Wednesday's battle between this week's No. 1 and the preseason No. 1 in the Soccer America Men's Top 25 at the ACC Tournament turned out to be a dud.
Wake Forest, which moved into first in this week's Top 25 and North Carolina, ranked 10th, failed to score in 110 minutes of action before the Demon Deacons won, 5-4, in a shootout to advance to the semifinals along with No. 4 Duke, No. 5 Virginia and No. 6 Maryland.
Wake goalie Brian Edwards stopped shots by the Tar Heels' Garry Lewis and Scott Campbell in the shootout, setting up freshman Zack Schilawski's game-winning kick. Edwards also made a great reaction save to deny Campbell in overtime. The result extended Wake's unbeaten streak to 10 games and put it in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament for the sixth time in the past seven years.
Michael Videira scored the game-winning goal in the 59th minute as top-seeded Duke defeated ninth-seeded N.C. State, 2-1. Blue Devil Chris Loftus and El Hadj Cisse had earlier traded goals in the testy match that featured 37 fouls and seven yellow cards.
Forwards Yannick Reyering and Adam Cristman each scored first-half goals as Virginia advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 win over No. 9 Clemson. Goalie Ryan Burke picked up the 27th shutout of his career to tie the Virginia all-time record held by Jeff Causey.
Sophomore Graham Zusi redirected a Maurice Edu cross with his thighs and scored in the 104th minute to give Maryland, the defending national champion, a 1-0 win over Boston College in the nightcap before 6,314 fans at the Maryland SoccerPlex.
Less than three weeks earlier, BC had beaten Maryland, 3-1, in a game that saw ACC Defensive Player of the Year Chris Seitz take down Eagle star Charlie Davies, the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, in the box and get sent off. In the rematch, Seitz kept the Terrapins in the game, thwarting Davies on a one-on-one opportunity in the first overtime.
Friday's semifinals: Duke-Maryland, Wake Forest-Virginia, both available on ACCSelect.com.