Boston College is heading south for a familiar ACC test, opening tournament play Wednesday night against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. The Eagles enter as the No. 14 seed and will face the third-seeded Demon Deacons at 6:00 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
BC arrives with a bit of momentum after finishing the regular season with a 5-1 win over AIC. Dylan Mafong delivered the first hat trick of his career in that match, while Alexi Karalis and Charlie Pons each scored their first career goals. Christian Bejar, Jayson Quintanilla, Henry Wassarman, and Andres Siso all picked up assists, and Leo Seidel made his first career start in goal, finishing with three saves.
The Eagles closed the regular season at 6-6-3 overall and 1-6-1 in ACC play. Mafong has been the team’s top scorer, finishing with seven goals and 18 points to go with four assists, which he shares with Bryan Toro for the team lead. In net, Andrej Borak started 14 games and posted a 1.79 goals-against average, a .662 save percentage, and two shutouts.
Wake Forest comes in at 11-4-2 overall and 5-3 in the ACC after falling 2-1 to third-ranked Clemson in its regular-season finale. Tate Lorentz leads the Demon Deacons with five goals and 14 points, while Jeffrey White tops the team with five assists. Wake Forest has used two goalkeepers this season: Jonah Mednard started the first eight games and went 5-2-1 with a 1.05 goals-against average, a .784 save percentage, and two shutouts, while Owen Barnett started the last nine and is 6-2-1 with a 0.81 goals-against average, a .800 save percentage, and three shutouts.
This will be the 23rd meeting between the programs. Wake Forest leads the series 13-7-1 and is 8-1-1 all-time at home against BC.
The teams already met once this season, with Wake Forest taking a 2-1 win on Oct. 9.
Toro scored Boston College’s lone goal in the 88th minute off an assist from Jack Burkhardt, and Borak made two saves in the defeat.
The ACC tournament history between the schools is split, with each side winning once in their two previous postseason meetings. Boston College’s tournament victory came in the 2007 ACC title game, a 2-1 win that delivered the program’s only ACC championship.
If the Eagles get past Wake Forest, they would move on to face the winner of No. 6 Virginia Tech and No.
11 NC State on Sunday. The kickoff time for that match will be announced after the first-round games.
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