The play of the men's soccer team paralleled that of the weather this weekend, as Duke struggled to a tie in the rain against Holy Cross on Friday before dismantling a scrappy Georgia Southern team in drier conditions on Sunday afternoon.
The Blue Devils controlled Georiga Southern from the opening whistle, coming away with a 3-0 victory.
"It was a great win for us," Rennie said. "We had two injured starters... so we were forced to use a lot of players today. Everybody that played played very well."
Duke's attack began immediately with the Blue Devils taking two corners and a bevy of shots in the first four minutes of the game. The Eagles retaliated early on as they would do the entire game-aggressively. This play resulted in myriad play stoppages, as the referee spent as much time accosting Eagles players as he did officiating the game. Four different Georgia Southern players were handed yellow cards throughout the contest.
The Eagles had their best scoring opportunity with twenty minutes left in the first half when Tony Moffat sneaked through Duke's defense and had only to get by goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge. Moffat was unable to evade Trowbridge, who charged toward him and slide tackled the ball to the left side of the field. It was one of just four shots Georgia Southern would take on the day.
"It was a knock around play, and it popped out in front of the box," Trowbridge said. "He just hit the ball into me."
Duke would get on the board at the 40:18 mark off a quick restart on the Eagles' side of the field. Off a foul from an Eagle, freshman Ian Carey set the ball down and punched it through a stagnant Eagle defense apparently waiting for more scolding from the referee. Junior Justin Bodiya collected the ball and kicked a roller into the right side of the goal.
The Blue Devils scored just two minutes later on a fast break goal led by freshman Danny Kramer.
"I figured I'd make the run, and Ian [Carey] made a great pass," Kramer said. "I knew if I made the run I could beat the keeper."
Rennie was very impressed with the play of his highly-touted freshman class.
"Danny is one of quite a few freshmen who are doing extremely well for us," Renny said.
Kramer would continue his stellar performance by assisting two-time All-ACC honoree Jordan Cila for the Blue Devil's third and final goal on the day.
"I was looking to put the ball to the left side," Kramer said. "I knew Jordan would get the rebound or I would put it in."
On his first collegiate goal and assist, Kramer's on-the-field poise and maturity was-well deservedly--replaced with freshman awe and elation.
"It's just exciting," Kramer said. "I didn't even know I was going to play that much coming in."
Trowbridge scored his first career collegiate shutout with the victory. Friday, Duke battled Holy Cross to a 1-1 double overtime tie. Duke trailed for most of the game despite outshooting the Crusaders 23-8.
Sophomore scoring sensation Owoicho "Nigie" Adogwa kept Duke in the game when he blasted a header into the bottom left corner of the goal in the 82nd minute. His aerial prowess and fancy footwork won over fans at Koskinen Stadium Friday evening, as he dove and slid on the grass in celebration of Duke's tying goal.
"Nigie is a very hard-working, aggressive player who will challenge for anything," Rennie said.
Duke will look to return to its winning ways in 2002 after suffering its worst season in 24 years under Rennie when it finished 8-10-1 in 2001.
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