WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sophomore defender Tolani Ibikunle recorded his first career goal and junior forward Sean Randolph tallied the game-winner as the Wake Forest men’s soccer team took a 2-1 win from Clemson in its 2011 ACC opener on Friday, September 9 at Spry Stadium.

Both goals came before the half for the Demon Deacons, but the Tigers held the early edge after freshman Amadou Dia scored on a header goal just 24 seconds into the match.

The early stunner by Dia might as well have been the antidote the Deacons needed, as Wake awoke with a strong attempt by junior midfielder Luciano Delbono in the second minute and began to attack with regularity – eventually outshooting Clemson 10-2 in the first half and 18-6 on the evening.

During the seventh minute, freshman Teddy Mullin teed up a free kick and drove it into the box where sophomore Jared Watts caught all of it off his head, but Clemson’s Cody Mizell made a brilliant diving stop to hold the Tiger lead.

Sophomore forward Luca Gimenez had two more attempts for the Deacs in the 13th and 15th minutes before the match started to get a bit chippy. Dia drew a yellow card from a hard tackle in the 17th, while sophomore defender Chris Duvall drew one of his own just 57 seconds later.

With 12:32 remaining to play before the break and just under two minutes after entering the tilt in the 31st, Ibikunle nailed the equalizer – his first collegiate goal – when he found himself unmarked in the box off a free kick by Teddy Mullin. Mullin launched the attack off a restart, and Ibikunle was able to secure the ball in traffic with an open look and powered it past Mizell. After setting up Ibikunle, Mullin earned his first career assist on the sequence.

10 minutes later, sophomore Jared Watts chipped a pass over the Clemson backline and found Sean Randolph on a breakaway in the 43rd minute, where a streaking Randolph blew the ball past Mizell and into the top right corner of the net. For Randolph, it was his first tally since 2009 and his second career game-winner. Watts was credited with his second career assist on the play.

When play resumed, goalkeeper Michael Lisch was called into action three times, but would not relinquish the lead. The junior made a pair of brilliant saves in the 59th and 63rd minutes, collecting three on the night, to earn his first career ACC win in net as the Deacs remained unbeaten in their past 11 matches with the Tigers – a streak which dates back to 2002.

With the result, Wake Forest improves to 1-2-1 and 1-0 in the ACC, immediately jumping into third-place after one conference match. The Deacs will return to the pitch on Wednesday, Sept. 13 against Cleveland State in a 7:00 p.m. kick off.

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