Belshaw Helps Lead Blue Devils Past Elon

Tuesday, September 29

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Elon

Belshaw Named to Preseason All-America Team

Belshaw Helps Lead Blue Devils Past Elon

9/29/2009 10:15:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.-The Duke University men's soccer team maintained its unblemished home record this evening with a 2-1 win over Southern Conference foe Elon at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils scored a goal in each half and goalkeeper James Belshaw made a season-high six saves to earn their fifth home victory of the season.

"The defense has been good all season," Belshaw said. "That's the basis of how well we've done this season. We battled, we stuck in there. It's nice to get the win at the end of the day, but a better performance would probably have left us feeling a bit happier."

Duke remains unbeaten all-time against Elon (3-4-1) with the win and improves to 6-2-0 overall on the year. Scoring for the Blue Devils this evening were sophomore Ryan Ruffing and freshman Ryan Finley.

"Elon had a great game tonight," Kerr said. "They came to play, were ready and played well and they deserved a better result tonight."
Elon created the first scoring chance of the evening in the fourth minute when Chris Thomas got loose in the box for a cross from the left flank and headed it just wide of the net.

Duke came right back with an attack of its own as Daniel Tweed-Kent's shot being gobbled up by Elon goalkeeper Clint Irwin. Just two minutes later freshman Andrew Wenger sent a perfect long ball from the back over the heads of Elon's defenders.

With a perfectly timed run, Ruffing got in behind the Phoenix defense and found himself all alone in a one-on-one with Irwin. The Phoenix keeper made the initial stop, but Ruffing collected the rebound and slipped it in the net for his first goal as a Blue Devil and the 1-0 lead in the sixth minute.

After Duke grabbed the early 1-0 lead against the run of play, the two teams spent much of the next 20 minutes in the middle of the field.

In the 29th minute, Belshaw came up with two big saves to keep Elon off the scoreboard. The ball somehow found the feet of Erfan Imeni around the six-yard box. Imeni tried to push the ball past the near post, but Belshaw was there to make the point-blank save. Giving up a rebound to Justin Wyatt, Belshaw smothered his shot to keep Duke ahead 1-0.

"We had some chances that we created and I was hoping to get at least another goal in the first half," head coach John Kerr said. "More so we were very fortunate that they didn't convert their chances that they created. They created many many chances to score and we were fortunate not to give up any goals early."

The Phoenix continued to put pressure on Duke in the final 15 minutes, but Belshaw and the Blue Devils stayed strong in the back and headed into the break with the 1-0 lead.

"We had a chat about [the defense] at halftime," Belshaw said. "We came out fighting in the second half. They're a good side, Elon. They're quick, pass the ball well and gave us a good game tonight."

Duke came out attacking right off the bat and made it 2-0 less than five minutes into the half. Daniel Tweed-Kent broke away down the right side and served ball to the far post where freshman Ryan Finley headed it home for the 2-0 advantage.

Trailing by two, Elon pressed forward and generated numerous quality scoring opportunities. Belshaw was there time after time to make the big save. Perhaps his biggest save of the night came in the 69th minute as he tipped a header from Steven Kinney just past the far post to keep Duke in front 2-0.

The goal finally came for the Phoenix with two seconds left on the clock. Imeni headed the ball down to the feet of Kinney, who ripped it to the right upper 90 to break up the Blue Devil's shutout hopes.

Elon outshot the Blue Devils 18-11 for the game and had three corner kicks to Duke's one. Irwin finished with six saves in 90 minutes of action.

Duke resumes ACC play, hosting third-ranked Maryland on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.

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