The Eagles celebrated their first ACC title by dancing in the middle of the SAS soccer park in Cary, N.C. They had earned that right.
Picked to finish seventh in the ACC preseason poll, the Eagles finished of their stunning season in the conference with a 2-1 win over Wake Forest in the ACC tournament final.
"It was a great victory for Boston College," Boston College head coach Ed Kelly told reporters. "This is our third year in the ACC. The first year we were 0-6-2 we had a lot of freshmen and endured some injuries. So, we went through a lot to get us where we are now. The kids have matured and they are working very hard and this has been a really great season so far."
The Eagles jumped on the No. 1 team in the country early.
Mike Konicoff fed a through ball to Sherron Manswell, who corralled it in stride and cut in all alone on a breakaway.Manswell beat Wake Forest goaltender Brian Edwards with a shot into the lower left corner to put BC up just eight minutes into the game. In the second half, the Eagles again struck early. Surrounded by Wake Forest defenders, Greg O'Neil fired a low cross to Konicoff, who hit a one-timer past Edwards just under two minutes into the second half.
Then came an inevitable surge from Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons were able to solve the BC defense once, off a header from Austin de Luz in the 69th minute, but that was all.
"Tonight was a really tough game," Kelly told reporters. "Wake Forest is a really good team and they had us going but we didn't break.
2008 Woodie Awards
