2018 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team

The 2018 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team represented Wake Forest University during the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 72nd season of the university fielding a program. It was the program's fourth season with Bobby Muuss as head coach. The Demon Deacons played their home matches at Spry Stadium.

2018 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer
ACC Regular Season Champions Carolina Nike Classic Champions
NCAA Tournament, Third Round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 6
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 9
Record	18–3–0 (7–1–0 ACC)
Head coach	Bobby Muuss (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Steve Armas (4th season) Dane Brenner (8th season)
Home stadium	Spry Stadium
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 ACC men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 6 Wake Forest +	7	–	1	–	0			18	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Louisville ‡	4	–	2	–	2			11	–	5	–	3
NC State +	2	–	4	–	2			10	–	7	–	3
Boston College	2	–	5	–	1			4	–	8	–	4
Syracuse +	1	–	4	–	3			7	–	7	–	4
Clemson	2	–	6	–	0			7	–	9	–	1
Coastal
No. 14 North Carolina +	6	–	1	–	0			14	–	4	–	1
No. 11 Duke +	5	–	3	–	0			11	–	7	–	2
No. 8 Notre Dame +	4	–	3	–	1			11	–	7	–	3
No. 15 Virginia +	3	–	2	–	2			10	–	4	–	3
No. 17 Virginia Tech +	3	–	4	–	1			11	–	7	–	3
Pittsburgh	2	–	6	–	0			8	–	10	–	1
‡ – 2018 ACC Tournament champion + – Invited to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship As of December 11, 2018 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source:The ACC

Background

Main article: 2017 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team

The 2017 Wake Forest men's soccer team finished the season with a 19–2–2 overall record and a 7–0–1 ACC record. The Demon Deacons were seeded first–overall in the 2017 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, and they went on to win the tournament. The Demon Deacons earned an automatic bid into the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament for winning the ACC Tournament. As the first–overall seed in the tournament, Wake Forest defeated Columbia and Butler, before losing to eventual champions Stanford in the Quarterfinals.

At the end of the season, three Demon Deacons men's soccer players were selected in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft: Jon Bakero, Ema Twumasi and Luis Argudo. Bakero and Twumasi were both taken in the first round.^[1]

Player movement

Players leaving

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Luis Argudo	2	MF	5'8"	135	Senior	New York City, NY	Declared for 2018 MLS SuperDraft; selected 67th overall by Columbus Crew
Kevin Politz	4	DF	6'0"	170	Senior	Morganville, NJ	Graduated
Jon Bakero	7	FW	6'3"	165	Senior	Sitges, ESP	Declared for 2018 MLS SuperDraft; selected 5th overall by Chicago Fire
Steven Echevarria	15	MF	5'9"	145	Senior	Slate Hill, NY	Graduated
Ema Twumasi	22	MF	5'8"	160	Sophomore	Accra, GHA	Declared for 2018 MLS SuperDraft; selected 11th overall by FC Dallas

Players arriving

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Koby Carr DF	USA	San Antonio, TX	Houston Dynamo Youth	[2]
Kyle Holcomb FW	USA	San Diego, CA	Pateadores SC	[3]
Elijah Kerr DF	USA	Stewart Manor, NY	Dix Hills SC	[4]
Isaiah Parente DF	USA	Medina, OH	Columbus Crew Academy	[5]
John Rula DF	USA	Birmingham, AL	FC Dallas	[6]
Jake Swallen MF	USA	Shoreview, MN	Minnesota Thunder	[7]
Aristotle Zarris MF	USA	Casa Grande, AZ	LA Galaxy	[8]

Squad

Roster

Updated:August 3, 2018^[9]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  USA Andrew Pannenberg 1 GK  ESP Andreu Cases Mundet 2 DF  USA Koby Carr 3 FW  USA Kyle Holcomb 4 DF  USA Holland Rula 5 DF  TRI Michael DeShields 6 DF  SWE Alberto Catenacci 7 FW  USA Aristotle Zarris 8 MF  CAN Alistair Johnston 9 FW  USA Tater Rennhack 10 MF  BRA Bruno Lapa 11 MF  JAM Justin McMaster 12 MF  USA Brad Dunwell

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  JAM Joey DeZart 15 MF  USA Isaiah Parente 16 MF  USA Omir Fernandez 17 DF  USA Logan Gdula 19 DF  USA Eddie Folds 20 MF  USA Kyle McCurley 21 MF  USA Machop Chol 24 MF  USA Jake Swallen 25 DF  USA Elijah Kerr 26 DF  USA Sam Raben 28 DF  USA Tyrrell Moore 29 DF  USA Tre Bailey 30 GK  USA Dominic Peters

Team management

Position	Staff
Athletic director	Ron Wellman
Head coach	Bobby Muuss
Assistant coach	Steve Armas
Assistant coach	Dane Brenner
Assistant coach	Matt Poplawski
Assistant Athletic Trainer	Michael White
Academic Counselor	Brooke Taylor
Strength & Conditioning Staff	David Bass

Source:^[9]

Schedule

Source:^[10]

