No. 2 Deacs Close Nonconference Slate with Win at No. 21 Gamecocks

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Published Oct 18, 2016

No. 2 Deacs Close Nonconference Slate with Win at No. 21 Gamecocks

Wake Forest Athletic Communications

Staff

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Second-ranked Wake Forest men’s soccer closed 2016 nonconference play on Tuesday night with 1-0 victory over No. 21 South Carolina at Stone Stadium.

The victory marks the 11th win of the season for Wake Forest, which now stands at 11-2-2 overall. In all, Wake Forest posted a 7-1-1 record in nonconference play. South Carolina now stands at 8-4-1 on the season and dropped its first match in nine games after going 7-0-1 in the previous eight. In the last 12 matches between the two sides, Wake Forest now owns a 9-2-1 record and the all-time series now favors the Demon Deacons 17-12-5.

“I’m extremely proud of this group and the win tonight,” said Wake Forest head coach Bobby Muuss. “This was a complete team win, all the way around. We used 20 guys and the game didn’t really change. South Carolina’s a good, tough team that works extremely hard and gave us a lot of problems on the night but hats off to this group to go on the road and get another win over a top-25 opponent, and to do it with another clean sheet. We have a lot of work to do to regen with the turnaround to Boston College on Saturday, but we’re ready for another tough ACC match this weekend with Senior Night against BC.”

After a scoreless first half, Hayden Partain broke the ice with a beautiful header that beat goalkeeper William Pyle to the right side to put the Demon Deacons up 1-0. Partain was fed by Logan Gdula, who sent a long cross from the left sideline and found Partain on the left post. Partain floated his header back across goal over the head of Pyle and put it in just inside the right post for the score.

The goal is Partain’s second of the season. His first came back on Sept. 10 in overtime to lift Wake Forest to a 1-0 win over No. 13 Virginia. The assist for Gdula marked the first-career point for the sophomore, who had played in 23 previous games before Tuesday’s tilt against South Carolina.

Alec Ferrell made three saves in the victory to improve his record this season to 7-1-2. With the clean sheet, he has now recorded six in his 10 games between the pipes for the Demon Deacons. In the first half, Ferrell made a diving stop on a shot that seemed harmless diving to the lower right corner of goal. He laid out with full extension to punch the ball wide of target, keeping the game scoreless.

With nonconference play in the rear view mirror, Wake Forest can now focus on the final two games of the regular season against Boston College this Saturday and at Syracuse in the regular-season finale on Friday, Oct. 28. First kick at Spry Stadium this weekend for Wake Forest and Boston College is set for 7 p.m. Prior to the game, the Demon Deacons will honor the members of its senior class.

Heading into the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, Wake Forest is tied atop the ACC Atlantic standings with Louisville, as each team has 13 points and is 4-1-1 in conference play. With the win over Louisville on Saturday, Oct. 15, Wake Forest owns the tiebreaker between the two teams and would win the ACC Atlantic for the second season in a row with victories in its final two games. In the Coastal Division, North Carolina also has 13 points to tie the Deacs and Cardinals atop the overall ACC standings.