After spending a significant portion of the 2017 season as the nation’s top team, the Wake Forest Men’s Soccer team suffered a third-straight NCAA tournament loss to Stanford. The Demon Deacons also lost several key players to MLS, including Ema Twumasi and Jon Bakero. Though expectations for the Wake Forest program are always higher than most, a slight step back in 2018 would not have come as a huge surprise considering the youth of the 2018 roster.
The Demon Deacons, however, have not skipped a beat in 2018, and they currently find themselves 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country.
In part, their success depended on new recruits coming into their own quickly. The 2018 Wake Forest recruiting class ranked No. 2 in the nation according to TopDrawerSoccer, and the freshman have lived up to the hype.
Freshmen forward Kyle Holcomb, freshman midfielder Aristotle Zarris and freshman midfielder Isaiah Parente have combined for 15 points this season, allowing the Demon Deacons to transition smoothly with their new-look roster.
The freshmen have not been the only contributors in 2018, though, as junior midfielder Bruno Lapa has come into his own in his larger role on the team. Lapa currently leads the ACC in points with 22, and he ranks 10th in the nation in goals per game.
Wake Forest’s offensive dominance cannot be understated. They rank first in the ACC in scoring offense by a wide margin at 3.11 goals per game—UNC and Duke are tied for second at 1.857 goals per game—and their 3.11 average is also good for first in the nation.
The Demon Deacons also rank third in the ACC in goals allowed at 0.80, and their average goal margin tops the ACC at 2.40.
On paper, this team looks invincible, and on the field, the results have been similarly convincing. Their remarkable 2018 campaign began with a 2-1 victory over #2 Indiana in the season opener, which silenced questions about whether they would be able to cope with the amount of roster turnover they suffered.
Since the opener, the Demon Deacons added two more signature wins against #8 NC State and #16 Virginia Tech, two top ACC opponents.
Wake Forest easily handled NC State 3-0 on the back of two goals from sophomore midfielder Omir Fernandez, who ranks second in the ACC in points.
Their 2-1 win at Virginia Tech, though scrappier than the NC State win, also highlighted the breakthroughs of Lapa and Fernandez, who each scored in the conference victory.
Despite the inexperience of their roster and the loss of multiple key players, the Demon Deacons look as poised as ever to push for their first NCAA Championship since 2007.
Ren Schmitt, Sports Journalism 