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NCAA Division I Men's Tournament Bracket NCAA Division I Men's Conference Tournament Scoreboard
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NCAA men Smith's late tally sends UNCG to 2-1 decision over Wake Forest.
Fifteen seconds after 16th-ranked Wake Forest had tied the match, Smith scored to give No. 18 North Carolina-Greensboro a 2-1 non-conference victory before 1,810 at Wake's Spry Stadium tonight. UNC-G (5-0-1) snapped a five-game losing streak to the Demon Deacons (3-2-1) who dropped their second straight game. The Spartans, who defeated an Atlantic Coast Conference foe for the third time this season, won at Wake for the first time since 1989. WFU dropped consecutive matches at Spry Stadium for the first time since the 1997 season. "It was a great win for us," UNCG coach Michael Parker said. "Our team's effort was outstanding tonight, especially our defense. Jay Benfield was excellent for us tonight in goal." Spartans junior forward Egill Atlason started the decisive sequence with a header from 20 yards out that found Smith streaking just inside the penalty area. Smith, who had entered the contest only moments earlier, controlled the pass, shook off a defender and scored for the 2-1 lead at 78:59. Wake had tied matters at 1-1 15 second earlier when sophomore midfielder Ryan Solle and senior forward Stephen Keel combined to find senior striker Scott Sealy alone in the penalty area. Sealy tucked his sixth goal of the season under junior goalkeeper Jay Benfield. UNCG went ahead 1-0 when sophomore midfielder Scott Jones took a feed from senior midfielder James Goodman just outside the box. Jones overpowered a defender to record his first tally of the season from 10 yards out with 6:34 elapsed. The goal for Jones was his first of the season. Wake had an edge in possession in the match and outshot the Spartans 14-7, 9-2 after intermission. The Deacons forced 15 corner kicks, while UNCG earned only three. |
