The men's soccer team's road trip to Charlottesville, Va., Sunday might as well have been a journey on the high seas, with the No. 18 Blue Devils riding strong and fast behind three straight wins towards a potential ACC championship.
In their way sailed a struggling and unranked Virginia team��usually the nation's most impressive program. Though undefeated at home, the Cavaliers hardly appeared a legitimate threat.
Yet behind two early scores, feistiness and a bevy of raucous Wahoo fans, the Cavaliers took the wind out of the Blue Devil sails with a 3-1 win at Klî_ckner Stadium.
"We were definitely playing
The Cavaliers (8-5-0, 2-3-0 in the ACC) gave the Blue Devils (9-4-1, 3-2-0) nightmares right from the start, sounding the battle cry at the 7:10 mark. Wahoo forward Jacob LeBlanc sent a shot towards Duke goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge, who made the initial save but left the deflection in the wrong spot on what he called "an unlucky play."
Alecko Eskandarian, the ACC's most lethal scoring weapon, pounced on the free ball for his league-leading 18th goal of the season.
Only four minutes later, LeBlanc placed a corner kick perfectly in mid-air at the back post, leaving Duke vulnerable.
The Blue Devil defense, hobbled by injuries but finally starting to gel as a new unit, left junior forward Ryan Kelly alone to head in what would turn out to be the game-winning goal, putting Duke in a deep chasm before it had even docked its ship.
"They came out very intense right away," Trowbridge said, "so we were battling back the whole game, which you can't do against good teams, especially in the ACC."
Using a forward push, though, the Blue Devils gggg
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