By Associated Press

CARY — Emily Morris scored her fourth goal of the season in the 73rd minute and Wake Forest beat Stanford 1-0 on Friday night to advance to the program’s first College Cup championship match.

Wake Forest (16-3-4), which will play for the title on Monday, was picked to finish ninth in the ACC preseason poll after missing last year’s NCAA tournament with a record of 10-3-5 and a sixth-place ACC finish.

Wake Forest will play UNC in the title match. The Tar Heels defeated Duke 3-0 on Friday.

Three-time national champion Stanford (16-5-2) was hoping to return to the title game after losing to eventual champion Florida State last season to snap a string of 36 consecutive unbeaten matches.

Morris calmly volleyed Sierra Sythe’s cross off the hands of Stanford goalkeeper Haley Craig and it landed inside the goal line. Stanford defender Elise Evans cleared it away, but the officials ruled it cross the line.

Craig kept it a one-goal game with nine minutes remaining when she dove to her right to deny Caiya Hanks’ close-range attempt.

Stanford’s best scoring chance came in the first half when Wake Forest goalkeeper Valentina Amaral deflected Andrea Kitahata’s shot off the post and the ball rolled on the goal line before defender Kristin Johnson cleared it away.

The game was a rematch of Wake Forest’s first-ever win over a No. 1-ranked team when the Deacs defeated the Cardinal 1-0 in September on a goal by Emily Colton.

Source: wralsportsfan.com