Women's Soccer To Play Three matches In Six Days
Soccer America has the Deacs at No. 7, the highest rank in school history.

Oct. 12, 1999

DEMON DEACON FACTS
1999 Record: 8-2, 3-0 ACC
National Rank: #7 (Soccer America)
Head Coach: Tony da Luz
Record at WF: 32-17-3 (3rd yr)
Career Record: 78-59-6 (8th yr)
Assistant: Kelly Walbert

THREE MATCHES ON TAP FOR DEMON DEACONS THIS WEEK
The Wake Forest women's soccer team has a busy week ahead, with the Demon Deacons playing three matches in a six-day period. Wake Forest will host UNC Charlotte on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and the Deacs will travel to Durham for a key ACC-matchup with Duke on Friday at 7 p.m. Wake Forest will wrap up the week with a home match against Brown on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Demon Deacons are ranked 7th nationally this week by Soccer America, the highest ranking in school history, after winning a 2-0 contest at regional foe UNC Greensboro last week. Wake Forest's record now stands at 8-2-0 overall and 3-0-0 in the ACC. The Demon Deacons are currently in first place in the ACC standings, just ahead of North Carolina who has a 2-0 league.

The Deacs are under the guidance of head coach Tony da Luz, the 1998 ACC Coach of the Year.

DEMON DEACONS CONTINUE IMPRESSIVE RUN IN THE ACC
After winning just four ACC matches in the program's first four years of existence, Wake Forest took a major stride forward last fall when the Demon Deacons posted a 4-3 league record and finished in 4th place in the regular season.

The Deacs have carried that momentum into 1999 by opening the ACC season with three victories (over Clemson, Florida State and NC State). The 3-0 start to the ACC season is obviously the best in school history.

Now spanning the last two seasons, Wake Forest owns an impressive 7-3 (.700) record against the ACC as opposed to the 4-23 (.148) mark posted in the program's first four years.

ACC STANDINGS (as of 10/11)
Team              ACC  Overall
1. Wake Forest  3-0-0   8-2-0
2. N. Carolina  2-0-0  11-2-0
3. Virginia     3-1-0   9-4-0
4. Clemson      2-2-0   9-3-1
5. Maryland     1-1-1   6-7-1
6. NC State     0-2-1   5-5-1
7. Duke         0-2-0   8-5-0
8. Florida St.  0-3-0   8-5-0

IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
The Wake Forest women's soccer team is well represented in this week's national polls. The Demon Deacons are ranked 13th in the NSCAA coaches' poll, 7th by Soccer America, 8th by Soccer Buzz magazine, and 11th by Soccer Times - a poll voted on by a panel of 16 coaches across the nation. The 7th place ranking by Soccer America represents the highest ranking for the Demon Deacons in school history.

IN THE RANKINGS
Week Of    NSCAA  SA  SB  ST
Preseason  23      -   -  25
Aug. 30    23      -  25  25
Sept. 6    25      -  24  21
Sept. 13    -      -  22  21
Sept. 20   16     12  16  14
Sept. 27   11     10  13  13
Oct. 4     13      8  10  14
Oct. 11    13      7   8  11

Key: NSCAA-National Soccer Coaches Association of America, SA-Soccer America. SB-Soccer Buzz, ST-Soccer Times.

FRESHMEN OF INFLUENCE
Ten games into the 1999 season, the talented Wake Forest freshman class has already asserted itself as a key ingredient during the upcoming season. Five different freshmen have cracked the starting lineup this season, while combining to tally five goals and 11 assists.

Forward Joline Charlton made the biggest impact of the rookie class as she has scored three goals and has three assists in the first 10 games of the season. Also making the starting 11 this season are defender Liz McDowell, who score the game-winner at Air Force with under five minutes remaining in regulation, midfielder Lindsey Griffin, a playmaker who has a team-best six assists in 10 games, defender Katie Johnson, with one goal, and defender Gabi Lieb, with one assist.

JOHNSON ANCHORS THE DEFENSE, ROECK MOVES TO MIDFIELD
With last year's sweeper Jessen Snyder lost to graduation, head coach Tony da Luz turned to sophomore Stacy Roeck as the Deacs' new anchor in the backfield. However, looking to add more punch to the offense da Luz has moved Roeck to the midfield and dropped freshman Katie Johnson into Roeck's role of sweeper.

Last fall Roeck started 20 of 21 games in the backfield, giving the Deacons an offensive threat by scoring seven goals and adding one assist. In her first game in the midfield, Roeck scored the game-winning goal in the Deacs' 2-0 win over UNC Greensboro.

Johnson was moved to the sweeper position 10 games into the 1999 season fall. She has helped the Deacs' hold opponents to a stingy 0.60 goals per game (6 goals in 10 games) while the Demon Deacons rank first in the ACC and 11th nationally in scoring defense.