
The No. 13 Wake Forest men’s soccer team (5-2-3, 0-2-1 ACC) dropped a home ACC contest to Clemson (5-2-2, 3-0-1 ACC) at Spry Stadium Friday night 4-3.
Final. pic.twitter.com/UVRaLejyP2
— Wake Forest Men's Soccer (@WakeMSoccer) September 27, 2025
Coming off of his first-career hat-trick on Monday night against Liberty, senior Cooper Flax continued his scoring ways into Friday’s match. The midfielder converted from the penalty spot for the third time in two games with the opener in the 13th minute and is now 7-for-8 from the mark over the last two years. After two quick goals from the visitors, in-form forward Tate Lorentz found an equalizer in the 25th minute with a beautiful strike from the edge of the box with assists from Flax and junior Ethan Subachan.
46' | Lock in for the second half on ESPNU now!🔒
🔗: https://t.co/p2AiwY4lZp pic.twitter.com/5jvYGaLWJe
— Wake Forest Men's Soccer (@WakeMSoccer) September 26, 2025
The Tigers led once again in the 30th minute, but Wake Forest responded 10 minutes later by way of a headed goal from defender Daniel Krueger following a set piece on assists from Vlad Walent and Flax. It marked Krueger’s second-career goal and first at Spry Stadium. Of note, Flax has logged four goals and three assists over the last two outings for 11 points. The 2024 All-American now has 16 goals to go along with 15 assists in his career and his 47 points are the most out of all active Wake Forest players. It also marked the first multi-assist game of his career. Meanwhile, Lorentz extended his team lead in goals (six) and overall points (15). The Winston-Salem, N.C.-native is third in the conference in goals and points and is one of just two ACC players with six-or-more goals and three-or-more assists along with Clemson’s Gyan.
A fun first half 📸 pic.twitter.com/NvsD1XLc3P
— Wake Forest Men's Soccer (@WakeMSoccer) September 26, 2025
The Tigers found the winner in the 72nd minute.
"Of course! Who else but Ransford Gyan!?"
What a brilliant goal for @ClemsonMSoccer!!
📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/6bGfkuuaYn— Clemson Athletics (@ClemsonTigers) September 26, 2025
The Demon Deacons have now scored three or more goals in three consecutive matches for the first time since the 2021 season, when the Deacs scored three goals against George Washington (10/12) and Virginia Tech (10/16), and seven against Loyola Maryland (10/19). Wake Forest’s 26 goals this year rank first in the country at the conclusion of Friday’s match with 12 separate Demon Deacons finding the back of the net at least once.
Just how we drew it up 😤
📺 ESPNU https://t.co/Rk5BAtN1Ss pic.twitter.com/wvhrizMNug
— Wake Forest Men's Soccer (@WakeMSoccer) September 26, 2025
From Coach Muuss
“Disappointing result and disappointing performance in front of a great crowd. I said to the guys at halftime that we had a great crowd, and we had a lack of energy. We have to stop leaking goals, especially against good teams. I thought Clemson’s mid-block was really good. We ran out of some ideas. I thought we could have played a little bit more direct. We have to learn from our individual and collective mistakes, myself included.”
He's on another level 📈
📺 ACCNX https://t.co/WDgnyiCHiS pic.twitter.com/VGxiHTVfEV
— Wake Forest Men's Soccer (@WakeMSoccer) September 26, 2025
Up Next
Wake Forest will now have eight days off before it hosts Stanford at Spry Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 4. The match against the Cardinal is slated for 7 p.m. and will be shown live on ACCNX. This will mark the first ACC clash between the two programs and Wake Forest will look to secure its first-ever win against Stanford, with the Cardinal leading the all-time series 5-0-0.
Credit: godeacs.com