2021 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team

The 2021 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team represented Wake Forest University during the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 75th season of the university fielding a program. It was the program's seventh season with Bobby Muuss as head coach.^[1] The Demon Deacons played their home matches at Spry Stadium.

2021 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, Third Round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 17
Record	13–7–1 (4–3–1 ACC)
Head coach	Bobby Muuss (7th season)
Assistant coaches	Steve Armas (7th season) Dane Brenner (11th season) Jonathan Lagos (3rd season)
Home stadium	Spry Stadium
Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

2021 ACC men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 1 Clemson +	5	–	3	–	0			16	–	5	–	2
Louisville +	5	–	3	–	0			10	–	7	–	1
No. 17 Wake Forest +	4	–	3	–	1			13	–	7	–	1
Boston College	2	–	4	–	2			6	–	7	–	2
Syracuse	2	–	5	–	1			8	–	8	–	2
NC State	1	–	5	–	2			7	–	8	–	2
Coastal
No. 12 Duke +	5	–	2	–	1			14	–	5	–	1
No. 6 Pittsburgh +	5	–	2	–	1			13	–	5	–	2
No. 4 Notre Dame ‡	4	–	2	–	2			14	–	5	–	5
North Carolina +	4	–	4	–	0			11	–	7	–	2
No. 19 Virginia Tech +	3	–	4	–	1			11	–	5	–	4
Virginia	2	–	5	–	1			6	–	9	–	3
‡ – ACC Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2021 NCAA tournament As of December 14, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: The ACC

The Demon Deacons finished the season 13–7–1 overall and 4–3–1 in ACC play to finish in third place in the Atlantic Division. As the sixth overall seed in the ACC Tournament they defeated Virginia in the first round before losing to Duke in the quarterfinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. They were an unseeded team and defeated Mercer in the first round and thirteenth seed FIU in the second round before losing to fourth seed Notre Dame to end their season.

Background

Main article: 2020 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team

The teams' 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which curtailed the fall season and caused the NCAA Tournament to be played in spring 2021. The ACC was one of the only two conferences in men's soccer to play in the fall of 2020. The ACC also held a mini-season during the spring of 2021.

The Demon Deacons finished the fall season 5–1–0 and 7–2–0 in ACC play to finish in first place in the South Division. In the ACC Tournament they lost to Virginia in the quarterfinals. They finished the spring season 4–0–2 and 3–0–2 in ACC play, to finish in third place in the Atlantic Division. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. As the fifth seed in the tournament, they defeated Coastal Carolina in the second round and Kentucky in the third round before losing to North Carolina in the quarterfinals to end their season.

Four Demon Deacons men's soccer players were selected in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft: Calvin Harris, Michael DeShields, Justin McMaster and Andrew Pannenberg.^[2]

Player movement

Players leaving

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Andrew Pannenberg	0	GK	6'3"	195	Junior	Charlotte, NC	Graduated; Drafted 49th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by Orlando City
Koby Carr	2	DF	5'9"	150	Junior	San Antonio, TX	Transferred to Charlotte
Michael DeShields	5	DF	6'1"	180	Senior	Baltimore, MD	Graduated; Drafted 5th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by D.C. United
Aristotle Zarris	7	MF	5'10"	160	Junior	Sarasota, FL	—
Justin McMaster	11	MF	5'9"	165	Senior	Kingston, Jamaica	Graduated; Drafted 17th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota United
Isaiah Parente	15	MF	5'9"	150	Junior	Medina, OH	Signed a Homegrown contract with the Columbus Crew
Kyle McCurley	20	MF	5'10"	145	Senior	Lake Zurich, IL	Graduated
Machop Chol	21	MF	6'2"	175	Senior	Tucker, GA	Graduated; Signed a Homegrown contract with Atlanta United
Calvin Harris	22	FW	6'0"	160	Sophomore	Middlesborugh, England	Drafted 2nd overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by FC Cincinnati
William Valtos	25	MF	5'8"	145	Sophomore	Manila, Philippines	—
Tyrrell Moore	28	DF	5'6"	150	Senior	Brooklyn, NY	Graduated
Dominic Peters	30	GK	6'3"	180	Junior	Santa Clara, CA	Graduated

Players arriving

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Robert Alphin GK	USA	Raleigh, NC	North Carolina FC Youth	[3]
Boima Cummins DF	USA	Port Huron, MI	New York Red Bulls	[4]
Mwinso Denkabe FW	USA	Los Altos, CA	Silicon Valley Soccer Association	[5]
Ryan Fessler MF	USA	Charlotte, NC	Sporting Kansas City (Academy)	[6]
Eligio Guarino MF	USA	East Rockaway, NY	NYCFC	[7]
Julian Kennedy FW	USA	Orlando, FL	Orlando City (Academy)	[8]
Nicolas Mancilla MF	CHI	Osorno, Chile	Club Universidad de Chile	[9]
Roald Mitchell MF	USA	Montclair, NJ	PDA	[10]
Babacar Niang FW	SEN	Dakar, Senegal	The Pennington School	[11]
Jake Nicoll GK	USA	Short Hills, NJ	STA	[12]
Tareq Shihab MF	ENG	Brighton, England	Brighton & Hove Albion	[13]

Squad

Roster

As of February 3, 2022^[14]

