Last year, the men's soccer team atoned for a mediocre start with a blazing stretch run, winning eight of its last nine games in the regular season. This year has been just the opposite.
In 1995, the Blue Devils came roaring out of the gate at 6-0, but they have stumbled and sputtered to the finish line at 11-5-1. No. 7 Duke has won just twice in its last six games, capped off by Sunday's humiliating 2-1 setback to No. 12 James Madison.
"We just didn't play well today," head coach John Rennie said. "It was not our best effort. It just wasn't our day."
It became evident early on that it wouldn't be Duke's day, as JMU scored less than 15 minutes into the match. A long ball was played to the right side in the Blue Devil defensive third, where sophomore fullback Adam Mastrelli was isolated in one-on-one coverage with the Dukes' Geoff Honeysett.
Instead of safely chest-trapping the high ball, Mastrelli attempted a foot trap, and the ball squirted free to Honeysett. Freshman goalkeeper John Barth came off his line to try for the breakaway save, but Honeysett finished cleanly into the lower left corner of the net to give JMU the lead.
Only a number of marvelous saves by Barth throughout the game prevented what could easily have been an utter massacre. Duke's offense, sans injured freshman striker Josh Henderson, was again stagnant--it had plenty of chances on net with JMU goalie Barry Purcell out of position--but was unable to finish. According to Rennie, Henderson's status for the postseason remains uncertain, as he undergoes rehabilitation on torn ligaments in his left ankle.
"Josh is good because he opens space for [junior forward Brian Kelly] and [sophomore midfielder] Andy [Kwon]," junior defenseman Mike Dunne said. "He's missed for all of his play--not just for his finishing, [but] for keeping the ball, too."
The Blue Devils were given a brief breath of life by JMU at the start of the second half on a defensive miscommunication. At the 48th minute, Kwon chipped a ball in the middle to freshman forward Jay Heaps, who flicked a back-header into the path of the oncoming Kelly. Purcell, Kelly and a JMU fullback converged on the ball, but Purcell was careless in not calling off his defender, and Kelly had a simple finish into an empty net for his 10th goal of the year.
But there would be no more gifts from JMU on this day. The Dukes turned up the intensity on offense after the Blue Devils tied the contest, and they created solid breakaway chances on Barth. Senior sweeper Craig Jeidy could not keep up with the speed of the James Madison strikers, and this often left Barth on his own to quell the JMU fast break.
But at the 74th minute, Duke could withstand the pressure no longer. After a cross was sent into the Blue Devil penalty box, JMU's Patrick McSorley hit a strong header goalward. Sophomore midfielder Steve Maynard was stationed on the goal line to clear the ball away, but he whiffed on his attempt, and the ball trickled into the net.
"The winning goal was a swing-and-a-miss kind of thing," Rennie said. "It's the kind of play that shouldn't have been a goal."
As has been its wont all season, Duke began to press forward as time ran down, but could not create any open chances.
Suddenly, what was one of the most feared squads in the nation is now one loss away from not even making the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils were visibly disappointed with their performance.
"If we lose Thursday's [first-round Atlantic Coast Conference] game, we're 11-6-1," Dunne said. "If we don't win, we're not going to the NCAAs.
"I thought we would be prepared to play. But we came out and played terribly. We've got to find a way to win [when] everything is not going right."
"We've shown that we're capable of much more," Rennie said. "We just didn't show it out there today."
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