Bobby Muuss loves all his teams at Wake Forest. That's why, in part, he coaches soccer because of how his teams create the culture that defines each season.
There's a reason his culture he's created when he took over in 2015 the Demon Deacons have 151 wins, the most of any program in the country.
Muuss never compares any of his teams to another but admits this current one is special for their resiliency through plenty of adversity.
"I don't have time to figure that out," Muuss said when asked just how many games his players have lost to injuries.
The Demon Deacons won their fourth ACC championship in the history of the program on Sunday and it's the third in Muuss' career. But it would have to be considered the least likely championship he's won.
"Nobody believed we were going to win this tournament other than the 30 guys in that locker room and my staff," Muuss said. "There's just no way to describe how it felt to see what they've been through and then to see us holding the trophy."
Wake Forest won four straight games in the tournament coming back in three of them. On Sunday in Cary they beat Clemson on penalty kicks after the game was tied at 1.
After battling through the overtime with no goals being scored the Demon Deacons won 7-6 on penalty kicks as goalie Trace Alphin was once again solid as a rock.
"What I love about this team is, sure, they make fun of each other a lot, but they have this bond that's formed and toward the end of this season it just sort of clicked," Muuss said.
The Demon Deacons have been to two College Cups in 2016 and '19 since Muuss arrived. And if momentum and goalie play is a formula to get to another College Cup then the Demon Deacons might just make another run.
The good news is they got a first-round bye and don't play until Sunday at 6 p.m. at Spry Stadium in a second-round game against either Maryland or Long Island University.
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"We need a refresher and having that bye is so huge for us right now," Muuss said. "In the regular season we don't play overtime, but we had to play two overtimes in the tournament. So, they were grinding."
Leading the free-flowing offense that has defined the Demon Deacons since Muuss arrived is Cooper Flax, who has eight goals and an assist. Basit Umar has four goals, and an assist and Dylan Borso has two goals and four assists.
The Demon Deacons have scored 32 goals this season and have allowed 22 goals.
In past seasons the Demon Deacons have had more powerful attacks, and even a better defense, but this season's team is one that Muuss says is different.
"They are just special," Muuss said. "They are very close and don't mind doing the little things to make us successful."
Muuss said he was emotionally spent after Sunday's win in the championship match. One reason for that was his family was there and when he saw them on the field shortly afterwards he broke down.
"I cried," he admitted. "That was the first time all my kids had seen us win such a big championship like that. My daughter had flown in from college so it just all kind of hit me."
He also couldn't help but think of his late grandma, Maria Rogers, who died last year on Long Island where Muuss is from.
"She was my rock," Muuss said. "GG was always somebody that was there for me. She was always checking in with me to see how the team was doing and what recruits we had. I couldn't help but think of her right after we won."
It shouldn't be a surprise that the Demon Deacons are in the NCAA Tournament for the 14th straight time, which is an ACC record.
They were ranked in the top 25 early in the season but fell out of the rankings.
Muuss said that because the Demon Deacons play one of the hardest schedules in the country, they still had a chance to make the tournament. The final regular-season 1-0 win over NC State gave them enough wins to get into the NCAA Tournament.
But that win led to four more in the ACC Tournament.
"The pressure was sort of off once we beat NC State because we knew we were in," Muuss said. "And then it was just something that steamrolled over the next four games. It's really unbelievable."
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ACC Men's Soccer
NCAA Tournament Bracket
Thursday's First Round
Furman at North Carolina | 5 p.m. | ESPN+
Charlotte at NC State | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Sunday's Second Round
NC State/Charlotte at No. 4 Georgetown | Noon | ESPN+
San Diego/UC Davis at No. 10 Duke | 1 p.m. | ESPN+
UNC/Furman at No. 13 Marshall | 2 p.m. | ESPN+
Cornell/Fordham at No. 2 Pitt | 5 p.m. | ESPN+
West Virginia/North Florida at No. 11 Virginia | 5 p.m. | ESPN+
Maryland/LIU at No. 8 Wake Forest | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Providence/Bucknell at No. 9 Clemson | 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Washington/Seattle at No. 12 SMU | 7 p.m. | ESPN+
UCLA/UCSB at No. 16 Stanford | 8 p.m. | ESPN+
Saturday, Nov. 30 or Sunday, Dec. 1
NCAA Third Round
Friday, Dec. 6 or Saturday, Dec. 7
NCAA Quarterfinals
Friday, Dec. 13 and Monday, Dec. 16
NCAA College Cup, Cary, N.C.
