Blue Devils Start Season With 3-0 Win Against Liberty

Friday, August 27

Durham, N.C.

7:30 P.M.

Duke University

1-0-0, 0-0-0

Liberty

0-1-0, 0-0-0

Liberty

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Start Season With 3-0 Win Against Liberty

8/28/2021 12:29:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)Photo Gallery

DURHAM – Duke men's soccer rode a wave of offense to a sterling opening night victory, defeating Liberty 3-0 on Friday night at Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils peppered the Flames with 20 shots, seven shots on goal and three goals in the win. Senior Conor Kelly opened the scoring in the 11th minute, while sophomore Miguel Ramirez added a 59th minute tally and sophomore Luke Thomas finished the win with another in the 88th minute. Senior Eliot Hamill earned his third career regular season shutout, making one save on five Flames shots.

"The intensity was there from the beginning," said Head Coach John Kerr. "In the past we've had games where we haven't started well and tonight, we started well, and we ended well. So, for me, I feel that we are making strides in understanding who we want to be and not just who we are. We want to be very intentional, and we want to play with intensity and that's what we did tonight."

Right out of the gate, the Blue Devils offense was buzzing in the Flames end of the field. Junior Scotty Taylor earned the first great chance of the day with a shot that rang off the right post in just the eighth minute. His fellow forward Kelly would finish what Taylor started, tucking a goal into the lower left side for the Blue Devils first tally of the season.

It was a milestone achievement for Kelly, who scored the first goal of his collegiate career in his 34th career game. The Rumson, N.J., native has been a vocal leader amongst the team and immediately brought energy to the Friday night matinee, taking four shots in the game with another shot on goal added later in the night.

The Blue Devils continued to attack Liberty goaltender Danny Cordero, who made some strong saves, but was bailed out by the post again, as Peter Stroud rang the pipe in the 36th minute. Nevertheless, the Blue Devils held a 1-0 lead at halftime.

After some back-and-forth play in the early portion of the second half, the Blue Devils combined for a brilliant passing play to set up Ramirez. Freshman Ruben Mesalles picked up his first career point with a strong feed to Thomas, who lofted in a cross that found the head of Ramirez, who delivered a brilliant finish into the righthand corner of the net to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Blue Devils controlled the pace for the remainder of the night, holding the Flames offense in check. Thomas would put the game on ice to seal an incredible collegiate debut, scoring deep in the box with an authoritative finish to take a 3-0 lead. Thomas scored his first goal and assist for three points in his collegiate debut after joining the team as a walk-on this season.

The Blue Devils will be back in Koskinen Stadium looking to start the season 2-0, as they play host to Merrimack on Sunday at 12 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on ACCNX.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMSOC".

#GoDuke