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'We feel blessed.' No. 4 Wake Forest punches ticket to sixth NCAA College Cup

The Demon Deacons defeated UC Santa Barbara, 1-0, to clinch a spot in the NCAA semifinals in Cary.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- No. 4 Wake Forest punched its ticket into the NCAA College Cup for the sixth time in program history, defeating UC Santa Barbara in the NCAA quarterfinals, 1-0, at Spry Stadium on Saturday night.

The Demon Deacons (16-4-4) will take on top-seeded Virginia in the College Cup semifinals on Friday, Dec. 13.

Alistair Johnston scored the game-winning goal for the Deacs in the 44th minute, dribbling through four defenders and beating the UCSB keeper near post.

Postgame Interview With Wake Forest's Alistair Johnston

In between the posts, Andrew Pannenberg stopped all four shots on goal he faced to preserve his ninth shutout of the season.

"The bottom line is that we needed to survive. We talked all week about fighting to play football, fighting to play soccer, fighting to play our game," head coach Bobby Muuss said. "I think the guys did that for some periods of time. I don't think anyone was really overly excited about the performance, but we said it's a results-oriented business at this point...I'm extremely proud of the way they managed the last five minutes of the game. The moral of the story is that one of our goals is checked: we wanted to go back to the College Cup and we earned the opportunity to do that."

Wake Forest previously reached the College Cup in 2016, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006, winning the title in 2007. The Deacs are 2-1 in the College Cup in Cary, winning games over Virginia Tech and Ohio State during the 2007 title run and falling to UVA in the 2009 semifinal.

Muuss improves to 12-4 in the NCAA Championship as Wake Forest head coach. It will be his second trip to the College Cup, also guiding the Deacs there in 2016.  

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