WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Jon Bakero matched his career-high for the fourth time with two goals in Wake Forest’s 2-1 victory over SIUE on Sunday evening at Spry Stadium in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament.
Wake Forest, now 17-2-3 on the season, is back in the Elite Eight for the second-straight season. It marks the first time since 2008 and 2009 the Demon Deacons are in the national quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons. With 17 wins on the year, it ties the 2015 and 2009 seasons for the fourth-most wins in a season in program history.
The Demon Deacons have now gone 11 games in a row without a loss, which ties for the sixth-best streak in program history. The stretch includes a 9-0-2 record with the two ties coming at then-No. 1 Notre Dame and then-No. 6 Syracuse. Last season, Wake Forest went on a 12-game unbeaten run, which is tied for the fifth-longest streak in program history.
Bakero got the Demon Deacons off and running in the third minute when he drilled a shot past SIUE goalkeeper Kyle Dal Santo. He took a pass from Jacori Hayes on the touchline and was wide open in the box to score the earliest Demon Deacon goal since Bakero scored in the fourth minute on Oct. 27, 2015, against Davidson.
Though not getting an assist in the box score, Luis Argudo created the space for Bakero in the middle of the penalty area when he darted from his spot next to Bakero out to the top of the box and took a defender with him, leaving Bakero wide open to wind up and fire his shot.
The junior from Sitges, Spain, then scored the game-winner in the 72nd minute when he redirected an Ema Twumasi shot from the top of the box into the right side of goal. The chance came after Wake Forest earned a corner kick and Argudo took it, sending his pass to the top of the box between two defenders for Twumasi. The freshman took the shot to the left side and Bakero deflected it back to the right and into the back of the net for his first two-goal game since scoring twice against Howard on Oct. 21, 2014. Now with six goals on the season, Bakero has 21 in his career and is tied with Geraint Davies (1986-89) for 15th in program history.
SIUE’s lone goal came in the 41st minute when Austin Ledbetter scored his sixth of the season and he, too, scored off a corner kick. Mathias Ebbesen got off the initial shot but it was stopped by Wake Forest goalkeeper Andreu Cases Mundet. The ensuing rebound sat right in front of goal and Ledbetter collected the loose change to knot the game at 1-1. The goal was the first the Demon Deacons have allowed in the first half of a game since Syracuse scored in the 36th minute of the regular-season finale on Oct. 28 in New York.
Wake Forest outshot the Cougars 24-6, but only seven of the Demon Deacon shots were on target with four of them coming from Bakero. Cases Mundet made two saves in the contest and moved to 5-1-0 in six games this year.
The Demon Deacons return to action next Saturday, Dec. 3, when they host Virginia Tech in the Elite Eight. First kick is set for 5 p.m. at Spry Stadium. The Hokies defeated seventh-seeded Indiana 2-1 in overtime on Sunday afternoon and are in the Elite Eight for the first time since 2007, the season Wake Forest won the national championship. Last time the two teams met in 2014, Virginia Tech earned a 2-0 victory in Blacksburg, Va.
