Bjornsson, Frederick Pace No. 8 Duke in 7-1 Win Over Virginia Tech

Friday, October 27

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

10-3-2, 4-3-1

Virginia Tech

4-8-4, 2-5-1

Virginia Tech

Duke

Wayne Frederick celebrates a goal for men's soccer

Bjornsson, Frederick Pace No. 8 Duke in 7-1 Win Over Virginia Tech

10/27/2023 10:46:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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DURHAM – No. 8 Duke defeated Virginia Tech, 7-1, on Senior Night at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils (10-3-2, 4-3-1) finished undefeated in the regular season at Koskinen Stadium for the second consecutive season and secured the fifth seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

Ulfur Bjornsson and Wayne Frederick both finished with a brace, while Forster Ajago scored his ACC-leading 13th goal of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Duke offense tested the visiting goalkeeper early, forcing two saves in the opening 13 minutes of action.
A Virginia Tech own goal opened the scoring in the 20th minute, giving Duke the 1-0 lead.
The physicality picked up as the first half wore on, with 10 fouls and two yellow cards shown over the next 16 minutes.
The Hokies leveled the score, 1-1, in the 37th minute, as an attempted clearance by the Duke defense fell to the feet of a Virginia Tech attacker, who crossed the ball to the far post where his teammate was waiting to slot home the goal.
Duke pushed forward on the attack as the second half started, earning six corner kicks within the first seven minutes after the break. Ulfur Bjornsson broke through in the 54th minute, heading in a ball that was headed across the box by Forster Ajago.
Ajago and Bjornsson quickly linked up again, this time with Bjornsson setting up Ajago for Duke's third goal of the night, in the 58th minute.
A Virginia Tech player was shown a straight red in the 65th minute, allowing Duke to play with a man advantage for the final 25 minutes of the match.
The Blue Devils added four goals within the last 10 minutes of action, with Wayne Frederick scoring twice, Bjornsson completing a brace of his own, and a second own goal by the visitors.

NOTES

With the win, Duke finished the regular season with a 9-0-1 (.950) record at Koskinen, marking the best regular-season winning percentage under head coach John Kerr.
The Blue Devils also extended their current streak of undefeated regular-season matches at home to 21.
Duke scored seven goals for the second straight game, having finished with the 7-0 win versus Howard on Tuesday night. It marks the first time since 1971 that Duke has scored at least seven goals in back-to-back games (7-1 versus Pfeiffer, 8-3 versus Davidson).
The Blue Devils out shot the Hokies, 24-6, including a 14-4 advantage in shots on goal.
Ulfur Bjornsson tallied the first brace of his career, following up his hat trick against Howard in Duke's mid-week match on Tuesday night. The freshman is the second Blue Devil to record back-to-back multi-goal performances this season, after Forster Ajago did so with a hat trick against Furman and a brace versus Wofford.
Ajago scored the 13th regular-season goal of his season and added two more assists, pushing his season total to four assists, good for an ACC-best 30 points.
Wayne Frederick secured the first brace of his career, scoring twice within a five-minute span in the closing minutes of the match.
Along with Ajago's two assists, Bjornsson, Frederick, Nick Pariano, Ruben Mesalles and Bull Jorgensen all logged assists on Friday night.

QUOTES

"Excellent performance. We were chasing a goal differential of five, so we mentioned at halftime, we were hoping that North Carolina would beat Virginia so we would get the bye, but we did our job as much as we could. But yeah, overall, really pleased with our performance. Bummer to give the goal away late in the first half, but overall, really happy with how we played." – head coach John Kerr on Duke's performance on Friday night.
"Really, really proud of the whole group of seniors. This group of seniors have put us back on the map. They came in during COVID, we had a tough year, we were under .500. And nobody lost confidence, nobody lost the fire. And the kind of enthusiasm we had amongst the whole group was immense and it carried over to the younger guys and the older guys." – Kerr on the seniors who were recognized pregame.
"I think the team is really working well together recently. We're connecting, it's been building through the season and now we're at a good spot right now and it's just getting better and better. And I think that's helping me a lot." – freshman Ulfur Bjornsson on the team's recent form and his five-goal week.

UP NEXT

Fifth-seeded Duke hosts 12th-seeded Boston College on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at Koskinen Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m., with fans able to watch 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".

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