The weather was awful, but the game was amazing.
No. 9 Duke (2-0, 1-0 in the ACC) scored with eight seconds left in regulation, and again with two seconds left in double overtime, to defeat No. 6 Maryland 9-8 Saturday at Koskinen Stadium.
The Terrapins (2-1, 0-1) took 12 shots in the two overtimes, while Duke could only muster three, but it was Duke's freshman attackman Matt Monfett that finally ended the almost three-hour, rain-soaked marathon.
"Matt Monfett is as good a finisher as there is in the sport," Duke coach Mike Pressler said. "We were just counting on him to get his first goal--he had such a great preseason, then he got shut out in the first game of the year, but Matt's a scorer. That's the first of many you're going to see from Matt Monfett."
One of two freshman starters for the Blue Devils, Monfett took a team-high nine shots on Maryland goalie Danny McCormick.
"[Duke goaltender A.J. Kincel] made a great save again and our team rushed up the field," Monfett said. "[Taylor Wray] got the ball and went down the right side, my man slid and he gave it to me. It was just me and the goalie.
"One of [my shots] had to
Monfett's last-second heroics were set up by Duke's leading goal scorer, Kevin Cassese, who now has five goals in two games. Cassese was shut out for over 50 minutes, but scored to cut the Maryland lead to 8-7 with eight minutes left in the game.
With 2:02 left, the Koskinen scoreboard went blank due to weather-related technical difficulties. What followed was out of a rec-league player's dream. As both teams' assistant coaches looked on, a timekeeper shouted out the seconds remaining from the sideline.
"I couldn't actually see the clock," Cassese said, "so I heard them screaming OShoot!' from the sidelines and that's what I do, I shoot, and that one found the net."
With eight seconds left, Cassese went right and buried a shot hip-level past McCormick.
"Give it to your best player, make something happen," Pressler said. "There's no secret to this, and Kevin Cassese is our best player."
But Cassese said the play was originally set up for Kevin Brennan, who finished with three goals and two assists.
"We ran the play, and it didn't actually work out, and we went on instinct. Terrence [Keaney] found me with a great pass and I just buried it. It was actually set up for Brennan, and he got it but they played great defense on it so he didn't get the shot so we had to improvise, and it worked out."
Maryland started the game with two goals in the first five minutes. It took the Blue Devils almost seven minutes to record a shot, but they took advantage of Maryland defenders slipping and some errant clears to finish the first half up 5-4.
"I thought there was about eight minutes from the middle of the first quarter to the middle of the second quarter where we didn't clear the ball very well," Maryland coach Dave Cottle said. "Three of their five goals were scored on broken clears, and one was when we were man-up. So that was an area of time that was unsettling for us because we didn't clear the ball out and we had to play a lot of defense."
But both teams settled down in the second half, leading to the the first close game for both teams this season.
"Every time we play them it's a battle," said Kincel, who recorded 17 saves. "We won with our hearts. We'll see them again down the road."
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