It's not how high you fly; it's how high you bounce back after a fall.
Thursday night, the men's soccer team regrouped from a devastating loss to Maryland on Sunday to defeat Davidson in a 4-0 blowout, proving once again that it is a force to reckoned with in NCAA soccer. The victory was just what the No. 4 Blue Devils needed after Sunday's reality check.
"When we lose, our reaction is to play better, and we did," Duke coach John Rennie said. "We played well, we got scoring chances, and we finished on them. That's exactly what we wanted to do."
Despite the scoring prowess that Davidson forwards Robert Clarke and Phil Julien had demonstrated in their previous games, the Blue Devil defense did not have any trouble holding off the Wildcat offense. In fact, the defense did not have a difficult job at all.
For perhaps the first time this season, the Duke attack fully capitalized on all of its opportunities to score. Sparked by sophomore midfielder Jay Heaps, the Blue Devil offense dominated the entire match. Duke (7-1, 1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) took charge early in the first half, denying the Wildcats (6-7) control of the ball en route to notching its sixth shutout of the season.
The first half of Thursday's game was marked by a plethora of new faces stepping on to the field to fill the void created by the absence of senior co-captain Brian Kelly. Kelly is still recovering from the severe concussion he received during last Wednesday's contest against Campbell.
With 22:35 remaining in the half, freshman midfielder Gaston Haupert scored the first goal of the match, assisted by Heaps and junior midfielder Steve Maynard. Junior forward Matt Shattuck, who has not had significant playing time this season, prior to Thursday's game, drilled the ball home later in the half to increase the score to 2-0. Shattuck was assisted by Heaps and senior defender Sam Smith.
The second half, on the other hand, belonged to Heaps. Assisted by Smith, Heaps collected his first goal of the season, hammering the ball into the net at 64:59, effectively putting the match out of reach for Davidson. Less than five minutes later, he found the back of the net again off a pass from freshman Troy Garner.
Thursday's contest was truly a team effort for the Blue Devils. The Duke bench revealed its depth throughout the game, calling infrequently used players such as Shattuck, junior forward Tony Frangella, and freshmen Miles Romm, Johnny Tyler, Wes Dowd and goalkeeper Atli Knuttson off the bench. In addition, Heaps, Smith, Maynard and Evan Whitfield all stood out for the Blue Devils Thursday night.
"A lot of people got chances to score, and different guys scored," Heaps said. "I think that just opened the game up for us, and we really needed to get through tonight.... Now we're getting our offense back from different people, and that's what we need."
Although Thursday's victory was a tremendous one, the Blue Devils do not consider it to be a major turning point for the team.
"Just like Maryland was only one game, this in only one game," Rennie said. "It's not a whole lot more than that."
Instead of dwelling on Thursday's success, Duke intends to immediately focus its attention on the Blue Devils' upcoming match against North Carolina (3-2-1 overall, 0-1-1 in the ACC ). The contest, which will take place this Sunday at the Duke Soccer Stadium at 2 p.m., promises to be an exciting one, as the traditional rivalry between the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels remains as intense as always.
"It won't be a game-it will be a war," Rennie said. "It'll probably come down to which team wants to win it more."
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