Coming into Sunday's game, the men's soccer team had little to worry about.
Ranked 17th in the nation, playing on their home field, and facing an unranked opponent, the Devils seemed to have an easy path to victory. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks, however, had different ideas.
On the strength of a dramatic 84th minute goal, Lehigh staged a huge upset, defeating the Blue Devils 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. With the game knotted at one and time winding down, two Duke defenders were unable to clear a slow roller across the box. Lehigh junior Steve Fisher, playing opportunistically, stepped up and blasted the ball past goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge to seal the victory for the Hawks.
"They took advantage of our defensive miscues today," said head coach John Rennie. "They played a typical underdog game, mostly defending and taking their chances on the counterattack. You have to give them credit for capitalizing when they had to. They did exactly what they came to do."
Despite controlling the pace of play, Duke found themselves in a hole early on. In what was to become a theme for the day, the Duke defense had a breakdown in the first 11 minutes, allowing Lehigh senior Evan Bruno a breakaway on the left side. Bruno executed a perfect cross, and fellow senior Dan Perciballi sent it home to give Lehigh the early lead.
Duke attacked relentlessly the rest of the half, and the ball rarely crossed into the Duke defensive end. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they were unable to get past Mountain Hawk goalkeeper Ryan Grzeszczak, who played solidly all game.
Despite allowing only two shots on goal, the Devils went in to the half down 1-0.
The second half featured more of the same with Duke pressuring and Lehigh keeping at least eight men behind the ball at all times. At one point, senior standout Trevor Perea took five corner kicks in an eight-minute span, but the Blue Devils were unable to capitalize.
The Lehigh defensive wall finally broke down in the 66th minute. Taking an indirect kick just outside the box, Perea faked the shot and tipped the ball to Jordan Cila. Cila left it for midfielder Donald McIntosh, who ripped a beautiful shot past a sprawling Grzeszczak and into the right side of the net.
"It's a play we practice a lot." McIntosh said. "Trevor made a nice fake, and it was set up well. We haven't had many chances to use it this year, but it worked to perfection today."
The momentum had clearly shifted in Duke's direction, and the offensive attack intensified. A Perea cross in the 68th minute was nearly headed home before Grzeszczak leaped up and made a spectacular catch amidst several Duke forwards.
The situation seemed to repeat itself over and over for the next 15 minutes, with Duke getting several great chances and Grzeszczak stoning them cold each time.
In the 77th minute, however, Lehigh began to attack for the first time since their opening goal. Perciballi led the first charge, snapping shot from 30 yards out that was barely tipped over the cross bar by a leaping Trowbridge.
With nine minutes to play, Duke defender Mark Mattern save the Blue Devils by heading a cross out of the box and out of danger. Meanwhile, the Duke offense lost a bit of its earlier momentum.
After Fisher's goal, Lehigh packed it in, keeping 11 men behind the ball and safeguarding their lead. Duke could not manage any serious threats before the buzzer sounded
"We completely outplayed them out there," McIntosh, a co-captain said. "They're a team who plays for the counterattack, and they push the ball straight ahead when they have the chance. Today, they capitalized, and that was enough."
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