No. 4 Duke Defeats No. 1 Wake Forest With Thrilling 3-2 Victory

Saturday, October 1

Winston-Salem, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

7-0-2, 3-0-1

Wake Forest

9-1-0, 3-1-0

Duke

Wake Forest

No. 4 Duke Defeats No. 1 Wake Forest With Thrilling 3-2 Victory

10/1/2022 10:16:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score FINAL GAME BOOK PHOTO GALLERY Photo Gallery

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In a thrilling match that featured five second-half goals, the fourth-ranked Duke men's soccer team knocked off No. 1 Wake Forest 3-2 at Spry Stadium Saturday night. The Blue Devils (7-0-2, 3-0-1) handed the Demon Deacons (9-1-0, 3-1-0) their first loss of the season behind goals by Shakur Mohammed, Jai Bean and Axel Gudbjornsson.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jai Bean produced Duke's first opportunity in the third minute, pushing his shot just outside the left post.
Wake Forest tested Eliot Hamill for the first time in the ninth minute, as the graduate student goalkeeper easily made his first save of the night.
The Demon Deacons maintained the pressure as the first half continued, putting a shot over the crossbar in the 24th minute and just wide right in the 25th.
Duke picked up the offensive tempo, earning corners in the 36th and 39th minutes, but were unable to find a shot off the services.
Duke finished the first half with two shots, and Wake Forest had seven with two on goal.
The first threat of the second half came via a Duke free kick, as Peter Stroud drew the foul.
Nick Pariano served the set piece into the box, where Shakur Mohammed was there to head it into the net, giving Duke a 1-0 lead in the 57th minute.
Wake Forest responded seconds later, converting a penalty kick in the 58th minute to even the score at 1-1.
Jai Bean put the Blue Devils back on top just two minutes later, pressuring the Demon Deacons goalkeeper into a turnover in the back in the 60th minute, deflecting the attempted clearance into the goal.
Wake Forest put pressure on again in the 65th minute, but a strong defensive effort by Ruben Mesalles denied the Demon Deacons the game-tying goal.
The Demon Deacons seemingly squared the score at 2-2 in the 71st minute, but the goal was disallowed after an offside call.
Scotty Taylor nearly gave Duke its third goal of the night, with his shot in the 74^th minute deflected by the diving goalkeeper.
The Blue Devils' third goal did eventually come, as Axel Gudbjornsson flicked home a header inside the far post in the 77th minute off a Miguel Ramirez corner.
Wake Forest picked up its second goal in the 80th minute off a corner kick via an own goal by the Blue Devils.
Hamill made several key saves in the final minutes of play, including a fingertip stop with less than a minute on the clock, to preserve the victory.

NOTES

Duke picked up its first win against the No. 1 team in the country since defeating top-ranked North Carolina in 2014.
The Blue Devils' victory was the first by an opposing team at Spry Stadium in 14 contests.
Shakur Mohammed's goal was his fifth of the 2022 season.
Axel Gudbjornsson now has three goals in his freshman campaign, second-best on the team behind Mohammed's five.
Duke finished the game with 14 shots, including eight on goal.
Eliot Hamill tied his season-high for saves in a game with seven, matching the total he recorded in Duke's 2-1 victory at Louisville in early September.
Five Blue Devils played the full 90 minutes – Amir Daley, Kamran Acito, Stroud, Gudbjornsson, and Hamill.

QUOTES

"We work on all three of those concepts. It was nice to get a goal from pressuring the goalkeeper and it's hard running and not rewarding sometimes when you make the run. But it shows that if you keep at it and you're committed, you'll score goals like that. Great to have two goals in terms of set pieces and we're thrilled with the way we performed. And we're unlucky even in the run of play not to score a couple more." – head coach John Kerr on Duke scoring via a free kick, goalkeeper turnover and corner kick.
"If you're playing the number one team in the country, you need movements like that. Defensively, I felt like the set pieces were a bit disorganized and I knew we were going to score that way. It was good to get the goal and get the team going that way." – Shakur Mohammed on his fifth goal of the season.
"Pressure makes diamonds. That's what I go by. I think the more you press and the more you go off of it, the better. As soon as the ball went up, I said 'I got this' and as soon as it hit my foot, 'that's why we do it'". – Jai Bean on his goal via pressuring the goalkeeper.
"Just have to fight for the ball always. Always make it a challenge. This instance, I saw the near zone was open, we brought two guys to the corner flag and ran to the near post. No one there, little flick, that's how we do it." – Axel Gudbjornsson on his header goal.

UP NEXT

Duke returns home for its next match, taking on Howard in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., with streaming available on ACC Network Extra.

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

#GoDuke