Wake Forest fell to East Carolina 31-7 on Saturday evening in a match that had many positives, but demonstrated that Wake still must improve considerably in order to be successful at the Division II level. An unfocused Wake side gave up converted tries within the first minute of both halves, and despite dominating both possession and territory for much of the match, lacked continuity on offense and managed only a penalty try on the night. Wake's forwards were extremely young and inexperienced (3 freshmen and 3 sophomores) and while they showed tremendous promise by matching the bigger ECU pack physically, they lacked a comprehensive knowledge of Wake's preferred pattern of play and as a result Wake could not string together anything in the way of phase play. The young forwards were not helped any by a very indecisive performance from sophomore scrumhalf Steve Schneider, whose inexperience was also on display against ECU. Wake will get an opportunity to redeem itself against East Carolina in the NCRU tournament at the end of October. By that point the youthful Wake team will have gained valuable on-field experience which will hopefully translate into a different result on the scoreboard.
The Wake B-side defeated ECU's second side 10-5. Sophomore flyhalf JD Harrison accounted for all of Wake's scoring, notching a try, conversion, and penalty, while leading the team superbly both offensively and defensively. Wake's defense was fantastic, with first year backline players Dan Sherman, Dante Merlino, and David Sage combining with freshman forwards Andrew Konopitski and Hunter Lostan to bottle up ECU's offense.
Wake will next be in action next weekend in Farmville, VA where they will take on Longwood University, one of last year's Division III Final Four participants.
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