On the Blue Devils’ Senior Night, an unlikely freshman stepped up to steal the spotlight and improve Duke’s chances of playing at home one more time this season.
Midfielder Brandon Williamson scored the first two goals of his Duke career to propel the Blue Devils to a 2-1 double-overtime upset against No. 4 Notre Dame Friday night at Koskinen Stadium. Thanks to Williamson’s tallies—one of which came with fewer than two minutes left in the second overtime—and seven saves by graduate student goalkeeper Robert Moewes, Duke still has a chance of hosting a first-round game in the ACC tournament in November.
“[This win] gives us belief,” Blue Devil head coach John Kerr said. “We decided that we would hang onto every opportunity of belief we could tonight, and I think after the game tonight we are going to be a force to be reckoned with going down the stretch.”
Williamson broke the tie to end the game in the 109th minute when he received a cross from freshman midfielder Max Moser from the right wing. In the highlight-reel exchange, Williamson chested the pass down to his right foot before burying the ball into the far right corner of the net.
“I could not have done it by myself,” Williamson said. “It was a beautiful cross by Max and I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Williamson appeared to move into the right spots throughout the match. In the 35th minute, junior defender Carter Manley initiated an attack, swinging a ball into the box that found the head of junior Cameron Moseley. After Moseley’s header was deflected, the ball rolled to Williamson, who fired a low shot into the right corner of the goal past Fighting Irish goalkeeper Chris Hubbard.
A lack of offensive production has plagued Duke (6-6-2, 2-4-1 in the ACC) recently, but the Blue Devils erupted for 16 shots Friday, well above their 13-per-game average. Duke often played the ball out wide to open space around the field for Blue Devil midfielders and forwards to create scoring opportunities.
“It’s hard to defend against our wide players,” Williamson said.”They’re so good at getting crosses in that it’s only a matter of time before you get one in the back of the net.”
Williamson’s performance made up for a sluggish start by the Blue Devils. Notre Dame quickly struck in the fifth minute, when Fighting Irish forward Jon Gallagher stole a ball from Duke defender Markus Fjortoft near the Blue Devil box before the finding forward Mark Gormley for an easy two-on-none goal.
The situation seemed to only deteriorate further as Notre Dame (10-4-1, 3-3-1) continued to dictate play for much of the early going. But the Blue Devils’ backline of CC Uche, Kevon Black and Fjortoft responded, helping Moewes deny eight Fighting Irish shots on goal.
“CC and Kevon helped Marcus organize themselves and make sure that we could bounce back from an unfortunate play,” Kerr said. “There were moments where we really had to defend and keep our composure, and I thought we did a great job keeping our shape.... To do that against a top-notch team is very impressive.”
A closely contested second half saw the Fighting Irish log eight shots. The Blue Devils had opportunities to close out the match, but junior Brian White and Moser misfired on several chances.
Competition only heightened in the overtime periods, but Moewes continued his impressive performance, recording four massive saves in just 18 minutes of overtime play. In one of those stops shortly before Williamson’s game-winner, the 6-foot-3 Dortmund, Germany, native denied Gallagher from six yards out, diving to his right to get a hand on the ball.
In a disappointing season up to this point, this win gives Duke life heading into the final stretch of the regular season and the conference tournament, which all 12 teams participate in. The Blue Devils travel to Elon Tuesday for a nonconference matchup before their final ACC tilt of the year against No. 16 Virginia Friday.
“I feel sorry for whoever has to play us next,” Williamson said. “We’re going to come out on fire in the next few games because we showed that no matter who we are playing, we’re good enough to be a top team.”
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