A late try from junior flyhalf Ben Cohen allowed Wake Forest to escape with a 26-21 victory over a young, but well-coached and physical side from University of Mary Washington on a windy Saturday in Fredricksburg, VA.
Wake Forest started out the game in dominant fashion, racing out to a 14-0 lead behind converted tries from sophomore scrumhalf Johnny McMurray and senior #8 Hunter Lostan. But mental mistakes and an inability to stop the powerful Mary Washington forwards saw the Demon Deacons actually trailing 21-14 midway through the second half. A try from junior wing Brandon Turner in the corner brought Wake to within 2. The final ten minutes were played inside Wake's attacking third, and finally, with five minutes remaining, Cohen spotted a gap in the UMW backline, chipped through and gathered in the ball to go in untouched under the posts to give Wake the lead and ultimately the win.
Coach Kane said of the match, "Mary Washington was very physical, and we have a tendency to struggle against those types of teams. They attacked well with their forwards off the fringes of the breakdown, and we didn't defend well. After the first 20 minutes, when we were dictating style of play, they started asserting their style and we never got comfortable in our attacking pattern again. We will look at the video and see what we can fix before our ACRL opener in Clemson on Friday."
Wake Forest Varsity Lineup vs UMW
1. Ty Pierce, So.
2. Jeff Millar, Jr.
3. Nick Conte, Jr.
4. Ross Hilton, Sr. (Matt McCurdy, Fr. @ 60)
5. Christian Jewett, Sr.
6. Drew Mehrmann, So. (Liam McIntyre, Fr. @ 40)
7. Brendan Shea, Jr.
8. Hunter Lostan, Sr.
9. Johnny McMurray, So.
10. Ben Cohen, Jr.
11. Drew Chadwick, Sr.
12. Jim Kavalec, So. (Franco Cima, Fr. @ 40, James Watson, Fr. @ 50)
13. Ryan Tacon, Fr.
14. Brandon Turner, Jr.
15. Robert Kelley, So. (Will Hank, Jr. @ 65)
Tries: McMurray, Lostan, Turner, Cohen
Conv. McMurray (3)
The JV match featured even more of an exciting finish than the varsity match, with freshman Drew Ammons scoring a try in the corner in sudden death overtime to give Wake Forest a 36-31 win. UMW's JV side had scored a converted try on the last play of regulation to tie the game at 31 apiece, and the teams agreed to play it out in overtime. Wake Forest had two tries from freshman Ammons, as well as tries from freshmen Liam McIntyre, James Watson, and Alex Rosell. Freshman wing Sean Barrett hit 3 of 5 conversions.
Wake Forest plays Clemson on the road on Friday night in the first ever ACRL game for both teams.
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