Winston-Salem, N.C. – The Cleveland State University men's soccer team played a tight affair at nationally ranked Wake Forest Saturday evening, but the Demon Deacons would score the lone goal of the match to hand the Vikings their first setback of the year at a partly cloudy Spry Stadium.
No. 21 Wake Forest, who had the best RPI in Division I last season, scored the game's only goal in the 17th minute and would hold on for the remainder of the contest.
No cards were handed out in the match, which saw open, back-and-forth action by both teams at times. Senior Aleksandar Drobac made seven saves for the Vikings to help keep the guests in the game until the bitter end.
Drobac was called into action in the game's second minute when he made a sprawling save of a header while scrambling back to the near post.
Wake Forest scored the game's lone goal when Brad Dunwell played Alex Knox into free space down the right flank. Knox hit a cross into the box where Jacori Hayes would head the ball into the far corner while falling to the ground.
Cleveland State nearly tied the game fewer than four minutes later when freshman Lawrence Karpeh got on the end of a corner kick and tried to redirect the ball into the net. The Demon Deacons' goaltender was able to make a diving save, and no Viking was able to get on the rebound before a foul was committed.
Junior Hesham Hammouda also looked to have a promising opportunity for CSU in the first half, but he was just unable to settle a bounding ball in time to have a strike on goal.
Drobac kept the Vikings in the match in the 68th minute when he made a diving save to his left after a header was flicked on from a free kick.
CSU had a chance later on in the match to equalize when a dangerous cross was played from near the left sideline, but the resulting header was blocked and then cleared away by Wake Forest.
Freshman Tommy Bielanski made his collegiate debut when he came on as a first-half substitute and played a total of 44 minutes in the match. Junior Kareem Banton made his season debut when he came on in the first half.
Cleveland State will look to get back on track when it hosts Bowling Green Wednesday, Sept. 7.
