There was rain, cold weather and standing water on the field, but the Blue Devils still came away with the win. Yesterday, the men's soccer team traveled to Columbia, S.C. for the first round of the NCAA tournament against South Carolina. With temperatures hovering around 40 degrees, the Blue Devils (15-5) prevailed, 1-0, against the Gamecocks.
The game-winning goal came at the 71:02 mark and was scored by senior Ali Curtis. There was a struggle for possession in the box, close to the goal when South Carolina's Dave Moore fouled Curtis from behind. The goal came off a penalty kick that was called on Moore. Curtis, the Blue Devils' all-time leading scorer, converted the kick, slipping the ball past Gamecocks goalkeeper Henry Ring.
"The ball was misplayed; it came to me and I got pushed in the back, then the referee called a penalty kick," Curtis said. "On the kick, the goalie moved real early before I shot the ball and so I just shot it to the other side."
Duke coach John Rennie gave Curtis all the credit for keeping his team alive through the first round.
"It was a great game and it was won by a great player," Rennie said. "I'd like to thank Ali Curtis for the fact that we are still playing. I thought this was one of the best individual efforts I have ever seen in a college soccer game. He got through the defense time and time again, he was double-teamed, triple teamed and he kept going and going and got the goal."
The totally defense-driven first half prevented either team from making a lot of shots on goal, but Duke senior Robert Russell led the Blue Devils offensively with three shots in the first half and finished the game with four.
In the rainy weather and slush on the field, Duke goalkeeper Jeff Haywood tallied six saves on the night compared to Ring's eight. This is Ring's last game of his college career as he is one of the two seniors leaving South Carolina. Duke also edged the Gamecocks in shots on the day with a 15-11 margin.
Leading South Carolina on the field yesterday was junior defender Ryan Stocking. Stocking has played the last three weeks with a knee injury and against the Blue Devils, he played all 90 minutes.
Senior defender Chris Lockwood, who suffered a hand injury in the first half, stayed in the game. But according to Curtis, none of that mattered.
"We weren't nervous going into the game at all," Curtis said. "We've been waiting to get into an NCAA tournament for a year now. With the way things happened last year, not doing as well as expected, we are all very excited. This is a tournament where we can prove ourselves."
The second half was just as much of a defensive struggle as the first, but the ball-handling mistakes from on the side of South Carolina started to add up, especially when the game came down to the decisive play.
"You'd think in bad weather that there would be more mistakes, but there really wasn't," Rennie said. "It was a really well-played game under the conditions. Both teams played well. We just had to get the goal when they didn't."
With this win, the Blue Devils take the 8-6-2 lead in the overall series and will face Brown (12-5-1) in the second round of the tournament. The game will take place at Duke's own Koskinen Stadium.
"We're going to take the same mentality into Brown as we did for South Carolina," Curtis said. "If we work hard, then good things will happen and we'll score goals."
According to Rennie, if Duke has Curtis on the field, then that will even the odds pretty quickly.
"Ali was tremendous today," Rennie said. "And that's not a surprise."
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