Wake beats Furman 1-0

Having only seen a handful of soccer games this season, I was excited, if not somewhat uninformed, as I headed over to Spry stadium to watch the Deacs take on the Furman Paladins in the 2^nd round of the NCAA tournament. Although I wouldn’t claim the Deacs dominated the game, they played more than well enough to win, and the 1-0 victory we came out with is plenty satisfying.

Jules Valentin scored the only goal for Wake Forest on a header from the top of a 6-yard box off a Sam Cronin free kick at 22:47 in the first half. It was a beautiful goal, as was Valentin’s celebration afterwards with the fans on the Hill. Wake dominated the first half having 12 shots to Furman’s 3, however in the 2^nd half Furman came out playing aggressive and outshot the Deacs 5-2.

Things got a bit chippy in the 2^nd half, with three yellow card issues, one of them to Wake’s Lyle Adams, but generally speaking I felt like Wake did a good job controlling the game even though Furman made a concerted effort to push a bit more aggressively.

Got some post game quotes as well:

Coach Jay Vidovich: “2^nd half they threw everything forward at as and certainly tested us a lot and so I think what feels good is that we beat a fantastic team.”

Jules Valentin: “We train hard during the week on set pieces and it’s nice to get they payoff in match time. We have some weapons on set pieces and hopefully we’ll continue to be dangerous throughout the tournament”

“We’re excited about the challenge this year. It’s a tournament of champions and hopefully we’ll be the champion at the end of it.”

I’m excited to see where the Deacs can go in this tournament, and with Boston College losing tonight I think there’s every reason to believe Wake can take it all the way.

Go Deacs!