Sept. 14, 2000

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest (4-1) returns home this weekend to host the Wake Forest/Nike Invitational at Spry Stadium. Missouri (3-3) and Virginia Tech (3-5) will kickoff the festivities at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15 followed by No. 25 California (5-0) and No. 14 Wake Forest (4-1) at 7:30 p.m. The tournament will conclude with the Demon Deacons taking on the Hokies at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 17, which will be preceded by the Tigers and Bears playing at 11:30 a.m.

Last Time Out
The 14th ranked Demon Deacons (4-1) are coming off a 2-1 victory at Charlotte on Tuesday, Sept. 12. After a scoreless first half in which both teams took five shots each, Wake Forest fired 16 second half shots to the 49ers three. Joline Charlton broke the scoreless tie 10 minutes into the second half when she chipped in a ball from Liz McDowell. Charlotte threatened a few times, placing all three second half shots on frame. Wake Forest goalkeeper Tracy Chao saved the first and midfielder Sarah Kate Noftsinger headed out the second, earning herself a backsave. The 49ers scored on the third attempt, knotting the score at one apiece with 11 minutes remaining in the match. The Demon Deacons battled back and within four minutes had scored another goal, sealing the victory 2-1. Charlotte's goalkeeper deflected a shot from Wake Forest freshman midfielder Katherine Winstead, leaving the ball a few feet from the vacant goal, which Demon Deacon senior midfielder Rachael Lewis gladly tapped in for the game winner.

California Golden Bears
California, ranked as high as 12th by Soccer Buzz and as low as 25th by the NSCAA, brings an undefeated record of 5-0 into Spry Stadium. The Golden Bears are coming off a pair of shutout road victories in Ohio last weekend, beating Xavier 3-0 on Sept. 8 and Kent State 2-0 on Sept. 10. Cal has yet to give up a goal this season, outscoring its opponents 21-0 through five games. Head coach Kevin Boyd is in his fourth season at the helm and has accumulated a 42-22-2 record at Berkeley. Friday's match will be the first-ever meeting between Wake Forest and California. Sophomore forward Laura Schott leads the Bears with seven goals and one assist, while senior goalkeeper Maite Zabala holds a 0.00 goals against average with 4.5 shutouts.

Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech, 3-5 on the year, is coming off a 1-0 loss at home to Western Virginia Wednesday, Sept. 13. Head coach Sam Okpodu is in his eighth year at the helm and has accumulated a 56-75-7 record at Blacksburg. Sunday's game will be the first-ever meeting between Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. Sophomore forward Victoria Sarfo-Kantanka leads the Hokies with three goals and junior goalkeeper Shannon Janko has earned three shutouts this season.

Missouri Tigers
Missouri, who appeared in the polls briefly after upsetting Wake Forest 2-0 Sept. 3 in Columbia, has since dropped out of the rankings after losing its last two games. With a 3-3 mark on the season, the Tigers are coming off a pair of losses at the Michigan Invitational last weekend, losing 2-3 to Ohio State in overtime Sept. 8 and then getting pasted 0-7 by Michigan Sept. 10. Head coach Bryan Blitz is in his fifth season at the helm and has accumulated a 41-46-2 record in Columbia. Missouri has never faced California or Virginia Tech before. Although the Tigers and the Demon Deacons will not play each other this weekend, they have some history, most recently at Missouri's tournament Labor Day weekend, when Mizzou upset the Deacs 2-0, the only blemish on Wake's record. Freshman forward Adriene Davis leads the Tigers with four goals and three assists on the season and junior goalkeeper Graham Watson holds a 1.82 goals against average and a .757 saves percentage.

In The Rankings
Wake Forest is ranked 14th by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and Soccer America, as high as 13th by Soccer Buzz and the American Soccer Writers and as low as 17th by Soccer Times. In the regional standings, the Deacs are ranked fourth by both the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz.

Starting To Bloom
After leading the team in scoring last season, earning second team all-ACC honors and winning the ACC Rookie of the Year award, sophomore Joline Charlton is back at it. The forward from Stone Mountain, Ga., is tied for the team's lead with three goals on the season after chipping in a shot at Charlotte Sept. 12. The speedy Charlton is so fast that she slices through opponents' defenses like a surgeon. 'Doc' led the Deacs last game with six shots, holding a shooting gallery on the 49ers.

The Solution
Head coach Tony da Luz felt he needed some extra offense in the beginning of this season, so he decided to move Stacy Roeck, who anchored the Demon Deacon defense the last two years at sweeper, up to forward. The junior from Solana Beach, Calif., responded with a team-leading three goals, three assists, 24 shots, 13 shots on goal and one game-winner, through the first four games. After losing at Missouri Sept. 3, da Luz called upon Roeck to help him solve another problem. Roeck moved back to sweeper against Charlotte and helped hold the 49ers to eight shots, only four on goal, in the 2-1 Demon Deacon victory.

Wearing The Vest
One of the numerous responsibilities that junior midfielder Sarah Kate Noftsinger has during the course of a game is to hold post during opponent's corner kicks. This entails her to basically act like another goalkeeper - except without using her arms. Against Charlotte Sept. 12 Noftsinger headed out a 49er shot for a critical backsave. She gets it done on both sides of the field too. Noftsinger blasted two shots against Charlotte, both on goal. The Richmond, Va., native came up big in the red zone against Ohio State on Sept. 1. Six minutes into sudden death overtime the Demon Deacons ended the game when Stacy Roeck tapped a cross by Colleen Bradley to Noftsinger, who buried it into the net for the game-winning goal.

Interesting Numbers
Wake Forest has scored a goal in the final 18 minutes of every game this season except against Missouri, and in three games the Deacs have scored a goal in the last 12 minutes. This season WFU has scored eight of its 11 goals after halftime. Against Charlotte Sept. 12, the Demon Deacons had a season high 10 corner kicks - in fact, Wake has a 33-12 advantage over its opponents in the corner kicks category. Wake Forest also fired a season high 21 shots at Charlotte, another department that the Demon Deacons hold the advantage over their opponents with, hanging 90 shots (49 on goal) to 40 shots allowed (26 on goal).

Next Up
The Demon Deacons will be back in action next weekend for a pair of home games versus No. 23 Maryland at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22 and Iowa at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 24 at Spry Stadium.