BERKELEY – Berkeley native Kieran Bracken Serra scored his first career goal for the California men's soccer team in spectacular fashion in the second half of an ACC match against Wake Forest on Saturday. But the Demon Deacons converted a late penalty kick to edge the Golden Bears 2-1 at Edwards Stadium.
 
Bracken Serra's goal came at 51:42, when a long throw in by defender D'Andre Pickett found forward Malcolm Zalayet in the Wake Forest penalty area. The forward headed the ball to the back post, where Bracken Serra scored his first goal on a bicycle kick. A sophomore midfielder who leads Cal in assists with three, Bracken Serra now ranks third at Cal in points with five.
 
The Bears outshot the Demon Deacon 9-1 after the equalizer – until a Cal foul at 85:57 led to Wake Forest's penalty kick, and Cooper Flax scored to give his team its 2-1 advantage.
 
In the first half, Wake Forest took a 1-0 lead with a goal against the run of play in the 17th minute. Basit Umar scored off an assist from Harvey Sarajian.
 
Cal could have netted a first-half equalizer when it was awarded a penalty kick in the 38th minute after Zalayet was fouled in the Demon Deacon box. But defender Alfredo Ortiz – who converted a PK earlier in the season – shot wide.
 
The Bears' record fell to 4-6-2 (1-4-1 ACC). Wake's record improved to 6-3-3 (1-3-1).
 
"It just seems like we do enough to win in games, and we keep falling short," Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. "It's hard to put our finger on why. The guys did a really good job of executing our gameplan. Our press was very effective and made it very difficult for them to play the game that they wanted to play. I'm proud of the guys for the effort. When you have a 19-8 advantage in shots, you would think we would get out of here with at least a tie if not a win. It's very disappointing. We have to figure out how to keep taking the positives and moving on, because there is still so much to play for."
 
Cal heads back to the East Coast to play a nonconference game at Radford on Oct. 22 and an ACC match at Virginia Tech on Oct. 26.
 
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