Very important game for the final seeding of the ACC tourney. Both these teams hit tough spots early but now are on winning streaks (Wake 7, Carolina 5) Both know each other better than normally, they played in the same showcases in Ohio on Labor Day weekend and in Chapel Hill the following weekend. Everybody got to see the others. Beyond that, 5 key Wake and 3 key UNC players played together this summer on the Carolina Dynamo PDL team that made it to the national semifinals
To anyone unfamiliar with Wake, watch Micheal Parkhurst playing the central defender in a 3 man defensive line. I think he's the best player in the ACC and a possible 1st round MLS selection next year. Tim Merritt plays the middle defensive back for UNC in a 4 man back. I think Timmy is a very fine player, but he's not Micheal. If you have a chance to watch a Wake game, try to find a time Micheal P ever loses the advantage or is out of positiion! If you watchin a UNC game, watch for Tim to hit a fine direct kick
Do we have a final score yet on the game? Had to work today and couldn't get to the stadium in time.....how were the Tarheels looking against Wake?
You are right Merritt and Parkhurst are different players...Tim Merritt is bigger, stronger, faster, better with the ball and very dangerous on set plays. Parkhurst is a fine player but he is strickly a defender while Merritt offers much more.
I hope you aren't referring to the game played today because from what I saw Merritt was not the player you just described. He is definitely more physical than Parkhurst but there was not one single time today where Parkhurst lost possession of the ball other than a clearance. Merritt's job is just to find Storey, Ashe, and Watson. If he can do that the heels can be dangerous. Will be interesting to see if UNC gets in the tournament, now with a record of 8-7-2.
It was a good game. Both Wake Forest goals looked a little soft from where I was sitting, but they had plenty of other chances, mostly from long distance - forced Williams to make several good saves. The first half looked pretty even, then Wake came out sharper in the second and scored right away. After their second goal, they settled back and conceded a lot of the possesion to UNC, but their back line held firm. UNC had a fair number of dangerous looking attacks, and didn't have much trouble arriving at the WFU penalty area, but they just couldn't make the final pass. Their best chance was when Ashe hit the post after a good buildup early on in the second half. The Wake defenders had some trouble individually with UNC's fast attacking players, but defended really well as a team, and Wake's keeper was aggressive and effective coming off his line. UNC defended well overall, but had some breakdowns and had some difficulty clearing the ball. Wake was pretty dominant in the midfield for much of the game, and seemed to have a advantage in depth. Wake Forest is probably the best team that Carolina has played so far (looked a lot better than Virginia), and clearly deserved the win. I think they're a strong title contender. I'd say that that UNC is deserving of a spot in the tournament, based on current form and the strength of their schedule, but a .500 regular season record might be a hard sell.
This is very disappointing. I thought for sure that they would make a good showing and win this game. From the looks of it, they appeared to be able to keep up with them defensively the first half. What was different about the second half?
Only the scoring was different between the halves. Wake was dangerous on attack throughout the game. Three really well struck blasts in the scoreless first half, (2 saved, 1 just wide) in addition to the 2 goals in the second period. Carolina really got off only one potential goal scoring shot the whole game, a ball off the right post in the 2nd half.
Ford Williams made one of the best saves I have seen in a long time, in the first half on a shot from point blank, inside the area. He reacted with cat like quickness to knock the shot over the bar. He made some other quality saves and if he didn't come up big, it would have been 5-0 Wake. You gotta love Wake's style of play, and the coaching of Jay Vidovich. They play a classic 3-5-2 with Justin Moose at the top of the diamond, but he seems more effective when he is strictly a forward where he can beat people 1 v 1. Wake really knocks the ball around well, they play quick and you won't see any head down dribblers on that team. Parkhurst is the real deal at center back, not because he's physically intimidating, and he's not the best athlete out there, but he's a great soccer player. That's what I love about Vidovich...he knows that really good soccer players are more valuable than "great athletes" who can't hold possession. In this game, Wake's center mids, Ryan Solle and Amir Lowery just dominated the center of the park. Lowery won all the 50-50's, and Solle did a great job distributing and running the flow of the game. Vidovich also subscribes to the theory that the game is won and lost in the midfield, and with his MF's owning Carolina, the Heels could never get a flow of their own. That's another reason I like to watch Wake play....there's flow to their attack, and they're the most organized defensive team I've seen all year. You don't see the obligatory long ball over the top to a front runner who hopes to reach it before two defenders. With Wake, the defender will actually play a short ball! Imagine that! This game exposed Carolina's weakness....no midfield. It was glaring. Their whole attack was long ball out of the back to Storey or Watson or Ashe, and Wake is just too organized to give up goals that way. If Wake stays injury free, look out...the Deacs are really good and this could be the year they make the final four. They've got coaching, good players, and team chemistry.