Elon held unbeaten and untied Wake Forest, the No. 1 team in the Soccer America Top 25 men's rankings since the second week of the season, to a 1-1 tie in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Tuesday night.

Early on, Elon pressured Wake and came close when Clint Collins' attempt hit the woodwork, and teammate Brett Paschall's shot on the rebound was cleared off the line by Wake defender Pat Phelan.

Justin Wyatt, last year's Southern Conference Player of the Week, gave the Phoenix the lead with a goal in the 43rd minute. He scored from 15 yards out with his sixth goal of the season and left the Demon Deacons trailing at the half for the first time this season.

Wake Forest (7-0-1) got the equalizer in the 74th minute when Ike Opara scored his first goal of the season off a corner kick amid a flurry of action in front of the Phoenix goal.

Elon keeper Clint Irwin kept the Phoenix in the game with several key saves.

"He really kept them in the game," Wake Forest coach Jay Vidovich said. "He made some great saves and he's got a lot of talent."

Elon (5-2-3) ran its unbeaten streak to seven games with the tie.

"The boys played extremely hard tonight," said Elon coach Darren Powell.  "We scored a good goal to take the lead just before the half and fought well in the second half against a quality Wake Forest squad.  We were able to bounce back after giving up the goal and play well enough to secure the tie."

GAME SUMMARY:
Oct. 2 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Wake Forest 1 Elon 1. Goals: Opara 74; Wyatt (Franks, Paschall) 43.
Wake Forest -- Fitzgerald, Valentin, Phelan, Lichtfuss, Adams, Cronin, de Lux, Bone, Brown, Lahoud, Arnoux. Subs: Beam, Tracy, Schilawski, Courtney, Opara, Swaim.
Elon -- Irwin, Mason, Leko, S.Miller, H.Miller, Collins, Street, Paschall, Wyatt, Kinner, Parker. Subs: Lunka, Franks, Johnson, Imeni, Juchno.
Referee: Mark Kadlesic
Att.: 767.