The men's soccer team played gallantly against No. 10 James Madison, but in the end, the Dukes downed Duke.
In Sunday's second-round NCAA tournament match at Harrisonburg, Va., the No. 6 Blue Devils outshot and took twice as many corners as JMU (20-2-2), but dug too deep a hole for themselves as they fell 2-1 in a snowy contest. With the win, the Dukes advanced to the national quarterfinals for the first time in their history.
The frigid conditions were a stark contrast from the blazing heat of a weekend ago when Duke traveled to Miami to defeat Florida International 2-1 in its first-round game.
"We've gone from the tropics to the Arctic," head coach John Rennie said.
The Blue Devils' 15-7-1 season ended on a somewhat sour note as the team surrendered multiple goals for the first time in its last 14 games. But if you think it's because senior Garth Lagerwey's goaltending went cold along with the weather, think again.
As has been the case in most of Duke's losses this year, the squad simply could not match up physically with James Madison. Furthermore, the Blue Devils were at an even greater disadvantage since their biggest intimidator was through for the season with a tear of his anterior cruciate ligament.
"A player like J.J. Ossola might have been of help today," Rennie said.
The lack of bodies was clearly a problem for the Blue Devils, as they were forced to "play five freshmen extensively," according to Rennie. But the mere personnel deficiency was the least of Duke's concerns. Just as in the crushing early-season home loss to Creighton, Duke was often beaten for possession of loose balls, generally a key factor in deciding the outcome of a match.
"They were big and strong, and good in the air," Rennie said. "They had an advantage on restarts and set plays."
That advantage came into play quickly for the Dukes as JMU scored the only goal of the first half on a set play -- a corner kick. The scoreless game had been fairly even until the 30th minute when the Dukes' Nathan Fairchild took a shot that was blocked, but a well-positioned Mark Mathewson poked in the short rebound to put James Madison ahead, 1-0.
Though they were down at the break, the Blue Devils knew from their first-half performance that they were certainly not out of it. Also, with JMU's high-scoring Brent Bennett out with a thigh injury, one break in Duke's favor could turn the contest around. But that break went JMU's way.
Only minutes into the second half, the Dukes' Kaarlo Kankkunen, this year's Colonial Athletic Association player of the year, received a pass at the top of the Blue Devil goal box. He got off a shot that ricocheted off of Duke's Judd Willmann and into the right corner of the goal.
"Garth went one way, and the ball was deflected the other," Rennie said.
In Colombia, Willmann's play might be grounds for execution, but Rennie had nothing but praise for his senior.
"I thought Judd did a fine job at sweeper," Rennie said. "They just scored a couple of goals on us, and made it real difficult for us to come back."
But what a comeback it was.
"At the end, in the last 30 minutes, we pretty much had them on the run," Rennie said. "We stepped up our play, but we just ran out of time."
With under 10 minutes to go, Duke's efforts paid off as Jason Kreis fed a pass to freshman Steve Maynard, who continued his postseason surge as he scored from close range past Barry Purcell. The assist moved Kreis into sole possession of third place on Duke's all-time scoring chart, but more importantly, it cut JMU's lead in half and gave the Blue Devils a realistic shot at notching the equalizer.
"We left ourselves enough time to get the tying goal," Rennie said. "But we just didn't finish our chances."
The best of those opportunities came as time wound down when Kreis hit a ball from 25 yards out. Rennie said that "he had the keeper beaten, but [the shot] didn't dip quick enough" and consequently drifted over the crossbar. That was the last that was heard from the Blue Devils.
Duke refused to blame the season-ending loss on misfortune or fate or low temperatures, as it seemed to be one of those games where the better team simply did not come out on top.
"We all felt this was a game we could have won, not that [James Madison] didn't deserve to win," Rennie said. "But the players felt this was a team we could have beaten, and we didn't. That's disappointing."
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