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 1 GK  USA Trace Alphin 2 DF  USA Bo Cummins 3 FW  USA Kyle Holcomb 4 DF  USA Alec Kenison 5 DF  USA Samuel Jones 8 FW  SEN Babacar Niang 9 MF  USA Roald Mitchell 10 MF  SWE Oscar Sears 11 MF  USA Leo Guarino 12 MF  USA Takuma Suzuki 13 FW  USA David Wrona 14 DF  USA Jahlane Forbes 15 FW  USA Mwinso Denkabe 16 DF  JPN Hosei Kijima

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  USA Omar Hernandez 18 MF  USA Cooper Flax 19 DF  USA Cristian Escribano 20 MF  USA Ryan Fessler 21 FW  USA Julian Kennedy 24 MF  USA Jake Swallen 25 MF  USA Chase Oliver 26 MF  USA Colin Thomas 27 DF  USA Prince Amponsah 28 MF  USA Nicolas Mancilla 31 GK  USA Cole McNally 32 DF  USA Garrison Tubbs 33 DF  USA Sebastian Scrivner

Team management

Position	Staff
Athletic Director	John Currie
Head coach	Bobby Muuss
Associate head coach	Steve Armas
Assistant Coach	Dane Brenner
Assistant Coach	Jonathan Lagos
Assistant Athletic Trainer	Michael White
Academic Counselor	Brooke Taylor
Sports Performance	David Bass

Source:^[14]

Schedule

Source:^[15][16]

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 15* 7:00 p.m.	No. 7	at Furman	W 2–0	–	Stone Stadium Greenville, SC
August 21* 7:00 p.m.	No. 7	No. 25 Coastal Carolina	L 0–2	–	Spry Stadium Winston–Salem, NC
Regular season
August 26* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 7	VCU	L 0–2	0–1–0	Spry Stadium (1,296) Winston–Salem, NC
August 29* 7:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 7	Bucknell	W 2–0	1–1–0	Spry Stadium (1,089) Winston–Salem, NC
September 4* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 18	Cornell	W 2–1 2OT	2–1–0	Spry Stadium (1,491) Winston–Salem, NC
September 10 7:30 p.m., ACCNX	No. 25	at Louisville	L 0–3	2–2–0 (0–1–0)	Lynn Stadium (1,307) Louisville, KY
September 17 8:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 5 Pittsburgh	W 3–1	3–2–0 (1–1–0)	Spry Stadium (2,176) Winston–Salem, NC
September 20* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at George Mason	W 1–0	4–2–0	George Mason Stadium (175) Fairfax, VA
September 24 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at NC State	T 1–1 2OT	4–2–1 (1–1–1)	Dail Soccer Field (1,570) Raleigh, NC
September 28* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Liberty	L 0–1 2OT	4–3–1	Spry Stadium (1,287) Winston–Salem, NC
October 1 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Clemson	L 1–2	4–4–1 (1–2–1)	Spry Stadium (3,560) Winston–Salem, NC
October 5* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		William & Mary	W 4–0	5–4–1	Spry Stadium (1,119) Winston–Salem, NC
October 8 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at North Carolina	W 2–1	6–4–1 (2–2–1)	Dorrance Field (1,283) Chapel Hill, NC
October 12* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		George Washington	W 3–0	7–4–1	Spry Stadium (1,127) Winston–Salem, NC
October 16 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 5 Virginia Tech	W 3–1	8–4–1 (3–2–1)	Spry Stadium (3,026) Winston–Salem, NC
October 19* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Loyola (MD)	W 7–0	9–4–1	Spry Stadium (1,021) Winston–Salem, NC
October 23 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at Boston College	L 2–3	9–5–1 (3–3–1)	Newton Soccer Complex (658) Chestnut Hill, MA
October 29 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Syracuse	W 2–0	10–5–1 (4–3–1)	Spry Stadium (2,271) Winston–Salem, NC
ACC Tournament
November 3 8:00 p.m., ACCN	(6)	(11) Virginia First Round	W 3–0	11–5–1	Spry Stadium (1,034) Winston–Salem, NC
November 7 2:00 p.m., ACCN	(6)	(11) Duke Quarterfinals	L 2–3	11–6–1	Koskinen Stadium (1,062) Durham, NC
NCAA Tournament
November 18 6:00 p.m., ACCNX		Mercer First Round	W 2–1	12–6–1	Spry Stadium (855) Winston–Salem, NC
November 21 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		(13) No. 14 FIU Second Round	W 3–2	13–6–1	FIU Soccer Stadium (1,567) Miami, FL
November 28 5:00 p.m., ACCNX		(4) No. 20 Notre Dame Third Round	L 0–2	13–7–1	Alumni Stadium (481) Notre Dame, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Kyle Holcomb	Preseason All-ACC Watchlist	August 18, 2021	[17]
Kyle Holcomb	All-ACC First Team	November 10	[18]
Nico Benalcazar	All-ACC Third Team
Omar Hernandez
Jake Swallen

2022 MLS Super Draft

Main article: 2022 MLS SuperDraft

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Kyle Holcomb	Charlotte FC	2	29	FW
Holland Rula	FC Dallas	Compensatory	87	DF

Source:^[19]

Rankings

Main article: 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer[20]	7	18	25	RV	RV	RV	—	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	Not released				17
TopDrawer Soccer[21]	6	8	8	—	18	20	—	19	18	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—