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Although there were signs Wake Forest was ready to take the next step, very few had the Deacs reaching the College Cup for the second time in program history. Yet, with a formidable core of homegrown seniors to integrate the addition of a few vital transfers, Wake Forest has made history at every turn this year.

Of the 19 seniors on the roster, 16 have spent all four years at Wake Forest, creating an invaluable depth of athletes who know each other inside and out. That continuity is increasingly rare to find in a modern college soccer era where many elite teams choose to build their roster with the transfer portal. Head Coach Tony Da Luz spoke to that traditional format of team-building.

“Everybody approaches it differently. Wake Forest, our program, and our school, retention is a big priority for us . . . I think we owe it to the players that we recruit to try and develop them, and this team right now is a product of that . . . This group of seniors kind of represents the old-school way of doing it. Getting good players, making them better, and getting them to play together. We’ll continue to use the portal, but we are not going to rely on it to redo our team.”

That approach has paid dividends for a team on the verge of history. Emily Murphy and Emily Colton have come in as transfers, helping the team to the next level. But, leading scorer Caiya Hanks has been with the team since day one, as has the formidable center-back duo of Laurel Ansbrow and Zara Chavoshi, and nine of the eleven to start in the Elite Eight defeat of USC.

Of course, every underdog team needs a moment where dreams start to become reality, and for Wake Forest, that came on September 19th when it became the first team to ever defeat the top two nationally ranked teams in back-to-back games. “The Virginia, Stanford weekend gave us a lot of confidence that we could beat any team in the country.”

The Deacs will play Stanford for a chance at the program’s first-ever national final.

Ten Key Moments:

08/15/2024 - Hannah Johnson scores to give Wake Forest season opening win versus Army.

09/15/2024 - Defeats No. 2 Virginia on the road 3-0.

09/19/2024 - Defeats No. 1 Stanford 1-0, becoming first team in history to defeat top two ranked teams in back to back matches.

10/01/2024 - 3-0 Win over Florida State hands the defending champions their first loss in 32 matches.

10/09/2024 - Emily Colton comes in at No. 2 in the TDS Midseason Player Rankings. The other Deacs on the list are No. 45 Emily Morris and No. 64 Zara Chavoshi.

10/27/2024 - Wake Forest breaks 24-year attendance record with 3,761 fans watching eventual 2-0 loss to Duke.

11/01/2024 - Tony Da Luz, in 28th season, signs a long term extension.

11/06/2024 - Five Deacs receive ACC honors. Caiya Hanks receives first team honors. Zara Chavoshi, Emily Colton, and Emily Murphy make the second team. Valentina Amaral lands on the third team.

11/22/2024 - Emily Colton, Emily Morris, and Emily Murphy each score a goal in 3-1 second round defeat of Colorado.

11/29/2024 - Defeats USC in penalty kicks to advance to the College Cup.

Ten Key Statistics:

• Caiya Hanks leads in goals and assists with 11 each.

• Emily Murphy (22) and Emily Colton (21) join Hanks (33) with double-digit points.

• Emily Murphy has scored in three of four NCAA tournament matches.

• Hanks has three goals and four assists through four tournament matches.

• Center back Zara Chavoshi leads the team with 1974 minutes.

• 8 of 11 quarter final starters were seniors.

• Playing in second College Cup.

• Defeated College Cup opponent Stanford 1-0 in the regular season.

• Have not lost a game when scoring 15-0-4 in such matches.

• 30 yellow cards rank 11th in the country.