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Christina DeNovio, denoca20@wfu.edu Essex ayer, thayse20@wfu.edu
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OLD GOLD & BLACK PAGE 11
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
Photo Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics MBB defeats NC State, loses to Miami
The loss drops Wake Forest to a 10-seed in Joe Lunardi's Bracketology
CHRISTIAN ODJAKJIAN
Staff Writer e action is heating up for the Wake Forest Men’s Basketball team (20-6, 10-5).
After taking care of a reeling North Carolina State (10-16, 3-12) team on the road last Wednesday, Wake Forest came up short against Miami (18-7,10-4) on Saturday.
NC State has been struggling as of late and has lost four in a row as they entered this contest. e Wolfpack came out aggressively and kept the game tight for most of the way. With ve minutes remaining, Wake Forest held onto a small 53-51 lead. en, the beast awakened. e Demon Deacons closed the game on an electrifying 16-0 run to secure a 69-51 victory. e Wolfpack's o ense came to a screeching halt, and Wake Forest was in quite a rhythm themselves on that end of the oor.
“We won by making stops, and we did it by hitting timely shots,” Wake Forest Head Coach Steve Forbes said after the game. e run was initiated by senior guard Daivien Williamson, who drilled a corner three, followed by a tough nish at the rim on a fast break. Soon after, graduate guard Alondes Williams took over the game, setting up his teammates on three consecutive possessions.
One of these assists was quite the highlight: a no-look, lefthanded, underhanded swing pass that took incredible strength and creativity. "Man-Man" delivered the ball from the left wing to the right corner, into the hands of graduate forward Khadim Sy who knocked down a triple.
On the run, the Deacons were nally able to contain NC State sophomore guard Dereon Seabron, who scored 22 points in the game and 17 in the second half. His teammates didn’t help him much at all, scoring a combined six points in the entire second half.
Williams nished the game with 17 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Junior forward Jake LaRavia put together a stat line of six points, seven boards and eight assists. Senior forward Isaiah Mucius added 13, as did Sy.
After back-to-back road wins, Wake Forest returned to the Joel Coliseum to host a Miami team that beat them six weeks ago in Florida. e Hurricanes were able to overcome a double-digit, second-half de cit, coming out on top 76-72.
“I thought Miami came in here and played harder than us and wanted to win more than we did,” Forbes said. “And that ultimately is on me, not getting my guys ready to play in a game like this.”
Turnovers were a huge problem for Wake Forest and served as the engine that fueled Miami’s comeback e ort. Miami gave it away seven times, compared to a lofty 17 for Wake Forest. e Hurricanes were able to score 19 points o of those turnovers, while the Deacons couldn’t generate any takeaways.
“An Achilles heel we have been talking about for a while now is turnovers; it’s a problem,” Forbes said. “ ose 10 secondhalf turnovers killed our o ense”.
Williams carried the team late and put up an impressive stat line, but the turnover cloud continues to loom over him. Williams scored 25 on an e cient 9-15 shooting, but seven turnovers from him is damaging. Miami aggressively hedged and trapped him once he crossed half court with the ball, which led to multiple giveaways.
“We made a concerted e ort during the o season to practice scrambling, getting our guys to pressure the ball, trap the ball, rotate, and hustle,” Miami Head Coach Jim Larranaga said. “Because we lack size. ey are so much bigger than us. ey are taller than us and outweigh us at almost every position.”
Wake Forest does have a signi cant size advantage over Miami, who likes to play with four guards most of the time. e quickness of the smaller Hurricanes allowed them to force turnovers and space the oor, and Wake was not able to fully capitalize on the size mismatches and consistently take and convert on easy looks close to the basket.
Wake Forest was clicking o ensively in the rst half, as six players made at least two eld goals and the team hit seven three-pointers. e Demon Deacons led by seven at the break, but that lead could’ve easily been doubled. Miami’s offense was stagnant, and Wake Forest continuously missed easy shots.
