COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Freshman striker Sean Okoli extended his goal scoring streak to four straight matches with a 49th minute equalizer to help the Wake Forest men’s soccer team to a 1-1 draw against No. 4 Maryland on Thursday, Nov. 3 at Ludwig Field.

The result caps the regular season for the Demon Deacons, as the side finishes at 8-6-4 overall (4-3-1 ACC) and earns the fifth seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. Wake will now travel to Charlottesville to take on the fourth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7:00 p.m.

With the result, Wake also posted its sixth straight winning season in ACC play and 14th overall, as well as its 25th winning season in program history. The four draws for the year equals a program record set three times before (1999, 2002 and 2006).

Sophomore midfielder Jared Watts opened the match with a wide attempt inside the first minute, but the Terrapins would get off five shots in the next 10. Junior keeper Michael Lisch was called into action twice and made two early saves to keep Maryland off the board.

The barrage of shots continued and the Terps broke through in the 31st minute on a header goal from Taylor Kemp to John Stertzer – his 14th tally of the season.

In the first half, Wake was outshot 14-1 as Lisch saved five balls to keep it a one score game heading into the locker room. The junior net minder would finish the evening with a career-high 13 saves, a mark which is tops in the ACC for the season and tied for 10th nationally as of Oct. 30.

After managing just one shot in the opening 45, the Deacs would capitalize off their second attempt in the 49thminute. The sequence started when Lisch intercepted a Maryland restart and launched a long throw past the midline to Okoli. The freshman striker controlled the long lob and made a move to his left before firing a high-arcing shot over Maryland’s Will Swaim from 25 yards. With the equalizer, Okoli moved into a tie for the team lead in points with 10 – nine of which have come in his past four matches.

In the 96th minute, Okoli had Wake’s first attempt of the overtime period, forcing Swaim to save the ball at the near post. In an unfortunate turn of events, Watts was ejected in the matches’ 103rd minute. The penalty card forced Wake to play a man down for the final 7:56 and will also keep the midfielder out of the Deacons’ opening match in the ACC Tournament.

Still, playing a man down, Wake had another fantastic opportunity with 55 second left in the match as junior Andy Lubahn drew Swaim out from the net. With an open goal, the striker flicked a shot past Maryland’s keeper but the ball clanged off the far post to all but ensure the game would end in a draw.

The Terps would mount one final attack, but the buzzer sounded before the Terps could capitalize. For the night, Maryland outshot Wake 35-6 and took an 18-2 advantage in corners but could not penetrate the Deacon defense after Stertzer’s early strike.

Next up for the Deacs will be a rematch with a familiar postseason foe, Virginia, in the quarterfinals of the 2011 ACC Tournament. The tilt will take place on the heels of a three-way tie for third-place in the regular season standings with both Virginia and Duke. In the tiebreaker scenario, Wake’s head-to-head win over the Cavs in October was negated by a Virginia win over Duke and the Blue Devils’ three goal victory over the Deacons earlier this season – goal differential was the backup tiebreaker for the seeding process. The Deacs will be looking to advance in the conference tournament for the eighth time in their past nine tries and will attempt to do it against the team that ended their season in 2010.

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