WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The fourth-ranked Wake Forest men's soccer team controlled the pace of its Tuesday night contest against No. 15 South Carolina from start to finish in topping the Gamecocks 2-0 to move to 9-1-1 on the season.

After a scoreless first half that saw the Deacs outshoot South Carolina 11-4, Wake Forest continued its pressure on the Gamecock goal in the second half and scored the game-winner in the 52nd minute on a goal from Jacori Hayes. The midfielder took a pass from Jack Harrison on the right side of the penalty area and fired his shot to the left side. The shot hit the inside of the far post and bounced in to give the Demon Deacons a 1-0 lead.

Continuing the pressure on the South Carolina goal, Wake Forest scored the insurance goal in the 74th minute on an excellent connection between Harrison, Michael Gamble and the goal scorer, Tane Gent. Harrison started the movement at the top of the box, where he found Gamble making a run to the back post. With an open shot on goal and a hard-charging South Carolina goalkeeper, Gamble passed into the middle of the box to a wide-open Gent, who put home his fourth goal of the season.

Though the Gamecocks outshot Wake Forest in the second half by a margin of 7-4, most of the South Carolina shots came in the final 10 minutes of the game when the Gamecocks were pushing to get one back.

Alec Ferrell made seven saves in the contest, tying his career-high for the third time this season and the third time in the last four games. His counterpart, William Pyle, made five stops in the contest while losing his first game of the season. Ferrell is now 7-0-1 in eight starts this year.

Harrison finished with two assists to increase his season total to seven. Entering play Tuesday, Harrison already led the ACC in the category and ranked 17th nationally behind Joey Piatczyc, who had 10. He was named ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week earlier in the day on Tuesday.

Tuesday's game was Wake Forest's seventh against a team in the top 30 of the RPI. Against those teams, Wake Forest is 5-1-1. In this week's release of the RPI, Wake Forest will battle three more teams that rank inside the top 30, including No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Notre Dame.

Wake Forest will return to conference action Friday night when it travels to No. 22 NC State. First kick against the Wolfpack in Raleigh, North Carolina, is set for 7 p.m. The game will air on ESPN3.