Miami came out and played a much stronger, more connected and more urgent second half in order to secure a very important road win for them.
LaRavia was only able to play 22 minutes because of foul trouble, picking up his fth and nal foul with just over four minutes to play.
Miami’s fantastic guard duo showed up big time on Saturday. Both of them connected on 8-14 eld goal attempts, junior guard Isaiah Wong scored 20 and graduate guard Kameron McGusty had 22. Down the stretch, they scored the last nine points of the game for their team, none bigger than Wong’s tough jumper o the glass with 11 seconds left to play, making it a two-possession game. is was game number one of an upcoming di cult stretch. After taking on Duke in Cameron Indoor, Wake Forest hosts second-place Notre Dame before traveling to play an underperforming but gritty Clemson team.
Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has dropped Wake Forest to a 10 seed in his latest March Madness prediction, but this season is far from over and Coach Forbes made that clear after the loss. "We haven't accomplished anything yet,” Forbes said. “We haven't made the NCAA Tournament yet. We don't know our ACC tournament seed yet. Everything is left to be earned.”
Page 12 | Thursday, February 17, 2022
Old Gold & Black | Sports WBB ends nine-game losing streak
ESSEX THAYER Sports Editor
Following a 78-87 loss at Clemson on Feb. 10 that extended the Wake Forest women’s basketball team’s losing streak to nine, the Demon Deacons ended the streak with a 68-53 victory at home three days later against Virginia.
“It feels great to get back to our winning ways,” said Head Coach Jen Hoover. “It is never easy to win in this league, and I am proud of the way the team played today.”
As per usual, Wake Forest was led by sophomore guard Jewel Spear, who scored 17 points. Junior forward Olivia Summiel and junior forward Niyah Becker added 14 and 11 points respectively.
Following a bucket from senior forward Christina Morra, two scores from Summiel allowed the Demon Deacons to open the game with an early 6-2 lead. e offense on the inside allowed Wake For-
Photo courtesy Wake Forest Athletics
The Demon Deacons celebrate breaking their nine-game losing streak while in their pink “Play4Kay” jerseys. They face off next against N.C. State.
est to then attack from behind the threepoint line. eir next two made shots came from behind that line, opening the Deacons’ lead to six.
By the end of the quarter, Wake Forest had extended their lead to nine. e Demon Deacons shot well in the quarter (67%), while Spear went a perfect 3-of-3 from the eld. Wake Forest also held a 10-7 rebounding advantage.
In the second quarter, the Demon Deacons got a boost o the bench from junior guard Alexandria Scruggs, who hit two shots to give Wake Forest a 2719 lead with ve minutes remaining in the half.
Minutes later, Summiel hit doubledigits, reaching at least 10 points for the fourth time in the last six games. At the 2:51 mark, Spear hit another jumper to maintain a comfortable eight-point advantage for the Deacons. at lead continued to the end of the half, as Wake Forest entered the locker room with a seven-point lead.
“I am proud of how we continue to have double- gure scorers step up,” Hoover said after the game. “It makes us a lot harder to defend when multiple players are scoring the basketball. We did a fantastic job sharing the ball. We will use this as momentum heading into this week and continue to try and build on this.”
At the beginning of the third quarter, Virginia began to cut into the slim Wake Forest lead. Two consecutive baskets brought the Cavaliers within three points. ree minutes later, Virginia took their rst lead of the game until a twopointer by Morra evened the game. en, on the following possession, Morra put Wake Forest back in the lead. e Demon Deacons took that three-point lead into the fourth quarter.
After handling the pressure from Virginia in the third quarter, Wake Forest dominated for the remainder of the game. Scores from Summiel, Scruggs and Spear gave the Demon Deacons their largest lead of the game. From there, Wake Forest iced away the rest of the clock from the free-throw line, allowing them to secure the victory. e victory sends Wake Forest over the .500 mark at 13-12 overall, while moving their ACC record to 3-11, good for No. 12 in the conference. While the victory ends the nine-game losing streak for the Demon Deacons, it came against the last ranked team in the ACC. Virginia has not won a single game in conference.
