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Game commentary

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Similarities appear between Duke's weekend matches**

RICHMOND, Va.--They say that turnabout is fair play. And this weekend, the No. 7 Wisconsin men's soccer team proved this adage true.

In Sunday's national championship, the Badgers defeated No. 11 Duke 2-0 in almost exactly the same manner that the Blue Devils pulled out Friday's 3-2 semifinal win over No. 1 Virginia.

First, Duke collapsed into a deep defensive shell to deny Virginia the tying goal in the last 20 minutes of their matchup, while Wisconsin suffocated the Blue Devils for the full 90 minutes en route to their seventh consecutive shutout. It was only the second time in NCAA history that a team went through the tournament without allowing a goal.

In neither game was Duke ever in the groove offensively. The Blue Devils recorded seven and six shots on goal in the semis and finals, respectively, marking their two lowest shot totals of the season. The major difference between the two contests was that in Friday's match Duke completely sat back in the penalty box as Virginia took target practice on sophomore goalkeeper John Morton, registering 15 shots.

"The key to the game is that we gave away three goals," Arena said. "But give Duke credit for being opportunistic."

Both of the Badgers' goals against Duke came off rebounds, as Wisconsin forwards were in the right places at the right times to send the Blue Devils to their first road loss of the season.

"I just followed through," Badgers striker Lars Hansen said. "The goalie and two defenders got caught on the goal line. I just happened to be there."

Third, both games hinged in large part on one team's neutralizing the opposition's star scorer. On Friday, Duke shadowed Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Mike Fisher everywhere he went, holding the junior midfielder to just one shot on net.

"We forced [Fisher] to get the ball further back, where he's not a scoring threat," Duke head coach John Rennie said.

Likewise, Wisconsin totally contained Heaps in Sunday's final. Knowing the freshman's prowess in challenging for balls in the air, Badger coach Jim Launder stuck taller defenders such as Scott Lamphear on Heaps to negate Duke's main weapon on headers.

"We just stayed solid, and played well together," Lamphear said.

The fourth similarity was that in both contests, the clinching goal came from an unexpected source: a defenseman scoring a rare goal. In the semifinals, senior fullback Craig Jeidy sent home a low liner from 18 yards out for Duke's third goal.

"The ball just rolled to me," Jeidy said. "I hoped to put it on goal."

The Badgers' Cole added the insurance score against Duke in the finals, poking the ball home after Duke defenseman Evan Whitfield had cleared the ball off the line.

Finally, both wins came from the underdog teams. Duke staged a monumental defensive stand in the second half Friday to knock off the four-time defending champion Cavaliers. Duke's familiarity with Virginia's system probably worked to its advantage, as this was the Blue Devils' third match of the year against UVa.

"Until you play Virginia, you don't appreciate the defensive pressure they put on you," Rennie said. "The mystery isn't there for our rivalry. We knew what they would do, [and] they knew what we would do."

The popular theory from the media this weekend was that Duke was so physically and emotionally exhausted from its conquest of the Cavaliers that it suffered a letdown in the final. But neither the Badgers nor the Blue Devils thought that theory held much truth.

"I'm not buying into that letdown stuff," Cole said. "They came to play, we came to play."

"It wasn't so much that we weren't ready," Morton said. "We were a little bit unlucky at the start. When we finally got it flowing, we were down a goal."

"We had put four pretty good [tournament] games together, so I'm a little disappointed at [Sunday's] result," Jeidy said. "It wasn't an accurate depiction of the way we can play."