Blue Devils End Season at No. 3 Wake Forest

Sunday, November 29

Winston-Salem, N.C.

5 p.m.

Duke University

Wake Forest

Men's Soccer Hosts UNCG in Exhibition on Saturday

Blue Devils End Season at No. 3 Wake Forest

11/29/2009 7:45:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-Wake Forest University tallied three first-half goals and held off Duke University to post a 4-2 win in the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament third round. The third-seed Demon Deacons advance to the quarterfinal for the fourth consecutive year, while the Blue Devils finish the season with a 14-7 overall record.

Duke advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006 after beating Winthrop in the first round and upsetting 14th-seed Michigan State in the second round. Junior Cole Grossman and freshman Ryan Finley had the goals for the Blue Devils this evening.

Duke came out strong in the opening minutes, having the better of play and creating quality scoring opportunities. Finley had the best look of the early going at the 38:52 mark after collecting a pass from sophomore Temi Molinar 15 yards from goal. Finley fired a shot on frame, but Demon Deacon goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald came up with the diving save to keep the game scoreless.

Wake Forest generated its first good chance of the game 11 minutes into the first half as a quick shot from Austin da Luz from six yards skipped past the left post across the endline. The Demon Deacons continued to build their rhythm and gained a bit more of the possession.

"I thought in the first 20 minutes of the game we had some good opportunities and unfortunately we didn't take them," head coach John Kerr said. "But it started off really well for us. Unfortunately Wake Forest is very talented and they converted three good opportunities they had in the first half and it was unfortunate because I thought we played quite well."

In the 25th minute Wake Forest earned a free kick just outside the 18-yard box. da Luz stepped up to the ball and swung a left-footed kick to the near post where Duke goalie James Belshaw made the stop.

Duke came right back and won a corner kick. Grossman's service found the head of rookie Andrew Wenger. He headed down towards the goal, but a Wake Forest defender blocked it and cleared it out of danger.

The Demon Deacons responded minutes later with a tally from Zack Schilawski. Catching the Blue Devils a little out of sync on defense after a counterattack, da Luz and Opara combined to find Schilawski open from 20 yards out. The Demon Deacons' leading scorer took advantage of the opening and lifted a shot over the head of Belshaw for the 1-0 lead in the 30th minute.

Three minutes later Schilawski struck again as he put a shot low into the left corner of the net off a pass from Corben Bone to give Wake Forest a 2-0 lead with 11:40 to play in the first half.

Wake Forest made it a 3-0 game with 51 ticks left in the opening stanza with an outstanding header from Sam Redmond off a corner kick service from da Luz. Redmond was able to sneak to the near post and find the back of the net for his second goal of the year and a 3-0 Demon Deacon lead at the break.

"Their movement is tremendous," Kerr said." They move in sync with each other. They know where each other are and the ball keeps moving and it makes it very difficult for defenders to track them."

The statistics were even in the first half with both teams registering seven shots and Duke holding a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks, but it was the Demon Deacons taking advantage of their opportunities to build a comfortable lead.

Duke came out in the second half looking to cut into the lead. The Blue Devils had some early chances and improved its possession, but was unable to capitalize. After putting pressure on the Demon Deacons, Duke won a penalty kick after a hand ball on a Wake Forest defender. Grossman stepped up to the penalty spot and buried the shot into the right corner to make it a 3-1 game with just over 34 minutes remaining.

The Blue Devils continued to push the pace and the momentum continued to shift a little in favor of Duke after Belshaw came up with a huge save on a penalty kick in the 61st minute. Reading da Luz well, Belshaw dove to his right to keep the game at 3-1 with just under 30 minutes left in the second frame.

Wake Forest, however, made it a 4-1 game with a goal from da Luz in the run of play. It was da Luz's sixth goal of the season, while Schilawski and Fitzgerald were credited with the assists.

"Anytime you get a big swing like that, a goal or a saved penalty kick, it helps give you momentum," senior midfielder Ryan McDaniel said." Credit [James Belshaw] because it was a heck of a save. It's hard to sustain that though sometimes and I think that if we had the ball directly after that more in their half we might have been able to put them under more pressure. But unfortunately it was kind of a midfield game after the penalty kick, which kind of slowed the momentum down."

The scoring continued just moments later when Duke got into Wake Forest's defensive third and forced Fitzgerald to try to punch the ball out of danger. His attempted clearance fell right to the foot of Finley who put the ball into the open net to make it a 4-2 game in the 68th minute.

Duke never sat back and remained dedicated to pushing forward in the final 20 minutes, but the Demon Deacons first half lead proved to be too much to overcome.

The Blue Devils held a 15-12 advantage in shots and edged Wake Forest 6-4 in corner kicks. Belshaw had three stops in 90 minutes of action in goal, while Fitzgerald made three saves as well for the Demon Deacons.

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