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 12* 7:00 pm	No. 5	at Furmam	T 4–4	– (–)	Stone Stadium (967) Greenville, SC
August 18* 7:00 pm	No. 5	Loyola	W 2–0	– (–)	Spry Stadium Winston–Salem, NC
Regular season
August 24* 7:30 pm	No. 5	No. 2 Indiana Carolina Nike Classic	W 2–1 2OT	1–0–0 (0–0–0)	Spry Stadium (4,751) Winston–Salem, NC
August 26* 7:00 pm	No. 5	ETSU Carolina Nike Classic	W 4–2	2–0–0 (0–0–0)	Spry Stadium (1,470) Winston–Salem, NC
September 1* 7:00 pm	No. 1	at Florida Gulf Coast	W 3–1	3–0–0 (0–0–0)	FGCU Soccer Complex (1,017) Fort Myers, FL
September 4* 7:00 pm	No. 1	Presbyterian	W 4–1	4–0–0 (0–0–0)	Spry Stadium (1,113) Winston–Salem, NC
September 7 7:00 pm	No. 1	No. 8 NC State	W 3–0	5–0–0 (1–0–0)	Spry Stadium (4,023) Winston–Salem, NC
September 11* 7:00 pm	No. 1	Georgia Southern	W 2–0	6–0–0 (1–0–0)	Spry Stadium (1,017) Winston–Salem, NC
September 14 7:30 pm	No. 1	at No. 16 Virginia Tech	W 2–1	7–0–0 (2–0–0)	Thompson Field (1,200) Blacksburg, VA
September 21 7:00 pm	No. 1	at Clemson	W 3–0	8–0–0 (3–0–0)	Riggs Field (3,259) Clemson, SC
September 25* 7:00 pm	No. 1	Davidson	W 5–1	9–0–0 (3–0–0)	Spry Stadium (1,357) Winston–Salem, NC
September 29 7:00 pm	No. 1	No. 15 Duke	W 4–2	10–0–0 (4–0–0)	Spry Stadium (4,937) Winston–Salem, NC
October 2* 7:00 pm	No. 1	UNCG	W 2–0	11–0–0 (4–0–0)	Spry Stadium (1,819) Winston–Salem, NC
October 5 7:00 pm	No. 1	at Syracuse	L 0–2	11–1–0 (4–1–0)	SU Soccer Stadium (1,957) Syracuse, NY
October 9* 7:00 pm	No. 2	High Point	W 4–2	12–1–0 (4–1–0)	Spry Stadium (1,783) Winston–Salem, NC
October 12 6:00 pm	No. 2	Boston College	W 2–1	13–1–0 (5–1–0)	Spry Stadium (3,111) Winston–Salem, NC
October 16* 7:00 pm	No. 1	at South Carolina	W 2–0	14–1–0 (5–1–0)	Stone Stadium (2,250) Columbia, SC
October 20 7:00 pm	No. 1	at No. 6 Virginia	W 3–2	15–1–0 (6–1–0)	Klöckner Stadium (2,791) Charlottesville, VA
October 26 7:00 pm	No. 1	No. 17 Louisville	W 2–1 OT	16–1–0 (7–1–0)	Spry Stadium (1,165) Winston–Salem, NC
ACC Tournament
November 4 1:00 pm	(1) No. 1	(8) NC State Quarterfinal	W 2–0	17–1–0	Spry Stadium (2,037) Winston-Salem, NC
November 7 7:00 pm	(1) No. 1	(4) No. 10 Louisville Semifinal	L 1–2 OT	17–2–0	Spry Stadium (2,117) Winston-Salem, NC
NCAA Tournament
November 18* 5:00 pm	(1) No. 2	Colgate Second Round	W 2–0	18–2–0	Spry Stadium (1,802) Winston-Salem, NC
November 25* 5:00 pm	(1) No. 2	Akron Third Round	L 0–1	18–3–0	Spry Stadium (1,686) Winston-Salem, NC
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Bruno Lapa	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	August 28, 2018	[11]
Omir Fernandez		September 10, 2018	[12]
		September 17, 2018	[13]
Bruno Lapa	United Soccer Coaches Player of the Week	October 2, 2018	[14]
Logan Gdula	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	October 22, 2018	[15]
Bobby Muuss	Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Coach of the Year	November 7, 2018	[16]
Omir Fernandez	Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Offensive Player of the Year
Bruno Lapa	Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Midfielder of the Year
Omir Fernandez	All-ACC First Team
Bruno Lapa
Brad Dunwell	All-ACC Second Team
Sam Raben	All-ACC Third Team
Aristotle Zarris	All-ACC Freshman Team
Machop Chol	All-ACC Tournament Team	November 11, 2018	[17]
Sam Raben
Bruno Lapa	United Soccer Coaches First Team All-American	December 6, 2018	[18]
Omir Fernandez
Brad Dunwell	United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-American

2019 MLS Super Draft

Main article: 2019 MLS SuperDraft

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Logan Gdula	FC Cincinnati	1	13	DF
Brad Dunwell	Houston Dynamo	3	56	MF

Sources:^[19][20]

Rankings

Main article: List of NCAA Division I men's soccer teams ranked in the 2018 Top 25 coaches poll

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes.

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Final
United Soccer[21]	5	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	None Released				6
TopDrawer Soccer [22]	3	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	3	2	9	9	9