All it takes is three bad plays to make 85 minutes of hard work seem futile.
The men's soccer team outplayed North Carolina for most of its game Sunday afternoon, but when the final horn rang, the Blue Devils had suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat.
Duke (7-2, 1-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) came out of the gate slowly, and spent the rest of the game playing catchup. The Tar Heels quickly jumped on top of the Blue Devils, scoring just 1:32 into the game. The Blue Devil defense was unable to clear the ball from its penalty area, and junior midfielder Carey Talley took a bouncing ball and hit a hard line drive into the right corner of the net, giving UNC a quick 1-0 lead.
Following its goal, UNC (4-2-1, 1-1-1 in the ACC) continued to dominate, barely allowing Duke to cross midfield. The Tar Heels scored again 5:59 into the game when the Blue Devils failed to clear a UNC cross and freshman Thomas Rijsman hit it home towards the left post. The teams had barely settled onto the field, and Duke was already down 2-0.
"It's tough when you beat yourself," sophomore midfielder Jay Heaps said. "We gave away two goals at the beginning and before we even knew it, it was 2-0. That's a really tough thing to come back from.... We've got to come more mentally prepared before the game."
Shortly after the goal, Heaps hit a header that was headed off the defensive goal line by a UNC defender, marking Duke's first offensive opportunity of the game. The Blue Devils continued trying to fight back from their deficit for the rest of the half. They were repeatedly unsuccessful, however, missing a number of shots either wide of or over the goal.
"We had more chances to score than in any other game this year," Duke coach John Rennie said. "We controlled most of the game. We had all kinds of scoring chances... you just have to score those. We have open chances to score and hit the ball over or wide. You can't do that and expect to win."
The Blue Devils were finally able to connect with 7:46 remaining in the half. Junior Steve Maynard passed down the right wing to senior defender Sam Smith, who sent a cross through the goal mouth from wide on the left side. Heaps, positioned at the far post, was able to get his head on the ball, sending it back to left post for a goal.
Duke continued to be on the offensive for the rest of the half, but was unable to capitalize on its opportunities.
The Blue Devils picked up in the second half where they had left off in the first, controlling play and having numerous scoring chances. They took nine corner kicks, but were unable to score on any of them. Instead, Duke settled for a plethora of near misses, including another head ball by Heaps that was cleared off the line by a Tar Heel defender.
The Blue Devils finally evened the score with 18:51 remaining. Junior Andy Kwon took the ball down the left wing and served it over a UNC defender to senior forward Brian Kelly, who was playing for the first time since suffering a concussion three games ago. Kelly one-timed the ball in the air, finding the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.
Before Duke could finish celebrating, though, UNC regained the lead, just 34 seconds after the Blue Devil goal. Tar Heel forward Jorge Redmond got behind the Duke defense with the ball, facing only defender Adam Mastrelli and goalie John Morton. Morton came far out of the net to help Mastrelli and dove at the ball. The ball squirmed out to the left, and Redmond hit it in to the right post for the winning goal.
"I think the fact that it was so quickly after we tied it up was distressing," Kelly said. "I really still felt that we were still going to tie that game up and send it to overtime. We were pushing and they were tired. It just didn't happen for us today."
The Blue Devils kept their hopes up and continued to press the Tar Heels. Duke scurried around, doing anything it could to score. North Carolina dropped back on the defensive, often using physical play to slow down the Blue Devils. Duke continued to charge the UNC goal, but when the final horn rang, Duke still had not found the back of the net.
"We had everything going our way," Heaps said. "We did have our chances. We can't complain about that. We created chances for ourselves. We wish we could have just gotten one more in."
On top of beating themselves, the loss hurt even more for the Blue Devils because it came at the hands of archrival and conference foe North Carolina.
"This is a huge rivalry," Kelly said. "It's a war, actually. It's physical. It's dirty. There's a lot said on the field that shouldn't be repeated. Any time you play Carolina, it's going to be a tough game. This time, they happened to come out on top of us."
Duke has now lost two straight conference games, and two of three overall. The Blue Devils will try to bounce back Wednesday when it hosts Marshall at 7 p.m.
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