Trevor Perea had one busy hour Sunday afternoon.
The senior midfielder assisted one goal and scored another before being ejected in the 60th minute of Duke's 3-1 victory at N.C. State (5-8, 0-5 in the ACC).
The win was the seventh straight victory for No. 18 Duke (8-3-1, 3-1) over its neighbors from Raleigh. Blue Devil goalie Justin Trowbridge needed just three saves to hold N.C. State to a one-goal performance.
"We did everything we wanted to do," Duke head coach John Rennie said. "Playing in the league, away from home, we're still finding a way to win without several of our best defenders out there."
Matt White returned from injury for the Blue Devils, who are tied with Maryland for second place in the ACC, and he entered into the "defense by committee" that held the Wolfpack to seven shots.
Freshman Ian Carey opened the scoring for Duke in the 5th minute by knocking the rebound of a Perea corner past N.C. State keeper Mitchell Watson.
N.C. State retaliated in the 32nd minute when Aaron King scored off a throw in, but Perea gave Duke the lead for good five minutes later when he put a 23-yard free kick in the upper left corner of the goal.
Perea's day came to an early conclusion in the 60th minute when both he and N.C. State's Justin Branch received yellow cards after tussling. Unfortunately for Perea, he had been booked earlier in the game and the Blue Devils went a man down.
In the 64th minute, Branch received his second yellow and the teams were even once again.
Duke put the game away in the 83rd minute when Carey made a perfect pass to Jordan Cila in the box and the junior blasted a shot past Watson. The goal was Cila's fourth in five games and sixth of the season.
"Jordan's going to score his roughly 10 or 12 goals a year," Rennie said. "He had a little slower start than he would have liked, but he's been catching up and playing very well."
The Blue Devils return to action tonight at 7:00 p.m., when they host the Fighting Camels of Campbell (2-8).
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