After a few scares, the Duke men's soccer team evened up its record to 8-8 overall with a 3-1 victory over Appalachian State (8-7) last night.
The Halloween night game was the last at Koskinen Stadium for the five Blue Devil seniors, Scott Maslin, Kevin Sakuda, Noah Lewkowitz, Demetrio Sanchez and Scott Noble. All of the seniors started except Noble, who is out for the season due to a kidney transplant surgery.
For Maslin, the reality of having played his last game on Duke's field has not quite hit home.
"I don't think it's really sunk in yet," he commented. "I have a lot of good memories here, and I know I am a stronger person for it all."
According to Maslin, the Blue Devils goalkeeper who is currently ranked 16th in the NCAA for his goals against average and was named ACC player of the week in late September, the battle was an even one and either team could have come away with the win.
"The game was 3-1, but in the second half especially, [the Mountaineers] had a lot of good opportunities," Maslin said.
Duke coach John Rennie believed that his team was kept at bay due to a very defense-oriented Appalachian State team.
"They played a very defensive game and hoped to score on a counter-attack, which they did. The first half was quiet... but the game opened up after the first goal," Rennie said.
Junior midfielder Donald McIntosh earned the first goal off a penalty shot with 11:26 left in the first half after Lewkowitz was taken down in the box and play was stopped. The goal started the Blue Devils on a run of shooting, but they could not get past Mountaineer goalie Chris Robinson for the remainder of the first half.
In the second half, the Blue Devils again came out strong, but had to play against a more aggressive Appalachian State team. It did not take long, however, for the Blue Devils to break down the Mountaineer defense. Duke's Robert Antoniou, a junior defender, brought the score to 2-0 with his goal in the 12th minute of the half. Six minutes later, Lewkowitz was again attacked in the box and was awarded a penalty kick, but his well-driven shot just missed the goal and hit the center of the crossbar.
Appalachian State then seized the opportunity on their counter-attack with their first and only goal of the night by senior Jordy Broder.
"The goal he hit was just perfect" Maslin said.
Broder's goal was his ninth of the season. He is currently the Mountaineers' leading scorer. Although Broder has been a large part of the scoring for his team, he also played well in other aspects of the game.
"Jordy's had a great career over four years and... in addition to being able to score goals, he showed... that he's a very versatile player," Mountaineer coach Dave Golan said.
Soon after Broder's goal, the Mountaineers almost scored again, but the ball bounced out of the Duke goal. Blue Devil sophomore Jordan Cila then received the ball from Sakuda and Trevor Perea for the final goal of the match.
Duke and Appalachian State have not played each other since 1997, but Duke has won the last 15 matchups. Golan and his team came to Duke to simply compete and to attempt to get a win on the road.
"We were trying to get a win against a very good team," Golan said. "I thought it was a good game at the end of the day. I give Duke credit for playing a great match."
Duke lost its past three matches to Virginia, UNC-Greensboro, and Charlotte by just one goal. In fact, all of Duke's losses have been by a single-goal difference. The Blue Devils have not had a season under .500 since 1977, and are hoping to come up with some big wins in their final three games of the season before ACCs and perhaps the NCAA tournament.
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