Collegiate Times

Wake Forest defender Sarah Winslow battles Tech forward Emily Jukich for the ball. The No. 19 Demon Deacons beat the Hokies, 2-1, Thursday.

The women's soccer team dropped its match against the No. 19 Wake Forest Demon Deacons yesterday evening, 2-1, at Thompson Field. The Hokies fell to 9-7-2 overall and 3-4-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Wake Forest improved to 11-6-0 and 4-5-0 in the conference

Early in the first period, at the 35:29 mark, Emily Jukich gave the Hokies a quick 1-0 lead by rocketing a shot past goalkeeper Laura Morse. It was the 14th goal of the season for the junior from Clifton.

"Jukich has a nose for the goal," said associate head coach, Charles Adair. "She does a great job finding seams. Around the 18-yard box she's great. She's done some very good things for us. We need to maybe get a little bit more support for her in the goal scoring aspect. She's a goal scorer, (and) we're riding that a little bit."

A controversial call 30:37 into the first half deprived Jukich of her second goal, as she was called offsides after putting in a goal inside the box.

"It's frustrating a little bit," Adair said. "Was she involved in the play when the initial ball was played? Maybe. Maybe not. The girl headed it back, (and) the referee did not stick with his initial call ... I think it affected the game, not only for us not scoring, but for the momentum. I thought we had a good first 20-25 minutes. I think that stoppage really affected our momentum in the first half."

The Demon Deacons tied the game up with 25:19 left to go in the first period when Amanda Howell passed it off to Amy Smerdzinski, who fired a shot into the left side of the net past Tech goalkeeper Kristen Carden. It was Smerdzinski's fourth goal of the season for Wake.

"They get forward quickly," Adair said. "They were able to take that opportunity and stick one in the back of the net. It was a good finish. The girl did well to carry it and cut inside ... (but) against good teams, you can't do that."

With 13:04 until halftime, Wake Forest's Bianca D'Agostino got past her defender and fired a shot just wide of the goal. Just over a minute later, Jill Hutchinson broke away from the Tech defense, only to place her shot just wide as well.

At halftime, the Hokies had compiled three shots compared to four shots by Wake Forest.

In the early portion of the second half, Hutchinson sifted through the Tech defense again, making it count this time by scoring a goal in the left side of the net. The goal, which gave the Deacons a one-goal lead, was the ninth goal of the season for the junior from Wayne, Pa.

The Hokies kept their deficit at one with some key plays. Six minutes after the Hutchinson goal, Carden came up with a diving save against Amanda Lebo, who broke free from the Hokie defense. With just over 20 minutes left to go, Wake defenseman Sarah Winslow fired a shot just wide after a penalty kick was awarded.

However, Tech could not break through with the equalizer. Hokies forward Laurie Beth Puglisi headed a shot at the net that was saved by Morse.

"I think Puglisi had a great header," Adair said. "Their goalkeeper made a very good save off of (the header). I thought we could have put a bit more pressure from our frontrunners in the last 20-25 minutes and got a little bit more from them, but we didn't, and that's the way the game went."

With just two minutes to go, midfielder Jennifer Harvey fired a shot just high of the goal. Wake held on for the final couple of minutes to seal the one-goal victory.

"This one's going to sit in, tonight, a little bit (and) make it tough for us to sleep," Adair said.

Carden, a true freshman, played the entire game in goal for Tech. She had three saves off of the 11 shots from the Demon Deacons. Her Wakeforest counterpart, Morse, had two saves off of seven shots from the Hokies.

"I think our defense played really well today. It was just the giveaways that we had at midfield and the counterattack (by them)," Adair said.

Tech's next game will be this Sunday at 2 p.m., as they host Duke. The No. 11 Blue Devils will travel to Thompson Field for the Hokies' Senior Day.