The Miami Hurricanes women’s soccer team face a difficult challenge as they open their ACC season against No. 17 Wake Forest University this Wednesday. Therefore, planning around the Demon Deacons’ strengths and weaknesses is crucial in snatching a result at Spry Stadium.
Wake Forest’s clearest strength is on the flanks as their wide pairings in Tony da Luz’s 4-2-3-1 have been the main outlets of danger this season. Sierra Sythe, though a natural winger, has been deployed at left-back this season. Her natural attacking mentality brings a great source of on-running danger. Additionally, her ball-striking stands out amongst her peers, demonstrated by her ‘Olimpico’ against USF. She is dynamic, two-footed, and very competent defensively.
On the other wing, freshman Kylie Maxwell has been a revelation for Wake Forest’s offense this campaign. Maxwell was named Gatorade’s 2025 Pennsylvania Player of the Year and was selected for the USA U19 Women’s National Team last fall. She netted 38 goals and 15 assists in just 21 appearances her senior year. She instinctively finds the ball in the box, runs through the channels intelligently, and always has her head up, allowing her to create for her teammates and herself.
Wake Forest’s keeper, Valentina Amaral, is exceptionally strong and assertive in her penalty area, repeatedly preventing chances through claiming crosses. Furthermore, her reliable shot-stopping consistently bails Wake Forest out when they make defensive mistakes.
However, Wake Forest lacks diligence in the midfield as their double pivot often leave runners free in between the lines. Even in dominant possessional showings against LSU and Villanova, the opposition had numerous instances of freedom in the middle of the park that should have been capitalized on. The UM firepower of Eabha O’Mahony, Ciara Alarcon, and Teegan Melenhorst should be able to exploit this weakness, and hopefully Brie Severns can convert this momentum into goals through the clinicality she has shown this season.
Centrally overloading and progressing will give Miami a numerical and qualitative superiority, platforming them to create high-quality chances through the coveted zone 14. This onus on central play is only added to by Wake Forest’s strength out wide and their goalie’s cross-claiming ability. Wingplay would lead to more crosses, which are likely to be retrieved by Amaral, and would leave gaps out wide for Sythe, Flanagan, Miller, and Maxwell to exploit.
A possible Hurricane lineup could look like:
Defense – #0 Bredel, #14 Maxwell, #4 Morella, #2 Simpson, and #25 Kaye
Midfield – #13 Nicholson, #8 Alarcon, and #10 O’Mahony
Forwards – #12 Melenhorst at left-wing, #22 Severns up top, and #23 Inaba on the right.
The idea is for Nicholson to anchor the midfield, Alarcon and O’Mahony to play between the lines, and Melenhorst to move from out-wide into the channels, creating an overload.
Though, regardless of the setup, tonight’s fixture will be an exciting one, and the ’Canes have a much higher chance of winning than their current RPI suggests. There is more than enough in the balance for Miami to pick up some points, with the team having their best opening seven games since 2011.