Oct. 10, 2008

Wake Forest-NC State Game Notes

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 1 Wake Forest men's soccer team looks for its first 4-0 start in conference play in program history on Saturday night at 7 p.m. (ET) as it travels to Raleigh, N.C., to meet NC State.

The Deacons currently own an 11-0 overall record and a 3-0 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Wake is 3-0 in conference play for only the second time in school history. The 2002 team also opened the conference season with three straight victories. Wake Forest has never started ACC play with a 4-0 record.

Wake Forest is coming off a 2-0 victory over UMass on Tuesday night at Spry Stadium. Sam Cronin scored his third game-winning goal of the season and Cody Arnoux added his sixth goal of the year in the second half. Junior goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald recorded his seventh shut out of the season, moving into a tie for seventh for most shut outs in a single season in Wake Forest history.

Wake Forest has dominated its first three conference matches, out-scoring its opponents 17-4. The Deacons have scored at least four goals in each ACC match.

Marcus Tracy leads the Deacons with eight goals on the season and 22 points. Corben Bone leads the ACC in assists with nine.

NC State enters Saturday's match with a 3-6-1 record and a 0-3-0 mark in ACC play. The Wolfpack are currently on a season-best, two-game winning streak, defeating Florida Atlantic and Gardner Webb.

Juniors Ronnie Bouemboue and Alan Sanchez lead the way offensively for the Wolfpack. Bouemboue has scored six goals and added two assists on the season, while Alan Sanchez has four goals and four assists on the year. Christopher Widman has started in goal for NC State the last seven games and has posted two clean sheets.

Wake Forest and NC State are meeting for the 32nd time in series history. The Deacons currently lead the all-time series 18-11-2, but the Wolfpack hold a 7-6-1 advantage when playing in Raleigh. The Deacons have dominated recent meetings in the series, winning 14 of the last 15 matchups with the Wolfpack.

Live stats from Saturday's match will be available at gopack.com, while a recap from the match will be available on wakeforestsports.com.

-WakeForestSports.com-