Duke Blanks Greensboro College in Final Tune-Up

Saturday, August 29

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Greensboro College (Scrimmage)

Duke Blanks Greensboro College in Final Tune-Up

8/29/2009 9:45:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.-Duke men's soccer freshman Ryan Finley registered a goal and two assists to lead the Blue Devils to a 4-0 shutout of Greensboro College in the team's final preseason exhibition. Finley finished the preseason with two goals and two assists in three contests.

"It was a tune-up before [our first game on] Tuesday," head coach John Kerr said. "We were looking to get as much sharpness as we could in terms of our movement together from the defense to the midfield and midfield to the forwards."

Looking to gain an early advantage, Duke was able to get in behind the Pride's defense and earn numerous corner kicks in the opening 10 minutes. After missing the mark on the early opportunities, the Blue Devils got on the scoreboard in the 24th minute when senior Matthew Thomas knocked the ball past Greensboro goalie Mazi Heydary.

Duke drew a foul deep in the Pride's defensive third. Senior defender Nick Sih stepped up and served a ball to the far post where Finley headed it back across the box to Thomas' feet and the 1-0 lead.

Less than 10 minutes later, Greensboro College got perhaps its best look of the game. The Pride put together a nice string of passes and Chris Davis got open behind the Blue Devil defense for an open look on goal. Davis shot for the far post, but Duke goalie James Belshaw made a spectacular save in tipping it just over the crossbar and sending the Blue Devils into halftime with a 1-0 advantage.

Duke came storming out of halftime with two goals in the opening six minutes. Finley struck first after a perfect through ball from senior Ryan McDaniel put the rookie forward all alone with the keeper. He calmly picked his spot and fired it past Heydary for the 2-0 lead.

Two minutes later, sophomore Ryan Ruffing tallied his first goal as a Blue Devil with assists coming from Finley and Thomas. Sophomore Graham Oxley rounded out the scoring in the 63rd minute after Christopher Tweed-Kent fed a through ball through the box for Oxley to one-time it past the near post.

Greensboro College created more chances in the final 25 minutes of the second half, but the Blue Devil defense proved to be up to the task. Duke posted two shutouts in its three preseason contests.

"I thought Belshaw did a great job in goal today," Kerr said. "He made that world-class save to keep us in the game at 1-0. He was very impressive. Ryan Finley was a handful as usual and we had a lot of solid performances overall.

Belshaw saw 65 minutes in goal and made two saves, while Devon Bostock had one stop in 25 minutes of action. Heydary went the distance and made four saves.

The Blue Devils had a 17-15 advantage in shots and an 8-4 edge in corner kicks.

Duke officially kicks off its 2009 season on Sept. 1 against James Madison at 7 p.m.

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