COLLEGE PARK, Md. - During the first six games of the 1996 season, the men's soccer team established itself firmly as the No. 1 team in the nation. Sunday afternoon at Ludwig Soccer Field, the Maryland Terrapins needed less than eight minutes to knock Duke off its pedestal.
The Terps scored three first-half goals and cruised to a 4-1 victory, burning a Duke squad that had relinquished just one goal in its previous six contests. With the win, Maryland extended its winning streak against Duke to three games.
"We came out mentally prepared to pressure Duke and to make them make some mistakes," Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski said. "I thought we played with a lot of confidence and a lot of belief in ourselves that we could play with them, and we've beaten them the last couple of years."
In a first half marred by six yellow cards and a red card, violations against the Blue Devils (6-1, 1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) led to two Terrapin goals in the first 7:35. Sophomore midfielder Keith Beach initiated Maryland's scoring, following an indirect kick with a 15-yard bullet into the top left corner of the net.
Five minutes later, a controversial foul gave the Terps (4-2-2, 1-0-2 in the ACC) a penalty kick. Senior forward Shane Dougherty seized the opportunity, as he fired a shot past a diving John Morton and into the lower left part of the goal.
Throughout the first half, referee Ted Covaciu received harsh criticism from both benches. After the game, Duke head coach John Rennie refused to discuss the officiating, citing an ACC rule that prohibits coaches from doing so.
"The game was ruined in the first five minutes and was a terrible exhibition for the rest of the game," Rennie said. "We weren't allowed to play.
"Seven cards in the first half-it was just a nightmare... it wasn't a game."
The officiating was far from one-sided; Maryland's Cirovski also disputed several calls, and the Terrapin fans chided the referees relentlessly.
"The game was not that rough-it was a hard game between two very good teams playing in the conference," Cirovski said. "I thought the referee made it a little more havoc-ridden because some things were calls and other times they weren't. I think there's a lot of respect between the two teams... we played hard but fair, and I think they did the same thing."
On a day dubbed "Snickers Youth Day," two Maryland seniors, Dougherty and Russell Payne, stole the show. With 13:19 left in the first half and one tally already to his credit, Dougherty spun by a Duke defender and pushed a shot by Morton, who had moved forward to challenge Dougherty's attack.
Payne repeatedly squelched the Blue Devils' comeback attempts, making 10 saves and nullifying Duke's 17-14 shots-on-goal advantage. The senior goalkeeper attributed his team's remarkable success against Duke to the Blue Devils' annual contender status, since Terrapin players circle the dates when highly-ranked conference rivals come to town.
"For us, all the games are big, especially the ACC games," Payne said. "We always strive for perfection, and Duke is just one of those teams that always represents a strong opponent in the ACC, so we get ourselves up for this game."
Blue Devil freshman Miles Romm ended Payne's shutout in the 78th minute, knocking in a shot from just inside the box. Four minutes later, however, Maryland freshman Jason Bent-who performed brilliantly all afternoon and had already assisted on one goal-helped to seal the outcome. Bent outran the Duke defense down the left sideline, dribbled right and centered a perfect pass to teammate Judah Cooks, who beat a helpless Morton for the game's final score.
Duke played without its leading scorer, senior Brian Kelly, who suffered a concussion Wednesday in the team's 2-0 win over Campbell. Playing come-from-behind soccer throughout Sunday's game, the Blue Devils took on a greater sense of urgency than usual and, as a result, could not accurately assess how their offense would run without Kelly.
Although Kelly's absence might not have made a difference, some of the younger Blue Devils felt that had he been playing, the senior star would have kept the team focused when it fell behind early.
"He would have helped out a lot with his leadership and everything else on the field, especially when we got down a couple of goals," said freshman Troy Garner, Duke's second-leading scorer.
Unlike his young players, Rennie denied that Kelly's presence would have had any effect on the game's outcome. Rennie dismissed the importance of Sunday's contest, stressing his opinion that the officials put the game out of reach in the first few minutes.
"There's nothing from this game that is relevant to our team," Rennie said. "It wasn't a game.
"Let's just forget about it-it was a nightmare from the beginning and the players were taken out of the game."
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