Duke Rallies for 2-2 Draw at No. 5 North Carolina

Friday, September 30

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

North Carolina

Men's Soccer Makes First ACC Road Trip to Clemson

Duke Rallies for 2-2 Draw at No. 5 North Carolina

9/30/2011 10:36:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.-Duke freshman Riley Wolfe registered a goal in the 84th minute as the Blue Devils battled ACC rival and fifth-ranked North Carolina to a 2-2 double overtime tie in front of 4,825 fans for men's soccer action tonight at Fetzer Field. The goal was the first of Wolfe's career as Duke pushes its unbeaten streak to five games.

"Towards the end of the game we're down a goal and trying to get back in the game so everything mattered," head coach John Kerr said. "We feel like we're a strong finishing team and we were able to muster enough strength and some kind of mindset to get us in a scoring position. It was a heck of a finish by Riley to the far post."

Blue Devil freshman Nick Palodichuk also scored for the Blue Devils, while junior Andrew Wenger assisted on both scores. Christopher Tweed-Kent also had an assist for Duke. Duke's two goals stopped North Carolina's four-game and 436-minute shutout streak it had going coming into the game.

"It's huge to come back like this," Wolfe said. "Especially being away it's a big result for us. It's a huge step for us and I think it could lead to great things for us."

The tie, the first between the schools in the regular season since 2005, stops Duke's five-game losing streak against the Tar Heels. Duke stands at 5-4-1 overall and 2-1-1 in ACC play this season and remains unbeaten in its previous five games. North Carolina is now 8-1-1 and 2-1-1 in conference action. The game was the second installment in the Battle of the Blues presented by Continental Tire competition. North Carolina leads 1.5 - 0.5 after two events.

Duke broke through with the first goal of the game in the 15th minute as Palodichuk made a great run to the near post and deftly touched it to the far post past North Carolina goalkeeper Scott Goodwin. The play was started from the foot of senior Chris Tweed-Kent. He found Wenger on the right side of the penalty box. The native of Lititz, Pa., saw Palodichuk making the run and served it on the ground to the near post for the finish.

With nearly eight minutes left in the first half, North Carolina made it a 1-1 game with an own goal from Duke. Schuler got to the endline behind Duke's defense and served the ball across the face of the goal. It got past Duke goalkeeper James Belshaw and Wolfe, who was tracking back with Ben Speas, accidentally touched it in.

The Tar Heels controlled the run of play for much of the second half. North Carolina capitalized on its possession in the 75th minute to take the one-goal lead with 15 minutes to play. Schuler took a cross from Martinez after good combination play in the midfield and bent it around a diving Belshaw for this seventh goal of the season.

With timing running out and looking to keep their unbeaten streak alive, the Blue Devils stayed alive with a strike from Wolfe from 20 yards out. Duke forced a turnover just outside the box. Wenger found Wolfe and the native of Manhattan Beach, Calif., rifled a shot to the far post to tie the game and force overtime.

"It was a little bit of redemption of course," Wolfe said. "My first goal for Duke felt great. After I scored I didn't really know what to do. I just started bolting around the field so happy and I just found the team and dove over into them. It was the best feeling in a long time. It was great."

"That was big for him," Kerr said. "He obviously didn't mean to score the first goal for them. It was an unfortunate play, but he made up for it in the second half. When he gets forward and gets going he's a tough guy to stop."

Less than three minutes later, the Tar Heels went down a man after a red card. With a one-man advantage in the final four minutes, Duke tried to take advantage, but North Carolina was happy to head into overtime.

The first overtime session was all North Carolina as it possessed the ball well and went at Duke's backline. The Blue Devil defense remained strong and weathered the flurry of activity in its defensive third to keep the Tar Heels off the scoreboard to head into the final 10 minutes.

Duke picked up its play in the final period of the evening. The Blue Devils got forward and created some dangerous looks, but were unable to find the back of the net and settled for the 2-2 draw.

North Carolina held a narrow 18-17 advantage in overall shots and an 8-7 edge in shots on goal. The Blue Devils earned seven corner kicks, while the Tar Heels had four.

In goal, Belshaw had six saves overall for Duke. Goodwin finished with five.

Duke remains on the road for its next contest. The Blue Devils travel to take on Davidson on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m., before resuming ACC play on Oct. 7 versus NC State.