The Duke men's soccer team traveled to New Jersey Friday looking to prove it belongs amongst college soccer's elite teams. Instead, the Blue Devils (4-5) left with two heartbreaking losses, a three-game losing streak and proof that the young team needs just a little more experience before it is truly a player on the national scene.
The Philips/Adidas Soccer Classic, held at Rutgers University, pitted the unranked Blue Devils against the host team Friday night. Duke scored two goals in the final 16 minutes of regulation to force overtime, but ultimately fell 3-2 in double overtime to the ninth-ranked Scarlet Knights.
This devastating loss was followed Sunday afternoon by yet another overtime loss, this time 2-1 to third-ranked and unbeaten St. John's, leaving the Blue Devils extremely disappointed but cognizant of the fact that they can play with the best teams in the country.
"It was a heartbreaking weekend for us," Duke coach John Rennie said. "We played well, we worked hard.... [We] certainly don't feel bad about anything but the final score."
In the first game, Rutgers jumped on top in the first half with a goal in the 25th minute by senior Dustin Sheppard, off feeds from Dennis Ludwig and Sherif El Bialy. The Scarlet Knights scored again soon afterwards, as Ludwig, Rutgers' leading scorer, netted a goal of his own in the 29th minute off a pass from Josh Gros.
This score held up until late in the game, when Duke finally found the back of the net in the 75th minute. Sophomore forward Jordan Cila headed in a cross from Donald McIntosh for his third goal of the season. Duke completed the comeback in the 83rd minute, when senior Demetrio Sanchez took a long pass from Trevor Perea and beat Rutgers goalie Ricky Ginter one-on-one, tying the match at two.
Duke took this momentum into overtime, but could not capitalize, as both teams failed to score in the first overtime period. In the second overtime, however, Rutgers finally broke through, as Dennis Ludwig scored the game-winner to give him two goals on the night and his team its fifth win in a row.
Unfortunately, after a long, hard-fought game, the deciding goal was scored on a freak play. Ludwig beat one Duke defender but had the ball cleared by another defender. However, the ball hit a different Duke player and bounced right back to Ludwig, who converted the easy opportunity.
"It was unfortunate that we did a good job defensively, we cleared the ball," lamented Rennie. "Of all things, [the ball] bounced right back to him instead of any other place it could have gone....That's kind of the way things are going for us now."
Duke was left with only a day to regroup before playing St. John's. In that game, the second and final of the tournament, Demetrio Sanchez scored his second goal of the tournament to stake the Blue Devils to the early lead, slipping a shot past St. John's goalie Guy Hertz after being given a one-touch pass from Cila. It was only the fourth goal allowed in eight games this year by the Red Storm.
St. John's tied the score in the 75th minute, as Chris Corcoran took a corner kick from Matt Groenwald and chipped it over goalie Scott Maslin's head.
Despite several scoring chances by both teams, the game remained tied at one apiece until the end of regulation. In overtime, St. John's began to apply pressure. Two corner kicks were unsuccessful for the Red Storm, but Duke could not clear the ball. After a scramble in front of the goal, Chris Bennice gained possession at the top of the penalty area and passed back to Angel Rodriguez, who fired in the game-winner from 15 yards out. Duke was left with even more disappointment and a bad case of deja vu, knowing once again how tantalizingly close it was to upsetting one of the top teams in the country.
"In the second half, we played really well, and in my mind we deserved to get another goal or two," Rennie said. "We had some scoring opportunities that we just didn't convert."
The Blue Devils return to Durham disheartened, but eager to gain the experience needed to take the final step and become one of the nation's elite soccer teams, one that can finish off top-ranked teams like St. John's and Rutgers.
"We're very very close to being a really good team," Rennie said. "We feel pretty good about the progress we're making. We're a young team, we're getting better, and... we just need to finish a game off against one of the top teams."
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