Duke Tops Wake Forest In OT For Second Straight ACC Title

Sunday, November 5

Boyds, Md.

1:10 p.m.

Duke University

Wake Forest

Duke Tops Wake Forest In OT For Second Straight ACC Title

11/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

BOYDS, Md. - D?j? vu? Almost. For the second straight season, Mike Grella scored the game-winning goal to give Duke an ACC Championship. Against No. 1 Wake Forest on Sunday, he sent a blast from 35 yards to the bottom left corner of the net with 3:27 remaining in the first overtime period to break a scoreless tie, thus propelling the fourth-ranked Blue Devils to their second consecutive ACC Title, 1-0. Duke improves to 16-3-1 while the Demon Deacons fall to 15-3-3.

The goal was Grella's 11th of the season, which leads the team and ranks third among ACC players. A year ago, the freshman netted the game-winning, sudden-death penalty kick to knock off North Carolina. The win marks Duke's 103rd all-time ACC Championship and fifth in men's soccer, with other's coming in 1980, '82, '99 and 2005. Duke has now won 38 ACC Titles under current Athletic Director Joe Alleva.

The ball was locked in the midfield for the majority of the first half, with neither offense able to gain an advantage. Wake Forest outshot the Blue Devils, 7-4, and held a 3-1 advantage on shots on goal. The Blue Devils took three corner kicks to two for the Demon Deacons in the first half.

Duke did not attempt a shot until 10 minutes into the game when Spencer Wadsworth sent a ball from 25 yards that was blocked out of bounds by a Wake Forest defender. Wadsworth went down with an injury in the 21st minute and did not return to the game.

Wake Forest's Zack Schilawski had one of the best scoring opportunities of the half on a sliding kick from 6 yards off a Demon Deacon corner kick, but goalkeeper Justin Papadakis was there for the save.

Zach Pope found himself with the ball and an open net in the 37th minute after Wake Forest keeper Brian Edwards left the goal box to play a loose ball which Grella gathered and passed to Pope, but his shot from the top right corner of the 18-yard box flew over the crossbar.

With just under two minutes remaining in the first half, Pavelid Casteneda gathered the ball off a Duke corner kick and send a shot toward the top left corner of the net, but a defender got just enough of the ball to send it wide. On the following corner kick, Pope received the ball on the right side of the box with no one between himself and Edwards and sent a rocket just inches over the crossbar.

Duke came out firing in the second half, with Joe Germanese taking a shot just 20 seconds into the second frame. His laser from 20 yards out was on goal, but Edwards made the save. Two minutes later, Michael Videira send a shot from the top of the 18-yard box which just missed the top left corner of the net. In the 49th minute, Pope put a header on goal but once again Edwards was there for the stop.

In the 68th minute, Wake Forest's Marcus Tracy received a cross on the right side of the net on the baseline and made a move toward goal before Tim Jepson made a sliding tackle to knock the ball over out of bounds. The ensuing corner kick was nearly headed in by a Duke defender before Graham Dugoni cleared the ball off the goal line.

A foul by Jepson with just under eight minutes left in the second half gave Wake Forest a free kick from the top of the 18-yard box, but Wake Forest's Pat Phelan sent two consecutive shots - the first two of the second half for the Demon Deacons - into the Duke wall. The shots ended a span of 40:30 minutes for Wake Forest without a shot. Two minutes later, Tracy headed a Wake Forest corner kick over the crossbar.

Regulation ended with no score and each team managed just one shot in the first 6:33 minutes of overtime before Grella scored his fifth game-winning goal of the season.

The game was even statistically, with Wake Forest holding a 12-11 advantage on shots, but Duke putting six shots on goal to three by Demon Deacons. Wake Forest took six corner kicks while Duke tallied five.

Germanese, Jepson and Wadsworth were named to the All-ACC Tournament Team after the game and Videira took home Most Valuable Player honors. For Wadsworth, 2006 marks the second straight year in which he was qualified for the All-Tournament Team. The four Blue Devils were accompanied on the ACC All-Tournament Team by Ronnie Bouemboue (N.C. State), El Hadj Cisse (N.C. State), Sam Cronin (Wake Forest), Brian Edwards (Wake Forest), Patrick Nyarko (Virginia Tech), Yannick Reyering (Virginia) and Graham Zusi (Maryland).

Duke's postseason fate will be determined Monday afternoon at the NCAA Tournament Selection show, which will be televised on ESPNNews between 4 and 5 p.m.

2006 ACC Men's Soccer Championship

First Round - Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Match 1: #9 N.C. State 4 - #8 Virginia Tech 3

Quarterfinal Round - Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Match 2: #2 Wake Forest 0 - #7 North Carolina 0 (Wake Forest advanced on penalty kicks 5-4)
Match 3: #1 Duke 2 - #9 N.C. State 1
Match 4: #3 Virginia 2 - #6 Clemson 0
Match 5: #4 Maryland 1 - #5 Boston College 0 (2OT)

Semifinal Round - Friday, November 3, 2006
Match 6: #2 Wake Forest 1 - #3 Virginia 1 (Wake Forest advanced on penalty kicks 4-3)
Match 7: #1 Duke 1 - #4 Maryland 0

Championship Final - Sunday, November 5, 2006
Match 8: #1 Duke 1 - #2 Wake Forest 0 (OT)

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