Wake Forest Secures 1-0 Victory Over Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Wake Forest didn’t just survive its Ohio road swing. It slammed the door on it.

A bruising, set-piece heavy night at Cochrane Stadium ended with a hard-earned 1-0 win over Bowling Green on Monday, built on a single moment of quality from Chandler Young and 45 minutes of stubborn, backs-to-the-wall defending.

Young strikes, finally

For 42 minutes, Wake Forest owned the ball but had nothing to show for it.

They pushed Bowling Green back, stacked up corners, and probed around the box. Seven shots, four corners, plenty of territory. No breakthrough.

Then the move came.

Mason Sullivan, again trusted to go the full 90, drove a low ball forward. At the edge of the box, Marcos Miranda – still chasing his first major attacking imprint at this level – supplied the key touch, redirecting it neatly into Young’s path. Young didn’t hesitate. One composed finish, and Wake Forest had the 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute.

For Young, it was his first goal of the season. For Miranda, his first assist in NCAA Division I. For Sullivan, his first career assist and another complete-game shift, his third straight match without a minute’s rest.

The timing could not have been better. Wake Forest had dictated the half; the goal finally gave the performance a scoreline to match.

Falcons turn up the heat

The second half flipped the script.

Bowling Green came out with purpose and edge, throwing bodies forward and turning the match into a siege. The Falcons unleashed 14 shots after the break, finishing with 19 on the night, and hammered Wake Forest with long throws and corners.

Set pieces poured into the box. The Demon Deacons dealt with them, one after another.

Behind them, redshirt junior goalkeeper Jonah Mednard refused to bend. He faced six shots on target and stopped them all, including tough second-half saves on Lucas Brinkman and Luciano Perez-Cernuda. His handling was clean, his positioning sharp, his presence calming.

By the final whistle, Mednard had his second clean sheet in three games and the fifth solo shutout of his career, pushing his career save total to 63. It also stood as Wake Forest’s first road clean sheet since a 0-0 draw at Duke on Oct. 12, 2024.

In front of him, the starting back four of Daniel Krueger, Sullivan, Ronnie Garcia and Travis Smith Jr. absorbed wave after wave, with crucial second-half minutes from substitutes Will Kuisel, Copeland Berkley and Lorenze Currie to help close it out.

They had to. Bowling Green’s threat on restarts and long throws never relented.

Bending, not breaking

The numbers told the story of the pressure.

Bowling Green finished with 19 shots, six on frame, and six corners. Wake Forest ended with 12 shots, five on target, five corners and a slight edge in possession at 53 percent. But the second half was about resilience more than rhythm.

Mednard made four of his six saves after the interval. The backline cleared, blocked and contested everything in the air. Wake Forest still found room to punch back, with Young, Kuisel and Roald Mitchell Reid each getting second-half looks, but the final 45 minutes were about managing the storm.

The Deacons did just enough. They held their line, defended deep when needed, and saw out the club’s first non-conference road victory since a 4-1 win at UNCW on Oct. 15, 2024.

On the heels of Friday’s draining 1-0 loss at No. 10 Akron – a match they kept scoreless for more than 83 minutes – this was the response head coach Bobby Muuss wanted. A clean sheet, a road win, and a team willing to adjust on a difficult surface against a direct, set-piece-heavy opponent.

Man of the Match: Mednard

There was no debate.

Mednard’s six-save shutout, anchored by those four second-half stops under heavy pressure, protected the 1-0 lead and locked in his fifth career solo clean sheet. His performance earned him Man of the Match honors, joining captain Jeffrey White and David Nguema (twice) as Wake Forest players recognized with the award this season.

On a night dominated by long throws, corners and chaos in the box, the goalkeeper’s calm was the difference.

Back to Spry, and straight into ACC play

The Ohio trip ends with a split: a narrow loss at Akron, a gritty win at Bowling Green. More importantly for Wake Forest, it ends with momentum.

Next comes a different kind of test.

The Demon Deacons return to Spry Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5, welcoming Duke for the first ACC match of the season. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., with the game streaming on ACCNX.

A clean sheet on the road in hostile conditions. Duke at home under the lights up next.

Now we find out how far this response can carry them into conference play.