Duke men's soccer looks for second straight upset of Tar Heels

<p>Graduate student defender Jared Rist will get his first taste of the Tobacco Road rivalry Friday as the Blue Devils head to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina.</p>

Graduate student defender Jared Rist will get his first taste of the Tobacco Road rivalry Friday as the Blue Devils head to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina.

Update, Sept. 25, 11:50 a.m.: Due to inclement weather, Friday's match has been postponed, with a makeup date yet to be announced.

Last year’s edition of the Tobacco Road matchup was the highlight of Duke’s season. An unranked Blue Devil team upset then-No. 1 North Carolina in an intense clash at a packed Koskinen Stadium, where Duke scored two late goals to steal the victory after being down 1-0 at the half.

Hopefully for the Blue Devils, they can end Friday’s game with the same outcome, but without the drama.

Duke will attempt to capture its first ACC victory when it plays No. 2 North Carolina Friday at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C. Blue Devil head coach John Kerr said that last year’s victory against Tar Heels provided an experience that will bring added confidence to this year’s team.

“[Last year’s win] proves that we can beat them when we show up and play well,” Kerr said. “We have to be ready for them… anything can happen… the games are always going to be tough and [there will be] a lot of competitiveness involved.”

In its most recent battle against then-No. 14 Clemson, Duke (4-2-1, 0-1-1 in the ACC) got off to a sluggish start and was quickly outpaced by an impressive Tiger offense that scored just 12 minutes into the match. Although the Blue Devils made a late second-half push, it was too little, too late. If Duke wants to stand up to an intimidating North Carolina defense, it will need to maintain a high level of aggressiveness and intensity as soon as the first whistle blows.

“We have to start off a little bit stronger than we did against Clemson,” Kerr said. “I think we were a little bit lethargic and passive and we didn’t really start playing until the second half…. Offensively, we have to come alive when we win possession. It’s going to be hard to gain possession from [North Carolina], but we need to come alive and make sure that we are able to keep the ball.”

Duke’s attack on the Tar Heels (6-0-1, 2-0-0) will be headed by sophomore Jeremy Ebobisse, who leads the ACC in scoring with five goals this season. Ebobisee is likely to continue to get plenty of touches on the offensive side of the ball, as no other Blue Devil has scored more than twice.

“[Ebobisse’s] a great player,” Kerr said. “He’s very talented, he’s a goal scorer, and he can do a lot of things. He can hold the ball up for us, he can create his own shot, he can play people in …When he’s at his best, there’s no one better in the country.”

Duke will face a formidable North Carolina defense that has allowed only 0.7 goals per contest. Tar Heel redshirt freshman goalie James Pyle has only allowed two goals in the second half all season. The rest of the North Carolina defense has also been exceptional at stifling opposing teams, allowing only 15 corner kicks through seven games, compared to the 39 corners attempted by Duke’s opponents. These snapshots of what the Blue Devils are up against mean one thing—Duke will need to get off to a hot start and take advantage of all opportunities yielded by the Tar Heels.

To do this, the Blue Devils plan to take advantage of their versatile and talented offense, which has had scoring contributions from eight different players thus far. Duke has given itself plenty of scoring chances this year, averaging more than 15.3 shots per contest. Kerr sees the team’s offensive ability as its greatest strength, which he hopes the Blue Devils can use to gain an advantage on North Carolina.

“We can score goals. We can score goals from many angles, we’ve had a lot of goal scorers this season,” Kerr said. “So we want to try to use all our assets in a game like this and hopefully we can continue our success.”

On the defensive end of the field, Duke will need to keep an eye out for Tar Heel redshirt junior Tucker Hume. Hume has scored in both of North Carolina’s past two games, which has helped put lead the team in both goals scored and shooting percentage. 

With the clock ticking away near the end of their most recent match against North Florida, the Tar Heels needed a clutch goal to bring them to victory—it was Hume who found the back of the net in the 82nd minute.

For Kerr’s players, Friday night is an exciting opportunity to prove themselves against Duke’s fiercest rival. Graduate student Jared Rist is new to the squad this year, but grew up in Durham and understands what this game means for both schools. Rist sees the Blue Devils’ mental determination as being the deciding factor in the North Carolina matchup.

“The key to success on Friday is just going to be wanting it more than them. This game is huge for us…We [have] to just want it more than them,” Rist said. “I think we do, and I think we’re ready.”

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