WINSTON-SALEM, NC Second-ranked Wake Forest scored three times in the first 30 minutes of the match on its way to a 3-0 win over UNC Greensboro in men's soccer action at Spry Stadium on Wednesday night.

It was an impressive performance by the Demon Deacons, who outshot the Spartans, 23-6. UNCG, which cleared its bench and sat all of its starters down in the second half with the exception of goalkeeper Nate Berry, dropped to 10-6-1 on the season and suffered just its second setback in the last nine matches (6-2-1).

The Demon Deacons ( 13-2-1), who are unbeaten in their last seven (6-0-1), took a 1-0 lead 18:39 into the match when Ryan Solle connected on a penalty kick. UNCG defender Matt Elliott got his feet tangled with Zack Schilawski near the left side of the box. The official ruled that the foul was committed in the box, much to the protest of several UNCG players. While setting up for the penalty kick, Henning Jonasson was given a red card for arguing, to put the Spartans a man down for the rest of the night. The goal was Solle's fourth of the season.

Solle and Schilawski teamed up for Wake Forest's second goal nearly 10 minutes later. At 27:12, Solle found a wide-open Schilawski from the left corner and Schilawski played a perfect header into the right top corner of the goal for his third goal of the season and a 2-0 advantage.

Steven Curffman made it 3-0 at 30:08 when he connected from 25 yards out from the center of the field. Berry got a hand on it as he dove to his left, but could not keep it from goal. It was Curffman's fourth goal of the season.

On another front, the Spartans held onto a share of first place in the Southern Conference and got set-up for a Friday night showdown. That's because Furman topped College of Charleston, 2-0, in Greenville, SC on Wednesday night.

With that result, the winner of the Furman-UNCG match on Friday night will be the SoCon Regular Season Champion. Should that match end in a tie and College of Charleston wins at Appalachian State in its final match on Saturday, the Cougars would win the title. A College of Charleston loss and a Furman-UNCG tie would mean Furman and UNCG would share the title and a tiebreaker would determine the top seed for the men's soccer tournament.

AGATE

Goals by period       1  2  Tot

 UNC Greensboro......  0  0 -  0

 Wake Forest.........  3  0 -  3

 SCORING SUMMARY: WF - Solle, 18:39; WF - Schilawski (Solle), 27:20; WF Curfman (Brown), 30:07. Shots: UNC Greensboro 6, Wake Forest 23. Saves: UNC Greensboro 6 (Berry 6), Wake Forest 3 (Edwards 3). Corner Kicks: UNCG 3, Wake Forest 8. Fouls UNCG 9, Wake Forest 12.

- UNCG -

For complete coverage of UNCG athletics, log on at UNCGSpartans.com