Hokies Halted By Wake Forest In College Cup, 2-0

Virginia Tech's Patrick Nyarko battles for possession late in the 2nd half of play against Wake Forest's Ike Opara. The Hokies lost 2-0 to the Deacons in the College Cup semi-final game.
STAFF PHOTO BY BRIAN SEWELL

Earlier in the day Virginia Tech junior phenom Patrick Nyarko was named one of three MAC Hermann Trophy finalists. He may very well be the nation’s best player, but this evening belonged to the junior forward in Wake Forest colors.

Marcus Tracy capitalized on Virginia Tech miscues in free kick defense, knocking in two second half goals shortly after resets. Tracy’s ninth and tenth goals of the season lifted Wake Forest to a 2-0 victory and a national championship bout with Ohio State, while ending the most successful season in Hokie history.

“He continued to stretch them and open up the team with his running and pace,” said Wake Forest coach Jay Vidovich about Tracy.  “In the first five minutes [of the second half], he put the dagger in their back.”

Perhaps the most crucial dagger was self-inflicted. Throughout the first fifteen minutes, Tech (14-4-5) penetrated the Wake Forest (21-2-2) penalty box incessantly. They would create multiple golden scoring opportunities from the get-go.

However, these would turn into blown chances, haunting Tech for the remainder of the match.

“You got to catch them at their moments,” said Tech coach Oliver Weiss, whose team was outshot 8-6 despite earning many more corner kicks (9-4). “Scoring the first goal, all playoffs season long, is instrumental in winning the game...Today was no different.”

In just the second minute, Marcus Reed connected on a cross deep inside the box, but sent the shot wide right.

In particular, Nyarko and Robert Edmans would plow through the Deacon defense and set up shop in front of their net. Nyarko robbed defenders left and right, but seemed unable to find his footing when he had open looks.

This was emblemized in the 13th minute, when Nyarko chased a lob deep into Wake’s end, dribbled past the keeper, but could not square up and fire in time. He would find Edmans wide open from point blank range, but his shot flew radically awry, sailing several feet over the goal.

“We dodged one there,” said Deacon keeper Brian Edwards (three saves), “but I think we handled it well.”

The Hokies would pay for not throwing the haymaker while Wake was wobbling. Though Virginia Tech found a few more good scoring chances, momentum steadily mounted in the Deacons’ favor.
           
Wake then bursted out of halftime swinging. Extreme tactical precision would bate Hokie freshman All-ACC defenseman James Shupp into earning a yellow card from a few yards to the left of the Hokie penalty box.

While Shupp performed extraordinarily in the first half and provided a backbone deep in Tech’s end, this restart would lead directly to Wake’s first goal. Tracy found an opening at the near post and headed in the Sam Cronin free kick (8th assist).

Fortunately for the Deacons, Cronin spotted the opportunity as it developed. “We practice free kicks a lot,” said Tracy. “He did a great job moving the ball back into space.”

This occurred in part because of a clever screen, but the main cause of the Hokies’ most crucial allowed goal of the season was a missed assignment.

“It was the first time all season we didn’t have someone near-post,” said Weiss. “There was a marking error and good teams like Wake Forest take advantage of it.”

According to Weiss, the error resulted from a failure by Reed to communicate his assignment to fellow defenseman Scott Spangler when the latter subbed in for the former.

Another unanticipated wrench that hit the Hokies’ plans hard was in the personnel department. Prior to the game, Stefan Hock left the team due to family reasons. Weiss dismissed this as non-factor from a tactical standpoint. However, Tech was still left without a player who had earned a NSCAA National Player of the Week award this season.

Wake Forest’s stingy defense kept the present components of Tech’s explosive offensive in check. While Nyarko knifed through their defense like a butcher for most of the first half, they contained him in the second.

“When he goes on a run, you have to pay attention to him and not leave someone open in the box,” said Vidovich. “He also wreaks havoc on teams on the end line.”

Cronin, Julian Valentin, and Ike Opara did an excellent job of shutting down arguably Tech’s most lethal maneuver, a lob from Nyarko to the 6-6 Edmans in the box. This was not the case in these two teams’ first match, a 3-3 draw in which Tech closed a two-goal deficit twice during the second half.

“They did well to get behind us,” said Edwards. “[This time] we relied on forcing Patrick toward the middle.”

Despite losing the possession battle throughout most of the second half, the Hokies stood in striking distance as the match wound to its closing stages. Tracy would then squash Tech’s chances in fitting fashion, once again corralling a free kick redirected by Zack Schilawski (fourth assist of the season) and firing it past Tech keeper Markus Aigner (three saves).

The opportunity partially resulted from Tech’s strategic change to a more attacking style midway through the second half. This would help shift the momentum back in Tech’s favor afterward and till the match’s conclusion, but it was too little, too late.

The Hokies still have plenty of time to assert themselves as a national powerhouse with their current nucleus. They only lose four key players to graduation this year, and look to return junior first-team All-American Nyarko, among many other key components.

“We were hoping we’d go one better, but unfortunately we couldn’t get there,” Nyarko mused on the only team in school history to reach the College Cup. “We need to go back to the drawing board.”