Nov. 13, 2008

Wake Forest-Virginia Game Notes

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - No. 1 Wake Forest (18-0-1, 7-0-1 ACC) meets fourth-seeded Virginia (10-7-1, 4-4-0 ACC) on Friday night at 8 p.m. (ET) in the semifinals of the 2008 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament in Cary, N.C. ACC Select is providing free online streaming of every game in the ACC Tournament.

No. 2 seed Maryland and third-seeded Boston College will square off in the other semifinal, scheduled for Friday at 5:30 p.m. (ET). The semifinal winners will meet in the championship match, slated for Sunday at 1 p.m. (ET).

Wake Forest will be looking to advance to the ACC Tournament final for the third straight year. Last year, the Deacs were downed by Boston College 2-1 in the championship game. Wake dropped a 1-0 overtime game to Duke in the finals of the 2006 ACC Tournament.

The Demon Deacons opened the ACC Tournament on Wednesday with a 4-1 defeat of NC State. After falling behind 1-0, Wake Forest scored four unanswered goals for the come-from-behind victory. Evan Brown scored the game-winning goal in the 40th minute. Jamie Franks, Sam Cronin and Corben Bone also registered goals for the Deacons.

Virginia also had to come from behind in its quarterfinal match, defeating Duke 4-2. The Blue Devils enjoyed a 2-1 halftime lead, but Virginia came back to score three goals in the second 45 minutes for the win. Brian Ownby scored two goals in the last 12 minutes of the match, including the game-winning goal in the 79th minute.

ACC Freshman of the Year Tony Tchani leads UVa in goals with nine and points with 21. Hunter Jumper and Jonathan Villanueva are tied for the team lead in assists with five.

Michael Giallombardo has started 13 games on the season, playing just under 1200 minutes in goal. Giallombardo has surrendered 13 goals on the season, while making 35 saves.

The Deacons and Cavaliers are squaring off for the 42nd time in series history. Virginia leads the overall series 30-6-5, but Wake Forest has won three of the last four meetings, including a 2-0 win to close out the regular season in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers own a 9-0-2 advantage when meeting in the conference tournament.

Fans can follow all the action from the ACC Tournament by visiting the tournament webpage at Tournament Central.