2023 Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's soccer team

The 2023 Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's soccer team represented Wake Forest University during the 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer season. The Demon Deacons were led by head coach Tony Da Luz, in his twenty-seventh season. They played their home games at Spry Stadium. This was the team's 29th season playing organized women's college soccer, all of which have been played in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

2023 Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's soccer
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	10–3–5 (4–2–4 ACC)
Head coach	Tony Da Luz (27th season)
Assistant coaches	Brittany Cameron (4th season) Courtney Drummond (2nd season)
Home stadium	Spry Stadium
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 ACC women's soccer standings

v t e	Conf									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
No. 1 Florida State  ‍†‍‡‍^y	9	–	0	–	1		.950			22	–	0	–	1		.978
No. 16 Notre Dame  ‍‍‍^y	7	–	1	–	2		.800			12	–	4	–	4		.700
No. 3 Clemson  ‍‍‍^y	7	–	2	–	1		.750			18	–	4	–	4		.769
No. 8 North Carolina  ‍‍‍^y	5	–	0	–	5		.750			13	–	2	–	8		.739
No. 6 Pittsburgh  ‍‍‍^y	6	–	3	–	1		.650			17	–	6	–	1		.729
Wake Forest  ‍‍‍	4	–	2	–	4		.600			10	–	3	–	5		.694
Virginia  ‍‍‍	3	–	3	–	4		.500			8	–	3	–	6		.647
Virginia Tech  ‍‍‍	4	–	6	–	0		.400			7	–	8	–	3		.472
Louisville  ‍‍‍	3	–	5	–	2		.400			4	–	9	–	5		.361
Duke  ‍‍‍	2	–	5	–	3		.350			6	–	7	–	3		.469
NC State  ‍‍‍	2	–	5	–	3		.350			3	–	9	–	6		.333
Miami (FL)  ‍‍‍	2	–	7	–	1		.250			3	–	10	–	4		.294
Boston College  ‍‍‍	0	–	6	–	4		.200			3	–	9	–	6		.333
Syracuse  ‍‍‍	0	–	9	–	1		.050			2	–	14	–	2		.167
† – Conference champion ‡ – 2023 ACC Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament Source: The ACC As of December 5, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll

The Demon Deacons started the season well, winning their opening match versus Appalachian State. However, they only managed to tie their next game with Army. That tie would be the only blemish on their non-conference record. Their final record of 6–0–1 included wins over two Power 5 teams. Their ACC season started with a loss to a ranked Notre Dame, a tie, and a win against 22nd ranked Virginia. This earned them a spot in the rankings at number 25. After winning their next game, they moved up to number 17. However, they then hit a rough patch drawing three of the next four games and losing the other game to Pittsburgh. The loss saw them fall out of the rankings. They finished the season with two wins.

The Demon Deacons finished the season 10–2–5 overall and 4–2–4 in ACC ACC play to finish in sixth place. They qualified for the ACC Tournament, and lost in the First Round to Clemson. They were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.

Previous season

Main article: 2022 Wake Forest Demon Deacons women's soccer team

The Demon Deacons finished the season 9–7–3 overall and 3–6–1 in ACC ACC play to finish in ninth place. They were not invited to the ACC Tournament, but did receive an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament. As an unseeded team in the Alabama Bracket, they had a First Round match at South Carolina, which they lost 2–0 to end their season.

Offseason

Departures

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Kaitlyn Parks	1	GK	5'7"	Senior	Upper Marlboro, Maryland	Graduated
Giovanna DeMarco	3	MF	5'7"	Graduate Student	Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania	Graduated; drafted 45th overall in the 2023 NWSL Draft
Courtney Evans	5	DF	—	Freshman	Springfield, Virginia	—
Madeline Allburn	6	MF	5'8"	Junior	Ashburn, Virginia	Graduated
Brooke Potter	15	FW	5'5"	Freshman	Williamsburg, Virginia	Transferred to James Madison
Lyndon Wood	19	MF	5'9"	Senior	Raleigh, North Carolina	Graduated
Aisha Polk	36	MF	—	Freshman	Dallas, Texas	—
Chidubem Dike	99	FW	5'7"	Freshman	Greenville, South Carolina	Transferred to South Carolina

Incoming Transfers

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Emily Murphy	35	FW	5'6"	Junior	Windsor, England	North Carolina

Recruiting Class

Name	Nationality	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Valentina Amaral GK		Oviedo, Florida	Florida Kraze	^[1]
Sarah Brown MF		Winter Park, Florida	Orlando City (ECNL)	^[2]
Mary Jane Osborne MF		Los Altos Hills, California	Mountain View Los Altos SC	^[3]
Sierra Sythe FW		Long Beach, California	Beach FC (CA)	^[4]
Samantha Wiemann DF		San Diego, California	San Diego Surf	^[5]

Squad

Roster

As of November 28, 2023 ^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 00 GK   USA Madison Howard 1 GK   USA Valentina Amaral 2 MF   USA Reese Kim 4 MF   CAN Nikayla Small 5 DF   USA MJ Osborne 6 MF   USA Dempsey Brown 7 DF   ISL Kristin Johnson 8 MF   USA Kristi Vierra 9 MF   USA Caiya Hanks 10 MF   ENG Malaika Meena 11 FW   USA Liv Stowell 13 MF   USA Emily Morris 14 FW   USA Carrie McIntire 15 DF   USA Sammi Wiemann 16 FW   USA Alex Wood 17 DF   USA Tyla Ochoa 18 DF   USA Kate Dobsch 19 FW   USA Sierra Sythe

