Duke and No. 23 NC State Battle to Scoreless Draw

Friday, October 18

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

6-5-2, 2-3-1

NC State

7-3-3, 3-2-1

North Carolina State

Duke

Suniel Veerakone controls a pass against NC State.

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke and No. 23 NC State Battle to Scoreless Draw

10/18/2019 10:37:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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Blue Devils Back at Home Tuesday Night

DURHAM, N.C.—Despite a flurry of action in the final five minutes of regulation and throughout overtime, the Duke men's soccer team couldn't quite come away with the win, tying No. 23 NC State 0-0 tonight at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils push their unbeaten streak against the Wolfpack to eight games with the draw.

Duke moves to 6-5-2 overall and 2-3-1 in conference play, while NC State moves to 7-3-3 and 3-2-1 against league foes. The Blue Devils have two remaining conference matches at Pittsburgh and home versus Virginia Tech.

After a somewhat lackluster first half that featured a combined four shots and only one on frame, the pace picked up as the second 45 wore on. The Wolfpack controlled much of the run of play in the opening stanza, but were not especially dangerous in the final third.

"I thought we did a really good job in not allowing them really good opportunities going forward," said head coach John Kerr. "I thought we did a good job protecting our space in behind and not letting them come deep into our third. We wanted to steady the ship."

Duke goalkeeper Will Pulisic made a nice save in the 31st minute, diving to his right to push away a Gabriel Machado strike from 18 yards. NC State also had one more near miss as a header from Kuda Muskwe skipped just right of the near post for a Duke goal kick.

The Blue Devils started to hit their stride on the second half, finding more space in the final third and keeping possession in the middle third to allow Duke seniors Brandon Williamson and Daniele Proch to do what they do best.

"We did a better job in the second half to have our two center midfielders get tighter on their guys and allow us to get pressure on their back three," Kerr said.

Williamson had an excellent chance in the first three minutes of the second half as his effort from the top right of the penalty area was pushed across the endline by goalkeeper Vinnie Durand. Just over five minutes later, senior Colby Agu sent a fantastic chance over the bar, keeping the game scoreless.

With limited looks at goal overall over the next 20 minutes, the pace picked up in the final 10 minutes with frantic action up and down the field.

Proch, always a threat to opposing defenses in the final third, drew a foul 25 yards from goal in the 85th minute. The ensuing kick nearly put the Blue Devils ahead as Proch's shot hit the crossbar and rebounded directly to Max Moser, who sent it wide right.

Less than a minute later the woodwork saved the Blue Devils. Ivy Brisma got loose on the right side and knocked his looping shot off the crossbar and Pepe Garcia hit the rebound into the left side netting.

Duke had the better of chances in the final five minutes and in overtime. Durand did well to come off his line and push away a service across the face of his goal, while the NC State defense did just enough to keep the Blue Devils off the scoreboard.

"We played with more urgency [at the end]," Kerr said. "We knew we wanted to win this game and we created the opportunities to do that. I'm disappointed for the guys because they worked really really hard to create those opportunities. I'm proud of how they reacted coming off of a tough Tuesday night game. I'm proud of how they worked together."

NC State led 11-8 in shots and 8-3 in corner kicks. Pulisic finished the game with three saves and his fifth shutout. Durand had two stops.

Duke returns home to host High Point, Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed by ACC Network Extra.

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