CHARLESTON, S.C. - In two heated battles between the men's soccer team and two schools from South Carolina, the South came out on top.
The Blue Devils (11-6, 3-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) traveled to Charleston to compete in the College of Charleston Oneita Soccer Classic and came away with disappointing results, losing to South Carolina, 3-1, Saturday night and the College of Charleston, 1-0, Sunday.
Saturday's contest began slowly with a scoreless first half. The Gamecocks (8-7-1) stepped up the pressure on the Blue Devils early in the second half, as Robbie Paitt notched two goals in nine minutes, finding the back of the net off a pass from Edward Lopez at 49:13 and driving the ball home again at 58:03.
But Duke responded to the adversity, playing with renewed intensity. On a cross from sophomore defender Evan Whitfield, sophomore midfielder Jay Heaps lofted the ball into the net with a header at 81:33. Heaps' goal seemed to put the match within reach for Duke, but the Gamecocks refused to let it back in. Less than two minutes after Heaps' goal, Josh Wolff scored the final goal of the game, securing the win for the Gamecocks.
"It's a real disappointment," Heaps said. "It took 60 minutes for us to start really playing the way we should have been playing. We started dominating for a little while; we got within one, but then they put us away on their third goal."
On Saturday, the Duke squad seemed to be plagued by a lack of cohesiveness as well as a lack of consistency. Instead of the team functioning as a unit, each player appeared to be playing alone on the field.
"We have to really start playing as a team," Heaps said. "We haven't figured out how to play as a team yet offensively.... Right now we just have to come together."
This inability to find a rhythm of play-and stick to it could have been due to some recent changes in the lineup. Sophomore Josh Henderson, who usually plays as a forward, was relocated to the defensive line.
In addition, during the second half, Duke substituted defenders Steve Hauptman, Wes Dowd and Peter Gail for midfielders Steve Maynard and Andy Kwon and forward Brian Kelly.
Sunday's loss to Charleston, on the other hand, was a match which Duke controlled, but was unable to come away from with a much-needed victory.
In a more rapid, intense contest than Saturday's match, the Blue Devils kept possession of the ball throughout most of the contest. Duke created many opportunities to score, but was unable to find the back of the net on any of its chances. The Cougars, on the other hand, took advantage of the chance they had.
With a little over 15 minutes remaining in the first half, Charleston's Andrew Kelly notched the only goal of the game, rocketing home a cross from Damon Richvalsky. The rest of the match was an extremely physical defensive battle in which both teams were held scoreless.
"We had enough chances; we just didn't finish them," Rennie said. "We played well and had a lot of possession.... They ended up scoring a goal against the line of play. And yet, in spite of that, you should be able to come back and score goals. We scored one goal in two games and you're not going to win doing that."
As both South Carolina and the College of Charleston are in the same NCAA tournament region as Duke, this weekend's losses could adversely affect Duke's chances to get an NCAA tournament bid.
In order to get a bid, the Blue Devils will need to regain their early-season form and focus in both their upcoming game against William & Mary, the final home match of the season, and the ACC Tournament.
"We just have to stay in focus," Sam Smith said. "We have to realize what's on the line."
For a team that went to the NCAA Finals last season and returned 10 of 11 starters, this is the last place it thought it would be with one regular-season game left.
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