Upcoming Event: Men's Soccer versus Averett on September 30, 2025 at 7 p.m.
Men's Soccer
vs Averett
Saturday, October 28
Clemson, S.C.
1:00 p.m.
Duke University
0
at
1
Clemson
No. 2 Duke Drops Postponed Match 1-0 At No. 8 Clemson
10/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
CLEMSON, S.C. ? No. 2 Duke (12-3-1, 5-2-1) was handed its third loss of the season by No. 8 Clemson (12-3-2, 2-4-2), by a score of 1-0 on Saturday afternoon. The game was postponed from Friday night after heavy rains caused Clemson's Riggs Field to become unplayable. The loss results in a tie with Wake Forest (15-2-1, 5-2-1) for the regular season Atlantic Coast Conference title, but Duke claims the top seed in the ACC Tournament because they defeated Wake Forest back on Sept. 8.
The Blue Devils and Tigers were evenly matched on Saturday, as most teams in the ACC have been this year. Duke has now lost two in a row to Clemson for the first time since 1992-1993. It was the first loss for Duke in the month of October this year, snapping a season-high six game winning streak. All three of the Blue Devils' losses and their one tie this season have come when they have been shutout.
The only goal of the game came just over 27 minutes in, as junior midfielder Mark Buchholz launched a throw in from the left side of the field into the box, and sophomore forward Michael Brooks was able to head the ball in from eight yards out. It was Brooks' fourth goal of the season, and the sixth assist on the year for Buchholz.
It was a very physical game for both teams, as 32 fouls were called. Clemson totaled 20 fouls, while Duke accumulated 12. Seven yellow cards were given out in the match, four to the Tigers and three to the Blue Devils. The seven cards tied for the most given out in any game Duke has played in this year.
This game was a continuance of Duke's dominance on defense, as they allowed only two shots on goal, and nine overall. Clemson's goal was the first against Duke in over 275 minutes, going back to the first half against Alabama A&M. In their last twelve games, Duke has allowed only eight goals and recorded four shutouts. Only two teams have scored more than one goal on the Blue Devils all season, and no team has done that since Sept. 8.
Offensively, Duke was unable to get the ball into the net for the first time since their game at Maryland on Sept. 29. It was a drastic change from the last six games for the Blue Devils, in which they scored 19 goals. The only shot on goal came from senior midfielder and captain Chris Loftus, and Duke put up 11 shots overall. The Blue Devils also missed junior center midfielder Michael Videira, who did not play in the game.
Duke's Coach John Rennie is now the winningest coach in ACC history. He holds the records for most wins at an ACC school with 394, and for most wins in the conference with 91. Rennie overtook former Clemson coach I.M. Ibrahim in both categories. For Division I Men's Soccer coaches, Rennie is in fifth place with 438 overall wins.
Duke will head up to Boyds, Md., located just outside of Washington, D.C., for the ACC Tournament this week. Maryland is the host school for the tournament, which runs from Tuesday, Oct. 31- Sunday, Nov. 5. The Blue Devils will face the winner of Tuesday's 1:00 p.m. match between Virginia Tech and North Carolina State. The time of Duke's Wednesday game will be determined on Monday morning.
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Players Mentioned
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