All times Eastern
Noting ACC Men's Soccer
* Nine ACC teams earned berths in the 2024 NCAA Championship, including seven teams among the 16 seeded teams.
* Pitt (2), Wake Forest (8), Clemson (9), Duke (10), Virginia (11), SMU (12) and Stanford (16) earned national seeds as well as first-round byes. North Carolina and NC State also picked up bids and will open tournament play on Thursday.
* All nine ACC teams will start the tournament on their home pitches.
* This marks the 12th straight season in which the ACC placed the most teams in the tournament and the 24th consecutive season that at least five league teams earned a bid.
* The ACC's total of nine bids is tied for the second most in tournament history, matching the league's totals in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023 and one shy of the conference's total in 2019.
* ACC teams have won 20 NCAA men's soccer championships, with 11 since 2001, including the last three (Clemson 2021, Syracuse 2022, Clemson 2023).
* Eight active ACC programs have won at least one national championship, the most of any conference. The 15 active ACC schools have combined for 20 titles.
* Virginia has won seven NCAA men's soccer championships, which is third most all-time. Clemson (4), Stanford (3), North Carolina (2), Duke (1), Notre Dame (1), Syracuse (1) and Wake Forest (1) also have won titles.
* Six active ACC head coaches have won D-I national championships as a head coach: Mike Noonan (Clemson), Carlos Somoano (UNC), Jay Vidovich (Pitt), Jeremy Gunn (Stanford), Ian McIntyre (Syracuse) and George Gelnovatch (Virginia). NC State's Marc Hubbard won a Division II national title in 2013.
* Thirteen of the 15 active league programs have reached the Men's College Cup. Sixty-five ACC teams have reached the Men's College Cup all-time.
* Two ACC teams advanced to the Men's College Cup in each of the last five tournaments, including Clemson and Notre Dame playing in the national championship game in 2023. The ACC has had at least one team in the College Cup in 22 of the last 23 seasons.
* Wake Forest won the 2024 ACC Championship on Nov. 17, outlasting Clemson following 1-1 draw and a eight rounds of penalty-kick shootout in Cary, N.C. It was Wake's fourth ACC crown and first since 2017.
* Pitt was the ACC Tournament's No. 1 seed for the second time in program history (2021).
* ACC teams finished 76-16-27 (75.2%) in non-conference play during the regular season, best of any league.
* The ACC finished with the nation's top conference RPI. In the final RPI, 12 ACC teams were among the top 50, led by Pitt at No. 4 and followed by Duke (10), Stanford (11), Clemson (12), Virginia (14), SMU (15), North Carolina (22), California (33), NC State (36), Virginia Tech (44) and Notre Dame (48).
* All 15 ACC teams ranked among the final top 75 in the RPI.
* The ACC announced its 2024 All-ACC Team and Season Awards on Nov. 20, highlighted by Notre Dame's Matthew Roou as the Offensive Player of the Year and Pitt's Jay Vidovich as Coach of the Year for a record eighth time. (Release)
* Six ACC teams were ranked in the Nov. 5 United Soccer Coaches Poll, including three in the top 10. Both totals are the most of any conference. Duke is No. 2 and followed by Clemson (7), Pitt (9), UNC (14), SMU (15) and NC State (21).
* Four ACC teams rank among the top 20 nationally in scoring offense, with Duke (3.17) and Clemson (2.65) ranking first and third, respectively. Pitt and Notre Dame are tied for 11th at 2.12 goals per game.
* Notre Dame's Matthew Roou ranks fourth nationally in goals (14) and sixth in goals per game (0.82) and points (32). Duke's Ulfur Bjornsson is 10th in goals (13), while Clemson's Alex Meinhard and Duke's Adam Luckhurst (11) are 20th.
* Pitt ranks 12th nationally in scoring defense at 0.82 goals per game.
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