Greensfelder Sends Deacs to Elite Eight

November 29, 2015

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Ricky Greensfelder scored his fifth-career game-winning goal Sunday afternoon as Wake Forest advanced to the Elite Eight with a 1-0 victory over 16th-seeded and No. 14 Indiana at Spry Stadium.

Greensfelder’s goal came in the 88th minute on a rocket into the top-right corner after he was subbed into the contest in the 84th minute. He was set up by Ian Harkes, who found Greensfelder on the weak side after crossing from the top-right side of the box. Greensfelder’s shot came off his left foot from 15 yards out and hit the back-right corner of the net.

Wake Forest advances to its first Elite Eight since 2009 with the win and now stands at 17-2-2 on the season. Indiana ends its 2015 campaign with a 13-5-3 record overall.

Greensfelder’s 88th-minute goal comes just one week after the Demon Deacons scored in the 83rd minute in the second round against Charlotte on Nov. 22. Overall, Wake Forest has only led for nine minutes in the tournament over the course of the two matches.

The Demon Deacons were limited to just five shots in the game with only two on target, but they cashed in when it counted late. On the opposite end, Indiana could only muster seven shots, one of which was on target. The Hoosiers hit the left post twice in the first half, as Andrew Gutman drilled the post in the 14th minute and Femi Hollinger-Janzen hit it in the 39th minute.

Wake Forest’s back line did an excellent job on Indiana’s leading scorer, Hollinger-Janzen, throughout the contest. While the 6-foot forward, who had scored eight goals this season, hit the post in the 38th minute, he was only allowed two shots in the contest. Both attempts came within a two-minute span late in the first half. 

The Demon Deacons move on to face No. 8 seed Stanford or No. 9 seed Ohio State in the Elite Eight. The game between Stanford and Ohio State will be contested at 8 p.m. ET Sunday night in California with the winner making a trip to Winston-Salem next week. Date and time for the Elite Eight matchup against either the Cardinal or Buckeyes will be announced at a later time.

Historically, Wake Forest is 5-0-0 against Ohio State with the last matchup against the Buckeyes coming on Dec. 16, 2007, when Wake Forest claimed the national championship. On the flip side, the Deacs have never topped Stanford in two tries, both of which came in the early 90’s in 1992 and 1995.

Game Notes:
-Ian Harkes has now assisted on each of Wake Forest’s goals in the NCAA Championship this year to push his total to four assists on the year.
-The 2015 team now has a lot of ties to the 2009 team with Sunday’s victory:
-Next week’s game will be the first Elite Eight appearance for Wake Forest since 2009.
-Sunday’s win marks the first time Wake Forest has won two games in the NCAA Championship since the 2009 season.
-With their 17th win, Wake Forest has now tied the 2009 team for the most wins in a season in program history.
-Of note, 2009 was the last time Wake Forest went to the College Cup.
-With the win, head coach Bobby Muuss is now 2-3-1 all-time in the NCAA Championship with both wins coming at Wake Forest this year.
-Overall, Wake Forest is now 23-14-4 all-time in the NCAA Championship. As the top seed, the Deacs are 7-2-1.
-Wake Forest has been outshot in each of the last two games. The two occasions mark the first two times this season the Deacs have been outshot by their opponent.
-With 3,149 fans in attendance Sunday, Wake Forest has now drawn a program-record 41,342 fans in 16 home games. The previous record was 29,296 in 2007.

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