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Duke men's soccer falls to No. 8 North Carolina following series of second-half near misses

<p>Daniele Proch's extra time goal helped Duke beat Vermont to win the John Rennie invitational.</p>

Daniele Proch's extra time goal helped Duke beat Vermont to win the John Rennie invitational.

The Blue Devils kept pressing forward until the last second of Friday's match, nearly delivering a dramatic equalizer like their late goal against High Point two weeks ago. But against stronger competition, lightning did not strike twice.

No. 23 Duke suffered its first loss of the season against archrival No. 8 North Carolina 2-1 at Bryan Park in Greensboro, with all the scoring coming in the first half. The Blue Devils got three shots off in the final minute of play to no avail, culminating in senior Cameron Moseley's bicycle kick with a second left that sailed just wide right.

"It definitely hurts, but we showed that they have nothing on us and that’s definitely a starting point for us," midfielder Daniele Proch told GoDuke.com. "We have nothing to envy to them and we have to learn from our big mistakes of this game, but at the same time, go forward."

The Tar Heels (6-1-0, 2-0-0 in the ACC) capitalized on the first real threat of the contest, earning a corner kick in the eighth minute. Sophomore Cam Lindley sent a cross into the box that found the head of midfielder Alan Winn, who gave Duke goalkeeper Will Pulisic little chance to make the save.

With plenty of time to equalize, the Blue Devils (4-1-1, 1-1-0) manufactured an impressive goal in the 32nd minute. Senior defender Kevon Black made a run up the field, controlling a long ball at his feet with one touch at the edge of the 18-yard box before sending a pass across the middle of the field to Proch. The sophomore midfielder ran onto the pass and kicked a strike across his body into the bottom left corner of the net to even the score.

The match was only tied for eight minutes, as North Carolina used another set piece to score the decisive goal.

Lindley sent another corner kick into the box, where forward Jelani Pieters leaped to draw the defense toward him. But instead of heading it at the net, he flicked the ball behind him to the far side of the goal, where Mauricio Pineda was open and waiting to punch in an easy score from point-blank range.

"[I'm] disappointed to give two goals away on corner kicks to kind of give them a little bit of momentum, but I thought our first half was excellent. They had to adjust their formation to deal with our firepower," Duke head coach John Kerr told GoDuke.com. "It’s just frustrating that we gave up two set-play goals, and we paid the price."

With a one-goal lead, the Tar Heels focused on controlling possession for much of the second half, but the Blue Devils did break through with a pair of golden opportunities before the last-minute flurry. Moseley delivered a perfect cross to senior Brian White in the box with about 30 minutes left, and White headed a shot destined for the right side of the net before freshman goalkeeper Alec Smir dove to his left to deflect it away. It was the only save Smir had to make all night.

About 10 minutes later, Moseley found freshman defender Matthias Frick open in the same spot in front of the goal, but with no defender between Frick and Smir, Frick whiffed on the shot.

White had one more try with 53 seconds left, but his shot was cleared off the goal line by Lindley, and neither of Duke's final two attempts were on target. When Moseley's final shot went wide, North Carolina fans could breathe a sigh of relief at the team's temporary home in Greensboro—the Tar Heels' home stadium in Chapel Hill is under construction.

"We had some good chances and we put the pressure on them, and we put numbers forward. We exposed ourselves a little bit," Kerr said. "We hung in until the very end and made it very close."

North Carolina won despite being outshot 11-10, and the match marked its third straight one-goal win against the Blue Devils—18 of the rivals' last 19 meetings have been tied or decided by a single goal.

"That’s a top-10 team right there in North Carolina, and they’ve got some good players and they play a great style, and we went toe to toe with them for a lot of the game," Kerr said. "I'm very proud of our guys."

The Blue Devils will return home to face Wisconsin Tuesday before visiting another top-10 foe in No. 7 Syracuse Friday night.

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