Finley's Hat Trick Pushes Duke Past Sacramento State

Sunday, September 5

Durham, N.C.

2:30 PM

Duke University

Sacramento State

Finley Nets 3 as Duke Races Past Virginia Tech

Finley's Hat Trick Pushes Duke Past Sacramento State

9/5/2010 6:37:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.-Duke University sophomore forward Ryan Finley tallied his first career hat trick to lead the 11th-ranked men's soccer team to a 4-1 victory over visiting Sacramento State this afternoon in the Duke/Nike Classic. The Blue Devils captured the tournament title, garnering a win and a tie in the two-day event.

"It's definitely good in the first two games to get off on the right foot," Finley said. "Being a forward, you don't want to go four or five games without scoring, it starts to get inside your head. It's definitely a plus scoring three in the first two games."

Finley, sophomores James Belshaw and Andrew Wenger and senior Cole Grossman all represented Duke (1-0-1) on the Duke/Nike Classic All-Tournament Team. Belshaw garnered Most Valuable Player honors after picking up 15 saves against Louisville and going 177:47 minutes without allowing a goal.

Sacramento State (0-2-0) had the first good look of the game as a header from Rory O'Day sailed just over the crossbar in the second minute of action.

In the 12th minute, Duke junior Temi Molinar sent a through ball to Finley, who ripped a shot wide right of the frame. Minutes later, Grossman collected the ball in the offensive third. His first attempt was blocked, but he quickly collected the rebound and fired a shot from 22 yards past the outstretched arms of Hornet goalie Cesar Castillo to give Duke the 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

The initial score opened up the game for the Blue Devils with the offense finding open spaces all over the field. Less than three minutes after the opening goal, Finley made it a 2-0 contest as he rifled in a shot from the right side of the box after a service from junior Daniel Tweed-Kent on the left side.

With the offense firing on all cylinders, junior Christopher Tweed-Kent nearly made it a 3-0 game when his shot from 12 yards out sailed over the crossbar. Nearly identical to the play in the early minutes of the half, Molinar knifed his way through the Sacramento State defense and sent a through ball to Finley into the penalty box. The native of Lumberton, N.J., calmly collected the ball and slipped his shot into the right corner for a 3-0 lead with less than 20 minutes left in the first session.

The Blue Devils continued to put the pressure on Sacramento State and the defense maintained its poise to send the home squad into the locker room with a 3-0 advantage. Duke held a 10-5 advantage in the first half.

Sacramento State came out attacking in the second half as it looked to get back into the game with a goal. With the Blue Devil defense staying strong, Duke continued to attack the Hornets in search of a fourth goal. Finley fired a hard shot from long range in the 62nd minute with Castillo coming up with the save. The Blue Devils continued to pepper the goal with shots, but Castillo was up to the task in keeping Duke off the board for a fourth time.

The Hornets broke through with a tally in the 80th minute when Ernesto Carranza weaved through Duke's defense and slipped a low shot into the right corner past Duke goalie Jan Trnka-Amrhein.

Duke answered with a fourth goal in the 82nd minute when Finley knocked home a rebound off of a shot from the foot of Tweed-Kent.

The Blue Devils held a 27-7 advantage in shots for the game and a 4-0 lead in corner kicks. Castillo had 11 saves on the afternoon, while Belshaw made one stop. Duke's offense broke through with four goals after being held scoreless in the opening game and tallying one goal in preseason play.

"Preseason is a time to get things together and get teams to gel," Finley said. "We played a really good Louisville team last night. We went a man down and fought and a tie was a great result. Today I think we came out with the right mentality. It's definitely a plus to score four and gives the team a lot of confidence."

Duke opens ACC play in its next contest, hosting conference rival Virginia on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m.

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