Wake Forest faces a far tougher opponent on ursday when they travel to one of the best teams in the nation, No. 5 NC State.
Contact Essex Thayer at thayse20@wfu.edu
Baseball looks to shock the nation
ESSEX THAYER Sports Editor
In 2021, there were hopes that Wake Forest baseball would return to the mountaintop of college baseball — a return to Omaha for the College World Series. It was supposed to be “their year,” in response to the turmoil of a lost season in 2020.
Unfortunately for Wake Forest, the season never lived up to the hype. e Deacons nished with a 20-27 overall record while going 10-22 in the ACC, good for second to last in the conference.
But now, a new season is upon Wake Forest, and the hope is reignited for a run in the ACC and a return to the NCAA Tournament for the rst time since 2017. A return to the College World Series in Omaha would be the Demon Deacons’ rst since 1955, when they brought home their only national title.
With every new season comes projections. ere is ample talent coming back to the Demon Deacons, but much of it is young talent. With that in mind, Wake Forest was picked to nish sixth of seven in its division of the ACC.
Redshirt sophomore Eric Adler explained that the team relishes being the underdog.
“What’s really impressive about this team is [that] we don’t talk about rankings,” Adler said. “Last year, [we were] supposed to be No. 17, all this and all that. And we just weren’t. Personally, I’m glad we aren’t ranked and seen as a team that can only go up from last year. I think that we have the skills to get the job done.”
Overall, 20 players return to the Demon Deacons for another season, with that number being evenly split between pitchers and eld players. Wake Forest is bolstered by two returning starting pitchers — sophomore Rhett Lowder and redshirt sophomore Reed Mascolo. Lowder went 4-2 in 2021 with a 6.12 ERA. Despite winning one less game (3-2), Mascolo had a signi cantly better ERA (4.37). Potentially beating out Mascolo to start though, according to Head Coach Tom Walter, could be sophomore Teddy McGraw, who threw a 4.42 ERA in 18.1 relief innings in 2021.
Returning to the Wake Forest pitching sta are eight pitchers who did not start last year. at group is headlined by Adler, who, as the team’s closer, threw a 2.00 ERA with 24 strikeouts. Adler has been recognized as a preseason third-team AllAmerican by Baseball America.
Other notable relief pitchers on the sta include sophomore Camden Minacci (5.13 ERA in 26.1 innings), redshirt junior Brennan Oxford (5.40 ERA in 25 innings) and sophomore Crawford Wade (9.94 ERA in 17 innings). Seth Keener, a sophomore who struggled with a 9.93 ERA last season, has been tabbed by Walter as the likely midweek starter.
Four starting eld players return to the Demon Deacons, fueling a need to ll half of the eld with those who were previous bench players. Sophomore Brock Wilkin brings the biggest bat in Wake Forest’s lineup, hitting 17 home runs and batting in 44 runs last season. Redshirt junior shortstop Michael Turconi returns with the best batting average on the team (.292). Sophomore Lucas Costello is back in center eld following a ve home run, 31 RBI and .279 batting average campaign in 2021. Lastly, redshirt sophomore Pierce Bennett returns as a utility player after hitting one home run last year.
Likely returning players to start in the eld this year include redshirt junior catcher Brandon Tinsman, who hit four home runs and 12 RBIs in 2021. Redshirt sophomore Adam Cecere, who also hit four home runs last season, tallied 15 RBIs.
Along with the returning players, there is much excitement surrounding the newest members of the team — the freshmen. Highlighting the newest class is pitcher Josh Hartle, the No. 25 recruit in the country and the No. 2 player from North Carolina. As the North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year, Hartle was also ranked the 34th-best prospect in the 2021 MLB Draft.
Hartle’s personality masks the fact that he is one of the best prospects in all of baseball.
