WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men’s soccer team fell behind early and, despite a flurry of attacks in the second half, could not find a goal, dropping a 2-0 decision to visiting Elon on Tuesday, October 18 at Spry Stadium.

Freshman forward Sean Okoli was presented with the two best scoring opportunities for the Demon Deacons in the first half, and forced Elon’s Reed Dillard into action twice. Wake also outshot the Phoenix 8-5 and matched its opponent in shots on frame with two, but Elon entrenched itself in the lead just 13 minutes into the match on a header goal by Matt Wescoe from James Carroll.

The Phoenix provided some self-insurance in the 37th minute when a long through ball by Daniel Lovitz found Gabe Latigue, who made a couple moves before burying his second goal of the season to give Elon a 2-0 advantage.

The rain began to fall as Wake emerged from the locker room and, with a two goal lead, Elon packed together closely on defense – both factors would make it tough on the Deacs in the second stanza.

Nevertheless, in the 79th minute Wake had two more excellent opportunities turned away by the Phoenix. Initially, Okoli had another shot blocked before Andy Lubahn fired a missile from the top of the box only to watch Elon’s Reed Dillard make an athletic diving save.

Dillard was credited with his second shutout of the season and made four stops total to keep the Deacons off the board despite a 17-13 final advantage in shots.

The loss snapped a four match winning streak at Spry and dropped the team to 6-6-2 overall this fall. It was also Wake’s first-ever loss against Elon in 10 all-time meetings (8-1-1).

Wake Forest will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 22, traveling to NC State with an opportunity to push its ACC record over .500. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Dail Soccer Field in Raleigh, N.C.

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