Soccer teams strike impressive tone in ACC

In a very physical game of a notoriously physical rivalry, moments of mental and physical brilliance from senior captains Robert Russell and Ali Curtis gave No. 8 Duke (4-2, 1-0 in the ACC) a 3-2 victory over No. 10 Clemson (3-2, 0-2 in the ACC) yesterday at Koskinen Stadium. The game featured 25 fouls and four yellow cards against Duke, the last one being a penalty on goalkeeper Jeff Haywood right outside the penalty box that allowed the Tigers to cut the lead to one with just six minutes left. Still, goals from Jordan Cila, Curtis, and Scott Noble gave Duke the margin they needed to extend its home win streak to 23 straight games. "It was a very physical game," coach John Rennie said. "We coulda, woulda, shoulda scored some more goals, but it was a great game and we worked very, very hard and I think deserved to win." Duke opened the scoring seven minutes into the game when Curtis was taken down just outside the 18-yard box. A huddle formed where the foul occurred between the three players who normally take penalty kicks-senior Russell, sophomore Trevor Perea and freshman Cila. "We know each others' strengths," the captain said. "Cila is great at touching the ball from just outside the 18 so we told him to take it.... His attitude is awesome, he's a workhorse in practice, so I have a tremendous amount of confidence in him." Sure enough, Cila was able to sneak the ball around and into the lower left corner. "The players on the field decide [who takes the kick] in terms of who's tired, who's confident," Rennie said. "You have to give credit to the seniors to let a freshman take that shot." Russell and the team showed more ingenuity at the start of the second half, when a halftime adjustment led to Noble's goal off a Russell corner kick. "At halftime we had noticed that [Clemson defender Oguchi Onyewu] was blocking our lanes," said Russell. "He was marking Noble, so we figured we'd have Noble make some near-post runs to clear up some space behind him." However, when it came time for the ploy to be used, Noble noticed that Onyewu was no longer covering him. With Onyewu out of the play, Russell reversed strategy and called for a far-post run from Noble, who put the cross into the back of the net with a powerful header. The successful corner came as no surprise to the Duke team. "Corners are our big strength," said Russell. "We have so many guys that are great in the air-Donald McIntosh, Curtis, Noble." Sandwiched between the Blue Devils' two set-play goals was an astounding play from Curtis, who scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Intercepting a back pass by Clemson, Curtis momentarily found himself racing one-on-one with goalkeeper Doug Warren. However, Curtis' progress was stopped by a Clemson defender hurrying back on the play and yanking the forward's shirt. "He was able to get a little bit of my jersey," said Curtis, "but fortunately I was able to get away from him and knock the ball in." But if it were that simple, the crowd wouldn't have been talking about the goal for the rest of the game. After disengaging his jersey from the defender's fist, Curtis put a series of moves on one Tiger, then Warren, and then a second Tiger before scoring. When asked about Ali's ability, Rennie was forced to chuckle. "I'll miss [Curtis] next year, that's for sure." Rennie wasn't smiling in the first half, though. Although up 2-1 at halftime, Rennie told his team that they needed to play with more intensity. "Clemson lost its first league game at home," he said, "so they're looking at being 0-2 in the league and they came out really hard. For a little while we didn't match that intensity, but in the second half we did." The fierceness of the match might have stemmed partly from the game the two teams played last year at Clemson, a scoreless draw that left everyone involved unhappy with the result. "Any ACC game is very physical, especially Clemson," Curtis said. "But last year we tied them so everyone felt they had a lot to prove."