Connecticut Native Powers Wake Forest to Final

Tracy Scores Twice for Deacons

December 14, 2007

By Nick Williams

CARY, N.C. -- Wake Forest is going to the 2007 College Cup final on the back of Connecticut native Marcus Tracy.

Tracy, a native of Newtown, Conn. and a standout at Newtown High School, scored twice in a dominating offensive performance Friday night to lead the Wake Forest men's soccer team to a 2-0 win over Virginia Tech in the NCAA semifinals at the SAS Soccer Complex.

Tracy got Wake on the board first with a head ball early in the second half before tattooing a shot in the lower corner of the net to ice the game for the Daemon Deacons in the 83rd minute.

"That was an impressive first goal by Marcus, and obviously the second one to lock it up was phenomenal," said Wake Forest coach Jay Vidovich. "Tonight, right from the word 'go' he was very dangerous, stretching the defense with his speed in the first half and obviously in the second half with the goals."

And while it was Tracy who set the pace, Virginia Tech actually missed a golden opportunity to take a 1-0 lead early in the match when forward Patrick Nyarko seemed to outrun himself on an empty-net breakaway. The speedy junior received the ball just in front of the Wake Forest 18-yard box, beat his defender and goalie Brian Edwards and, with the Daemon Deacon net wide open, stumbled forward and almost over the ball, allowing Edwards to rush back.

Nyarko kept his footing and seemed to still have a great angle on goal, but instead of firing a shot at the still-out-of-position Edwards, he dished it to a trailing Robert Edmans, whose shot sailed well above the goal.

"I got caught a little bit too far out and he beat me to the ball, but luckily he tripped up," Edwards said. "We obviously dodged one there, but I thought we handled it well after."

In the 41st minute, Tracy nearly put the Deacons on the board, only to have his tough-angle shot from about 10 yards out miss wide left, sending the two teams into halftime scoreless.

"We came out 0-0 in the second half and I think each team needed to go for it," Tracy said. "Each team needed to be aggressive. We knew something was going to happen, something was going to open up eventually."

Tracy proved prophetic when, five minutes into the second half, he made his second chance of the game count. A Virginia Tech foul gave the Deacons a free kick to the right of the Hokie box about five yards from the end line. Sam Cronin took the kick and lofted a perfect ball to Tracy, who headed it past Markus Aigner for the 1-0 lead.

"We practice free kicks a lot in practice," Tracy said. "Sam Cronin put in a great serve and I just jumped in time. I guess it was a combination of a great serve and a lot of work in practice."

Wake Forest defender Ike Opara almost duplicated Tracy's feat in the 60th minute, but his header off a corner kick missed wide right.

Five minutes later, James Gilson had the best chance for Virginia Tech since Nyarko's adventure in the first half when he spun around at the top of the 18 and sent a shot that came in skipping but lacked the necessary power to beat Edwards.

There was a little bit of controversy on the ensuing counterattack when Cody Arnoux was cautioned for diving. Arnoux had possession of the ball in the Hokie penalty area before a mix-up with a Tech defender left him on the ground and the Deacon faithful screaming for a penalty kick. Wake Forest supporters were ecstatic when referee Alex Gorin pulled out a yellow card, then stunned when they realized the call was against Arnoux.

Tracy put the game away with a beautiful settle and volley with a little over seven minutes remaining. The 2004 Connecticut Player of the Year settled the ball in the box before blasting it past Aigner for an impregnable 2-0 advantage.

There was still no lack of action in the closing minutes. Virginia Tech may have been robbed of a penalty kick when Edmans was dragged down in the box with five minutes left. A minute and a half later, another Hokie was taken down near the penalty area, but Tech couldn't capitalize on the free kick from about 19-yards out.

With the win, Wake Forest moves on to Sunday's championship game -- just one year after falling a game short of the final. The Deacons lost in penalty kicks to UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals of last year's tournament.

"It really drove us to work hard in the offseason," Edwards said. "And now that work is starting to pay off."

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