WILMINGTON, North Carolina -Freshmen Rachel Nuzzolese and Katie Stengel tallied a goal and an assist apiece in their collegiate debuts to lead No. 10 Wake Forest to a 4-0 victory over UNCW Friday in collegiate women's soccer action at the UNCW Soccer Stadium. The contest served as the season opener for both programs.
"This was a great test tonight against a very dangerous Wake Forest team," said UNCW Head Coach Paul Cairney. "They have many quality players who were able to take advantage of the chances they earned and we were not able to do the same."
Demon Deacons junior Jordan Feger opened the scoring at the 26:14 mark as she was able to punch home a cross from Stengel .
Nuzzolese doubled the Demon Deacons advantage to 2-0 in the 55th minute as she took a feed from sophomore Jackie Logue at the box of the box and placed a shot past Seahawks junior keeper Chandler Follett.
Stengel made it 3-0 at the 61:09 mark when it bent a free kick from just outside the box on the left side into the right side panel of the net.
Senior Casey Luckhurst closed out the scoring in the 73rd minute when she put home a rebound that was created when Nuzzolese's shot from 20 yards out found the crossbar.
UNCW had an its best opportunity to get on the board in 20th minute as junior Erin Pardini rang a shot off the crossbar The Seahawks also had a pair of goals disallowed during the contest due to a foul and an offside player, respectively.
"I was pleased with our team's effort and our ability to create chances," said Cairney. "In previous contests with Wake Forest, we did not create a lot of opportunities but tonight I felt we could have scored multiple goals. Our team battled hard and stayed together under an oftentimes relentless attack. We must now focus on getting better from this experience and win the next game."
Wake Forest held a 25-7 advantage in shots and enjoyed an 8-3 edge in corner kicks taken. Demon Deacons freshman keeper Aubrey Bledsoe made four saves to record the shutout in her collegiate debut while Follett finished the contest with eight stops.
UNCW returns to action Sunday as they travel to Davidson for a 2 p.m. matinee at Alumni Stadium. Wake Forst is back on the pitch Monday with a 7 p.m. start in their home opener against UNC Greensboro.