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW   USA Hannah Johnson 21 MF   USA Baylor Goldthwaite 22 DF   USA Sasha Schwartz 23 DF   USA Allie Schmidt 24 DF   USA Zara Chavoshi 25 MF   USA Sophie Faircloth 26 DF   USA Taryn Chance 27 DF   USA Nadia DeMarinis 28 MF   USA Carly Wilson 29 DF   USA Olivia DeMarinis 30 MF   USA Anna Swanson 31 MF   USA Olivia Duvall 32 MF   USA Emily Silva 33 DF   USA Abbie Colton 34 DF   USA Laurel Ansbrow 35 FW   ENG Emily Murphy 39 DF   USA Laine Denatale 88 GK   USA Peyton Cahill

Team management

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Tony Da Luz
Associate Head Coach	Brittany Cameron
Assistant Coach	Courtney Drummond

Source:^[6]

Schedule

Source:^[7][8]

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site City, State
Non-Conference Regular Season
August 17* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		Appalachian State	W 1–0	1–0–0	Spry Stadium (751) Winston-Salem, NC
August 20* 12:00 p.m., ACCNX		Army	T 1–1	1–0–1	Spry Stadium (689) Winston-Salem, NC
August 24* 1:00 p.m., ACCNX		Idaho State	W 3–0	2–0–1	Spry Stadium (484) Winston-Salem, NC
August 27* 1:00 p.m., BTN+		at Purdue	W 2–0	3–0–1	Folk Field (581) West Lafayette, IN
August 31* 6:30 p.m., SECN+		at Auburn	W 2–0	4–0–1	Auburn Soccer Complex (780) Auburn, AL
September 3* 1:00 p.m., ACCNX		Iona	W 6–0	5–0–1	Spry Stadium (748) Winston-Salem, NC
September 7* 7:00 p.m.		at Rhode Island	W 3–1	6–0–1	URI Soccer Complex (75) Kingston, RI
September 10* 12:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Brown	Canceled^[9]		Stevenson Field Providence, RI
ACC Regular Season
September 15 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at No. 13 Notre Dame	L 1–3	6–1–1 (0–0–1)	Alumni Stadium (1,372) Notre Dame, IN
September 21 8:00 p.m., ACCNX		NC State	T 1–1	6–1–2 (0–1–1)	Spry Stadium (762) Winston-Salem, NC
September 24 2:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 22 Virginia	W 2–0	7–1–2 (1–1–1)	Spry Stadium (710) Winston-Salem, NC
September 29 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 25	at Virginia Tech	W 2–0	8–1–2 (2–1–1)	Thompson Field (1,107) Blacksburg, VA
October 5 6:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 17	at Syracuse	T 2–2	8–1–3 (2–1–2)	SU Soccer Stadium (153) Syracuse, NY
October 8 1:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 17	at Pittsburgh	L 1–4	8–2–3 (2–2–2)	Ambrose Urbanic Field (545) Pittsburgh, PA
October 13 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 3 North Carolina	T 1–1	8–2–4 (2–2–3)	Spry Stadium (1,280) Winston-Salem, NC
October 19 6:00 p.m., ACCN		Boston College	T 1–1	8–2–5 (2–2–4)	Spry Stadium (606) Winston-Salem, NC
October 22 12:30 p.m., ACCNX		Louisville	W 1–0	9–2–5 (3–2–4)	Spry Stadium (620) Winston-Salem, NC
October 26 6:00 p.m., ACCN		at Miami (FL)	W 2–0	10–2–5 (4–2–4)	Cobb Stadium (196) Coral Gables, FL
ACC Tournament
October 29 6:00 p.m., ACCN	(6)	at (3) No. 8 Clemson First Round	L 0–1	10–3–5	Riggs Field (795) Clemson, SC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Laurel Ansbrow	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	October 3	^[10]
Caiya Hanks	All-ACC Second Team	November 1	^[11]
Dempsey Brown	All-ACC Freshman Team

Rankings

Main article: 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer^[12]	—	—	—	RV	RV	—	25	17	—	RV	RV	25	Not released				—
TopDrawer Soccer^[13]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	25	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

References

1. "Valentina Amaral". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
2. "Sarah Brown". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
3. "Mary Jane Osborne". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
4. "Sierra Sythe". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
5. "Samantha Wiemann". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
6. "2023 Women's Soccer Roster". godeacs.com. Wake Forest University. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
7. "2023 Women's Soccer Schedule". godeacs.com. Wake Forest University. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
8. "Wake Forest, Coach da Luz Releases 2023 Schedule". godeacs.com. Wake Forest University. April 17, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
9. "Wake Forest Versus Brown Contest Canceled Due to Weather". godeacs.com. Wake Forest Athletics. September 10, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
10. "ACC Announces Women's Soccer Player of the Week Honors". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. October 3, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
11. "2023 All-ACC Women's Soccer Awards Announced". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
12. "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Women — National". unitedsoccercoaches.org. United Soccer Coaches. December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
13. "College Soccer National Rankings". topdrawersoccer.com. TopDrawer Soccer. December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.