demon Deacons end the ACC season with a 4-1-3 record and 15 points, making them the third seed for the upcoming ACC Men’s Soccer Championship. The win also pushed Wake Forest’s overall record to 11-3-4 on the year, including an 8-1-1 record at Spry Stadium. The Terrapins are now 14-1-1 overall and 6-1-1 in the ACC.

The win was the first for Wake Forest over a No. 1-ranked opponent since the Demon Deacons toppled Washington on the road 2-1 on September 27, 1998. The Deacs only other win over a top-ranked team was a 2-0 win over Virginia on September 23, 1991.

On the season, Wake Forest is 1-0-1 against the No. 1 team in the nation, as the Deacs also earned a 0-0 road tie at then-No. 1 North Carolina on September 14.

Ross Tomaselli tied the game in the 59th minute, Luca Gimenez put Wake Forest up in the 68th minute and Danny Wenzel added the punctuation mark in the 77th minute to lead the Demon Deacons to victory.

Sean Okoli also scored for the Deacs, putting his team up 1-0 in the 14th minute. Okoli added to his team lead with 10 goals now on the year. Gimenez is second on the team with seven goals, while Tomaselli now has three and Wenzel has one.

Collin Martin, Okoli and Chris Duvall all picked up assists on the night. Martin continues to lead the team with six assists, as Okoli and Duvall now each have two.

Wake Forest went on top early when Martin played a superb ball in front of the keeper from the left side of the goal, and Okoli headed the ball on frame. The shot initially hit off the chest of Maryland goalkeeper Keith Cardona but found its way into the goal.

Maryland responded, though, with two goals before the break to take a 2-1 lead into the half. John Stertzer tied the game in the 25th minute with a bicycle kick from just outside the six, and Christiano Francois scored into an empty net in the 41st minute after Jordan Cyrus found him from beyond midfield.

The Deacs nearly tied the game in the 48th minute. Tomaselli and Michael Gamble each fired a shot within eight second of each other, but Maryland defender London Woodberry was there to play both shots off the line.

Tomaselli did finally tie the game just about 10 minutes later. Okoli had the ball near the endline on the right side of the goal and played a ball that was heading for Jared Watts. Watts, though, let the ball play through to a wide open Tomaselli, who blasted the shot past Cardona.

In the 64th minute, Maryland suffered a blow and was forced to play a man down when Woodberry drew a red card for a foul against Watts.

The Deacs capitalized on their man advantage just over three minutes later when Duvall chipped a ball to Gimenez at the left side of the box, and Gimenez buried his first touch to give Wake Forest the lead for good.

Wenzel scored his first goal of the season in the 77th minute on a penalty kick after Luciano Delbono drew a foul just inside the box.

Andrew Harris earned his second straight victory in goal by making a pair of saves for the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest, as the No. 3 seed, will host No. 6 seed Virginia on Tuesday night at Spry Stadium in the quarterfinals of the 2012 ACC Men’s Soccer Championship. The winner of that game will move on to the semifinals in Germantown, Md.