Marcus Tracy Leads Wake Forest to NCAA Soccer Title

By Steve Bigham

Soccer fans all over town are beaming with pride this week after one of their own put on an incredible display of speed, talent and late-game heroics before a national television audience Sunday afternoon.

Newtown’s Marcus Tracy led the Wake Forest men’s soccer team to an exciting second half rally to beat Ohio State, 2-1, in the NCAA Division I College Cup championship game. The game was television on ESPN 2 and with the entire nation watching, Tracy put on a performance that won’t soon be forgotten. And he did it on college soccer’s biggest stage.

Tracy, a junior, started the second half on the bench as his coach looked to mix things up after Ohio State took a 1-0 halftime lead. With his team still trailing 10 minutes in, Tracy was sent back into the game with strict instructions: get out there and turn this thing around. And he delivered big time, scoring off a cross from teammate Cody Arnoux at the 66th minute to tie the game, 1-1. Tracy then broke free and delivered a perfect pass to Zack Schilawski for the game winner at the 77th minute, sending the Wake Forest faithful into a frenzy. On that play, Tracy powered his way through two defenders along the right side, then juked a third before crossing a pass to the middle of the field to Schilawski who beat the Ohio State goalie.

 The game was played at the SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina in front of 8,172 fans.

As ESPN went to a commercial break, Tracy, a 2005 NHS graduate, was seen running around the stadium giving his supporters the high-five. Tracy’s accomplishment ranked up there with some fo the finest athletic performances by a Newtown alumni since former Newtown resident Bruce Jenner won the decathlon at the 1976 winter Olympics in Montreal.

Already regarded as one of Newtown High’s all-time great athletes, Tracy now has a national soccer championship to his name.

The week, The Bee caught up with the young man who carried Wake Forest to glory. He was in town earlier this week, having flown home with his parents Donald and Marguerite after the game. He’s been getting calls from friends and former teammates as well as other well-wishers happy to see him succeed. Tracy wasn’t in town for long as he was on his way to UConn to visit his brother, then to Boston before heading to Holland to visit his girlfriend. Then it’s back home before heading off for a vacation in Mexico and then back for his studies at Wake.

Tracy, feel still firmly planted on the ground, was quick to credit his teammates and said it meant a lot to know his fans back in Newtown were cheering him on.

“Winning the title has been such an unbelievable experience. We’ve worked so hard since the season began to get to this point. And it was a good feeling to know that Newtown was behind me,” said Tracy, who has fielded numerous questions from a variety of media since Sunday’s heroics. His goal in Sunday’s game made its way on to ESPN Sportcenter’s Top 10 plays of the day. Speaking of great plays, Tracy’s goal off a header in last Friday’s 2-0 semifinal win over Virgina Tech was something special and was played over-and-over again on ESPN. It no doubt caught the attention of soccer fans nationwide (and overseas) as he rose above the crowd and used his head to drive the ball passed the goaltender. Tracy scored both goals for Wake in the semis.

In addition to Tracy’s parents, NHS boys’ soccer coach Brian Neumeyer was in North Carolina for the game, taking off his coaching hat and cheering his former player on as a fan. There have been many Neumeyer players who have gone on to achieve big things on the college level and the coach couldn’t have ben more proud.

“I’m so happy for Marcus. Anyone who has played for Newtown is family and its great to see them succeed,” he said. At Newtown, Tracy was an all-state athlete in soccer, basketball and track & field. He led Newtown to the CIAC Class LL state soccer title his senior year and left as the school’s all-time leading scorer, despite missing much of his junior season with an injury.

Wake Forest finishes its season at 22-2-2, while Ohio State, which beat Massachusetts in the other semifinal, ended the season 17-4-5. Its loss in the finals ended a school-record 15-game unbeaten streak. Wake Forest was 0-2-1 in games that they trailed in at halftime. Tracy changed all that on Sunday and was named the tournament’s most outstanding offensive player for tallying three goals and two assists in the College Cup.

A year ago, the Demon Deacons were eliminated by UC-Santa Barbara on penalty kicks in a national semifinals game.

There were 37 fouls and six yellow cards issued during the 90 minutes, including four cards in the second half. The final caution was called on Roger Espinonza, who scored Ohio State’s lone goal, when his foot met defender Julian Valentin in the face in the 81st minute. Valentin received 30 stitches for cuts on his cheek, forehead and nose.