Cooper Flax and No. 5 Wake Forest will take the field against Bailey Sparks and No. 4 SMU on Sunday in college soccer.
Wake Forest, the No. 5-seeded team, will head on the road this weekend to take on the No. 4-seeded SMU in the quarterfinals of the ACC Men’s Soccer Tournament on Sunday night. The Demon Deacons finished their season 9-4-5 overall and 4-2-2 against conference teams in the ACC. They were 7-1-3 at home while just 2-3-2 on the road. They matched up with No. 12-seeded Syracuse in the first round of the tournament.
They won just 2-1 despite beating them 23-7 in total shots, 8-3 in shots on goal, and 9-5 in corner kicks. Syracuse went up 1-0 in the 15th minute of the game and took that lead into the halftime break. Cooper Flax scored the first goal of the game for Wake Forest, netting a penalty kick in the 69th minute of the game. The game-winning goal was put in by Travis Smith, Jr., who had three shots in 84 minutes played as a defender.
The Mustangs finished their season 10-2-5 overall and also 4-2-2 against teams in the ACC. They are 8-1-4 at home and 2-1-1 on the road. They won their last regular season game 3-2 against Louisville and won their first game of the conference tournament against 13-seeded Boston College 1-0.
It was a tight first round game for both SMU and Boston College, as the two teams went into the halftime break with it tied 0-0. However, SMU was able to break free with a goal from Bailey Sparks in the top right portion of the goal. The game-winning goal was assisted by Kyran Chambron Pinho.
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