After a difficult week which included a hard fought victory at Radford University, the Duke men's soccer team returned to Durham with one goal in mind: upsetting 12th ranked Maryland. On Saturday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium, the Blue Devils (4-2, 1-0 in the ACC) accomplished their goal by blanking the Terrapins (3-3, 0-1) 1-0.
In what was the ACC opener for both teams, the play was back and forth throughout, with each team seeming to control the game for 10 minute periods at a time. Although Maryland was on the attack right from the opening whistle, Duke withstood the early pressure and then countered in fine form.
In only the sixth minute, junior Donald McIntosh fed a streaking Trevor Perea down the left wing, who dribbled towards the Maryland goal and then fired a shot past keeper Noah Palmer into the back of the net. The goal proved to be a pivotal factor for the rest of the game. It also came from Duke's first shot.
"Scoring an early goal is very helpful," Duke coach John Rennie said. "It gives you that little bit of confidence that is extremely important for a young team in its first conference game."
Besides scoring the game's
Although Perea usually plays in the middle, Rennie felt that Perea could take advantage of a hole in the Maryland defense.
"Coach Rennie told us yesterday that [Maryland's] right side was pretty weak, so he moved me out there, and it worked out really well," Perea said.
A major component of Duke's victory was its defense. While recording their fourth shutout in only six games, the Blue Devils held the Terrapins to eight shots, of which only four were on goal.
As usual, Duke's defense was lead by goalkeeper Scott Maslin, whose goals against average for the season is a minute 0.50. Whenever the Terrapins were able to sneak past the Blue Devil's stingy defense, Maslin was there to turn away all challengers.
One such incident occurred with 18:03 minutes remaining in the first half. Maryland's A.J. Herrera made a strong run up the right side and had a clear shot at the net. Maslin, however, knocked the ball away while falling to his side to make the save.
"The defense today was the whole team," Rennie said. "Scott Maslin made a great save and the defense played extremely well. Defense is a team thing, not just for certain individuals, and the whole team played really good defense today."
A major focus for the Duke defense throughout the game was Maryland's Sumed Ibrahim. With a lightning quick first step, Ibrahim was able to make a few runs through the Blue Devils early on, setting up some Maryland shots.
However, Duke adjusted its defense, and completely shut down Ibrahim during the second half.
"We just tried to double-team [Ibrahim] whenever possible," Rennie said. "His strength is with the ball, so we just tried to make it hard for him."
The Blue Devils will get some much-needed rest this week before traveling down Tobacco Road to face their archrival North Carolina Saturday. Although the Tar Heels have once again fielded a strong squad this year, Duke's players and coaches are looking forward to the challenge of facing their bitter enemies.
"You can throw the rankings out the window when we play Chapel Hill," Maslin said. "It's always a good game. They'll be ready to play us, and we'll be ready to play them."
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