Marshall University's Thundering Herd stampeded over the No. 11 men's soccer team 2-1 Wednesday night in a disappointing showing that included three yellow cards, a red card and double overtime.
With 3:11 remaining in the second half and the score tied at one, a Marshall forward collided with Duke sophomore Evan Whitfield. Both players went down, and several members of both teams joined the melee. Subsequently, the referee ejected Whitfield from the game.
Without Whitfield anchoring the defense, the Blue Devil sweepers could not quell the momentum of the Herd in overtime. Marshall sophomore Ian Leggat found the back of the net at 98:03. Despite a valiant effort to pull ahead and emerge victorious, Duke (7-3, 1-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) was unable to even the score.
"The longer the game goes tied, and especially if it goes into overtime, the advantage goes to the underdog," Duke coach John Rennie said. "We were a man down, and they took advantage of it. If we hadn't had a man down we would have been fine. It gave [Marshall] extra motivation, an extra push."
After a sluggish start, the unranked Thundering Herd (4-3-1) notched the first goal of the game when Leggat threaded a cross from sophomore David Husbands into the net less than 19 minutes into the contest.
Motivated to make up the deficit, the Blue Devils rallied from behind. Fighting through a driving rainstorm, Duke gained control of the tempo of the match. Assisted by sophomore forward Josh Henderson, senior co-captain Brian Kelly drilled the ball home exactly 30 minutes into the first half, tying up the game until overtime.
Although this goal was the only one Duke scored on Wednesday, the Blue Devils realize that they mishandled many opportunities to score throughout the contest. Whereas Duke was unable to make the most of its chances, a fired-up Marshall squad capitalized when it had the chance.
"We controlled the majority of the game," Kelly said. "They didn't get many chances, and they made the most of the ones they got. We had a lot of chances to score, but we squandered them."
Marshall played an extremely physical game, tripping and holding shirts en route to collecting 25 fouls and two yellow cards. Duke returned the rough play in kind, amassing 23 fouls and one yellow card, in addition to Whitfield's red card. Several of the referee's calls, or lack thereof, were contested by both Rennie and Marshall coach Bob Gray.
"It was a dirty game," Kelly said. "Marshall played physically, and they knocked us out of the game. Their strategy was to be physical, to play with intensity, and it worked for them."
With this loss, the Blue Devils have now lost three of their last four contests. Duke will attempt to bounce back Oct. 16, when it travels to UNC-Wilmington. The Blue Devils will spend the seven days between games working on putting the ball in the back of the net and finishing scoring opportunities. They also hope to work on the mental aspect of entering each game prepared to play from the opening whistle.
"This was not our best performance," Kelly said. "We need to come out a little stronger and more focused. We can't allow our games to go like this."
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