“He’s a great pitcher, everybody knows that,” Adler said. “He’s the kind of guy that, if you didn’t know he was Josh Hartle, you would talk to him, and you would have no idea how good he is. He’s the most down-to-earth guy. He really wants the best for his team, he works his butt o every day just like us.”
Other notable freshmen include in elder Danny Corona, from the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN, who chose Wake Forest over powerhouses like Vanderbilt, Stanford and Tennessee. As the No. 161 recruit in the nation, he was selected in the 16th Round by the Pittsburgh Pirates but chose not to sign. Walter has tabbed him to start at second base. Troy McGirt was rated the No. 1 rst baseman in North Carolina, and could be the answer to replace the drafted Seymour. Gio Cueto, the No. 8 catcher from Florida, has a chance to secure some playing time at catcher. Lastly, Tommy Hawke, the No. 16 recruit from North Carolina, attended the same school as Hartle, where they both won a state championship.
One last freshman’s skill has caught the eye of Wilkin — Nick Kurtz.
“ at guy is unreal,” Wilkin said. “His exit velocities are 104 plus [miles per hour]. He’s honestly one of the best hitters. He’s probably one of our better rst basemen as well. He’s one of the best freshmen in that class for sure.”
With the talent on the roster from newcomers to returners, there is much to be excited about for the 2022 Demon Deacons. ey are underrated with a chip on their shoulder and have everything to prove.
“Our potential is limitless,” said Lowder. “We said that in past years, like last year, we had a really good sta . We’ve all had the stu . We’ve always had the stu . [But] we never quite knew how to utilize it on game day. I think a lot more practice on that this year is going to be big-time.” e Demon Deacons will have a chance to realize their limitless potential when their season begins at home against Lafayette on Feb. 18.
CHRISTINA DENOVIO Sports Editor
Junior mid elder Nat Friedman and sophomore defender Lee Ann Gordon have both been selected to 2022 USA Field Hockey National Teams. ey received this honor after a four-day selection camp at Queens University of Charlotte. Friedman was one of eight selections to the 2022 USA Field Hockey Development team, while Gordon was named to the 2022 U.S. U-21 Women’s National Team.
Both Demon Deacons have impressive resumés in both their high school and college careers. Last summer, the pair also played for Team USA. Friedman was named a member of the USA Field Hockey Women’s Junior Pan American Championship (JPAC) Training Squad and the U-22 Women’s National Team, which competed against Chile. Gordon was added to the USA Field Hockey U-21 Development Selection Camp Roster. Friedman and Gordon look forward to representing both their university and their country, marking a strong start to the 2022 calendar year.
Christina DeNovio: How did you get into eld hockey? Did you play other sports growing up?
Nat Friedman: Actually, my mom played eld hockey at William & Mary. I started playing at a pretty young age, maybe rst grade. I also played other sports. I played soccer, lacrosse and track and eld, but eld hockey was always the main sport that I focused on because I felt the most dominant in that area, I’ve stuck with it ever since.
Lee Ann Gordon: Field hockey was actually the last sport I started playing. My grade school got a team when I was in fth grade, so I started playing then. Before that, I played volleyball, basketball, softball and a little bit of soccer. I tried everything. I always knew that I loved sports growing up. When I started playing eld hockey, I loved it.
CD: You both had very successful high school careers. What made you decide to come to Wake Forest?
NF: I started looking at Wake Forest in early high school. I came to do a camp here and fell in love with the campus, fell in love with the coaching. Obviously, academics are unbeatable here. And I think I knew as soon as I toured that this was where I was gonna go. And all the other schools that I visited just didn’t compare to here. I knew it was the perfect t. LAG: It was a similar experience for me. I’m from Louisville, and a lot of the top players go to that school. So, I really thought that I wanted to go there to be honest. But, I kept my options open and looked at a lot of di erent schools. I visited Wake Forest, and I immediately loved it from my rst visit. I got in the car with my mom, and I told her “this is where I want to go,” and that was that.
CD: Can you explain what led you to the national team?
to get to the national team is called “Futures.” It’s kind of like an Olympic pipeline — they take and you get selected at various levels up to the top.
