The men's soccer team continued to justify its No. 2 national ranking this weekend with a 3-1 win at No. 5 Clemson.
Duke (5-0 overall, 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) dominated play towards the end of the first half and the beginning of the second to notch its third win over a ranked opponent this season.
"This win helps for two [reasons]," head coach John Rennie said. "First, it's a conference win away from home, and that's important. Second, it's a [win against a] team in our region when it comes time for the NCAAs."
Junior forward Brian Kelly got the scoring started with about 10 minutes left in the first half. On a set play off of a free kick, freshman Josh Henderson touched the ball to Kelly, and Kelly fired from outside the penalty box. The shot ricocheted off the Tigers' defensive wall and eluded goalkeeper Matt Jordan for Kelly's fifth goal on the year, which is tied for the team lead.
Henderson scored his fourth goal of the season with a few minutes remaining in the half when he finished off a rebound that Jordan had deflected.
The second half consisted of more of the same from the Blue Devils as Clemson's big scoring guns, Miles Joseph and Wolde Harris, were held in check by Duke's trapping zone defense.
"The defense played very, very well," Rennie said.
Fifteen minutes into the second stanza Henderson added an insurance goal on what Rennie termed, "a beautiful combination play." Down 3-0, the homestanding Tigers then attempted to kickstart their uncharacteristically stagnant offense by sending more players on the attack.
"There was a lot of pressure on us at the end," Rennie said. "The end of the game was them throwing everybody forward."
The strategy nearly paid off for Clemson, as the Tigers produced a bevy of scoring chances down the stretch. With 18 minutes to go, Harris broke free and rifled a long shot past Duke goalie John Morton that hit the crossbar and was cleared out of danger.
Five minutes later, Morton lost his bid for his second shutout of the season. Harris sprinted down the center of the field with Duke defenders in hot pursuit. Moments before the Blue Devil containment reached Harris, he slid the ball to an open Joseph on the left wing, producing a one-on-one with Morton. Joseph rolled the ball under Morton's left arm to pull Clemson within two goals.
Rennie acknowledged that the score could easily have ended 3-3, as the Tigers kept up the heat on the Duke backline. To compound the pressure problem, the Blue Devils stayed with their pattern of sparse substitutions throughout the game.
"We still have to do better in terms of finding depth," Rennie said. "We got tired at the end, so we sent in subs."
Junior Jeremiah Tao and sophomore Matt Shattuck provided the fresh legs to stanch the Clemson rush in the last 10 minutes.
The Blue Devils will now take their impressive record and their nearly 3-to-1 ratio of goals to goals allowed into Buies Creek for a match with Campbell this Thursday evening.
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