Soccer games are often decided by brief moments of precision play and long stretches of tough defense.
Sunday afternoon, that proved to be the case as the men's soccer team rolled over Furman 4-0.
The Blue Devils, looking to rebound from a mediocre start to the season, have now put together back-to-back shutouts to raise their record to 6-4-1 (2-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference). For a team plagued by injuries to its defensive unit, those kinds of efforts are sorely needed.
"[The defense] played very well," head coach John Rennie said. "We're trying to rebuild our defense. It's a new group back there and they're playing better and better every game."
Craig Jeidy, Brian Crane, Adam Mastrelli and Eric Marshall started the game on defense, holding the Paladins to a meager eight shots on goal.
"We're really starting to jell," Mastrelli said. "We're getting set in our positions. We started out a little shaky, and a lot of people weren't sure where they were playing. But, two shutouts in a row give great confidence to the defense."
In addition to the consistent Duke defensive effort, two key plays helped to decide the game.
The first occurred early in the first half. Furman goalkeeper Steve Ahn, in a desperation play to clear the ball away from the attacking freshman Matt Shattuck, kicked the ball directly to Duke midfielder Brian Kelly.
Kelly then ripped a 35-yard shot into the far corner of the empty net that brought gasps from the crowd. Kelly's first of two goals in the game gave the Blue Devils a decisive one goal advantage just 16 minutes into the game.
"It was just a chance shot," Kelly said. "I just struck it and hoped it would go in, and I was lucky enough that it did."
The second key moment occurred in the 73rd minute of the game on a Duke breakaway. On a give-and-go in Furman's box, Jason Kreis was dealt a tough blow by Ahn, clearly after he had passed the ball to Andy Kwon. Kreis went down hard.
"I fell in a real awkward position and something just pinched in my back," Kreis said.
Kreis, the Blue Devils' leading scorer and offensive focal point, was forced to leave the game. Rennie expects to know Kreis' status by today or tomorrow.
"Those things usually take 24 hours to find out," Rennie said. "Neither [Kreis' injury nor an earlier injury to Marshall's knee] appears to be immediately really serious."
The foul against Kreis, resulted in a successful penalty kick by Richie Dunn that gave the Blue Devils an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Furman head coach John Tart was red-carded for arguing the call.
The penalty shot raised Dunn's goal total on the day to two. Earlier in the second half, Kreis had weaved around several Paladin defenders and passed to Dunn for his first goal of the afternoon.
Kelly finished the Blue Devil scoring in the 77th minute of the game. He scored off a Brian Crane pass to make the score 4-0.
Duke, which racked up 24 shots on goal, displayed a level of play against Furman that bodes well for the future.
"This is the way this team is capable of playing," Kelly said. "It wasn't our best performance, but it shows a rise in play in every game and hopefully we can carry that through to the next game."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.