During my experience, I would make it a decent way through, but I would always end up getting to the last camp and getting cut for the national team. is is the rst time I’ve actually ever been named to a national team, so that was pretty big for me.
I’m really excited about it. And so I guess it just shows that being in college and getting experience and great coaching really has developed my game to the point where I’m able to make a national team now. LAG: I was a part of the junior national teams when I was in high school. I had the really cool experience of traveling to Germany with the U-18 national team, which was really awesome. Field hockey in Louisville was just getting o the ground as I was growing up.
Our age group kind of paved the way for eld hockey in that area. It was really awesome to have that experience and get to play at that level. I was on the teams throughout high school, and then was reselected once I got here. As Nat said, the coaching sta and having the top playing experience around us have enabled us to stay at that level and continue to be selected.
CD: What kind of feelings did you experience during that process and when you found out that you had been chosen to represent your country at the highest level?
NF: e camp was de nitely di cult. It was a long four days, and the competition there was just really intense too. I felt really well-prepared going into the camp. As Lee Ann said, the coaching sta does a really good job of making sure that we keep our level up. It was really ful lling to nd out that we got selected. As I said before, that was my rst time actually being named to a legit team. I was named to the Junior World Cup team earlier this year and you’re supposed to go back in December, but that ended up getting postponed because of COVID-19. So I’m still looking for that selection coming out — they’re reevaluating teams for April. I’m hoping to make that one. LAG: As Nat said, the coaching sta really prepared us to perform at this camp. Our strength and conditioning coaches have been working with us on tness, and that’s a big part in the USA performance — they really want their athletes to be t. And that has been a big factor in our performance as well at the camp. I felt like Nat and I both performed well, and it was really awesome to have the experience of getting selected. I’m looking forward to what’s to come with the training.
CD: What are you most looking forward to as a member of the national team?
NF: I think I’m just looking forward to being able to grow my game even more. ere’s a di erent kind of intensity of play going from high school to college and then from college to the international level because everything is just that much quicker. I think being able to get this experience at the international level will just be bene cial, even in college, because we’ll be able to use new skills and bring them back to the team and just grow our overall game. LAG: I think there are a lot of di erent concepts that you learn about from playing di erent countries. We’ll do drills that mimic other international playing styles. I think you learn a lot by playing with other people. I think that these drills will really help us grow our game and bring success back to Wake Forest. I also really look forward to the relationships that we build at the camps and getting to know players from other colleges as well as di erent coaches. e eld hockey community is pretty small, and it’s really cool to be able to have that support system around you.
CD: What are you most looking forward to for the Wake Forest Spring 2022 season?
NF: We have a pretty young team. We’re losing a lot of our older players, so I think it’s been really interesting seeing a lot of people step up into new positions at practice and really kind of getting into their own, especially the freshman class. Everyone is kind of coming out into their own style. I’m really excited to see how we do in these scrimmages and get some people in new positions that haven’t been in before the game. LAG: I agree with Nat. We’re losing several seniors, and we have some injuries on the team right now as well. I think it’s just really cool to see di erent people stepping up. Everyone’s working really hard right now. We just had a good week of practice and I’m just looking forward to the progress that we’re going to make throughout the spring.
CD: What are your favorite parts of being on the team at Wake Forest?
NF: All the girls are basically my best friends. I think it’s just really fun every day to come out and to be able to play with your best group of girl friends. I think that just gives me motivation to come out every day, even though it may be hard sometimes. I love having all my friends around me all the time. LAG: We kind of joke about how we all come from di erent parts of the world. It’s so crazy how none of us would know each other if it weren’t for our sport. And now we’re here and we’re all so close. Although we had no idea who each other was right before we came, we’re all best friends now. So I think that that would be one of my favorite parts of playing eld hockey as well. Editor’s note: is interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.
Thursday, February 17, 2022 | Page 13 Friedman & Gordon
Deacon “Sportlight
Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics
