Sunday at Duke Soccer Stadium, the No. 9 men's soccer team treated the more than 4,000 home fans to the most victorious tie game ever.
Down 3-1 in the second overtime period, the Blue Devils (10-3-1 overall, 2-2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) pulled off a miraculous comeback against vaunted No. 1 Virginia.
Duke stunned the Cavaliers (13-0-2, 4-0-2) with two goals from freshman striker Jay Heaps in the final minute and a half of play to force the deadlock. Heaps' final goal came on a dramatic point-blank header with five seconds left.
"It feels like a win,'' head coach John Rennie said. "It was a great effort and a great result. It makes your aches and pains a little less.''
Junior forward Brian Kelly said the tie gave the team the boost it has needed. "To play this [Virginia] team this hard really helps our spirits,'' he said.
Followers of the Blue Devils will recall that it was also Heaps who scored the tying goal in Duke's Sept. 10 win against UCLA after rallying from a three-goal deficit.
"[Heaps] has done an outstanding job,'' said Kelly, who had served the ball to set up Heaps' header. "You can't ask for more from a freshman.''
Duke came out surprisingly aggressive in the first half, making many strong runs deep into the Cavalier defense and creating open shots with its crisp passing game. UVa appeared tentative as the Blue Devils took the offensive and the Cavaliers sat back on their heels. But despite outshooting Virginia 11-5 in the first half, Duke could not find the net, and the period ended with no scoring.
"That's the most we've outplayed Virginia in the first half ever,'' Rennie said.
Regarding Duke's inability to finish its numerous chances in the first half, Kelly admitted that it was frustrating, but said that the Blue Devils knew they would eventually find the net.
``You've got to figure that [the goals] are going to come at some point,'' Kelly said.
And only three minutes into the second half, it came. Kelly took the ball down the left wing and sent a centering pass into the middle. Sophomore Andy Kwon and UVa goalkeeper Yuri Sagatov sprinted for the ball, but Kwon won the race and poked the ball into the vacated net.
But Virginia would even the score 10 minutes later on a controversial non-call by the officials. UVa's Matt Chulis looped a through pass to teammate Damian Silvera, who appeared to be offsides as he received the ball. The Blue Devils, anticipating the referee's whistle, stopped playing, but Silvera kept dribbling, and he knocked the ball past the scrambling Duke goalie John Barth.
The Cavaliers regained their confidence on offense as regulation time wound down, and it was only a few superior instinct saves by Barth that prevented a blowout. In only his second career start, Barth's best play occurred in the 73rd minute when Virginia's Sam Franklin was left wide open inside the penalty box for a header. The shot appeared to be an imminent goal as it left Franklin's head, but the fully-extended Barth tipped the ball past the far post.
John Barth has been playing extremely well,'' Rennie said.He played well in practice this week, so we decided to give him a shot.''
The tiring Blue Devils held UVa at bay for the remainder of the second half to force the extra session.
But as one would expect from the four-time defending national champion, Virginia came out hungry in the first overtime, and punched in two quick goals.
At the 93rd minute, UVa's Sean Feary made a run into the Duke defense, but the Blue Devil fullbacks were indecisive about stepping up to strip the ball. Unguarded, Feary pressed forward and lofted a ball to Silvera in the middle. Silvera, one-on-one against Barth, easily scored as Barth desperately left the net to cut the down the angle on Silvera.
Then, at the 99:55 mark Silvera struck a swerving direct kick into the Duke penalty box, where the Cavaliers' Tim Prisco outleaped the pack and nodded a header into the goal to put Virginia up 3-1.
The second overtime was a different story altogether. Sensing defeat, the Blue Devils began to attack the UVa goal, and Virginia shrank back into a defensive shell. A short-range header from Duke was cleared off the goal line by the Cavaliers, and at the 116th minute a header off a Blue Devil corner kick went high. The exhausted Duke squad had time for one last gasp--but it turned out that that was all it would need.
With just over a minute to play, Heaps chased after a bounding ball into the Virginia defense. Sagatov ran up to boot the ball away--and whiffed. Heaps cruised into the empty net to pull Duke within one.
The crowd rose to its feet as the Blue Devils made their final run on net. With time winding down, senior midfielder Bobby Moghim dumped the ball to Kelly, who was sprinting to the endline. Kelly, noticing a pack of blue shirts six yards out, chipped the ball up in hopes of a header. Heaps was there, and he slammed the ball home to the fans' great delight.
After I hit it, I stopped,'' Kelly said.The ball seemed like it was in the air for an eternity.
``[The fans] were a big factor. Everybody on the field wanted to give them something to cheer about.''
[The crowd] really helped us out,'' Heaps said.They kept our butts in it.''
The tie was especially important as the Blue Devils head to Winston-Salem on Wednesday to face Wake Forest in their final ACC game of the regular season. The only bad news for Duke is that freshman center striker Josh Henderson will be sidelined for at least the rest of the regular season and the ACC tournament as he suffered torn ligaments in his left ankle. Henderson's scoring presence will be sorely missed since the Blue Devils lose their best finisher as they jockey for a high seeding in postseason play.
For the time being, though, Duke was pleased with its gritty play.
The problem was that we weren't getting the breaks in the first half,'' Kelly said.But we got a little redemption at the end.''
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.