Despite the unusual advantage of hosting an NCAA Tournament game against a higher-seeded opponent, the Duke (11-8-1) men's soccer team fell 2-1 to first-round foe William & Mary (14-7-1) Friday night. The 25th-ranked Tribe scored the game's opening two goals, and although the Blue Devils threw their weight into an inspired second half comeback attempt, they could never manage an equalizing tally.
The defeat hit Duke's senior class hardest, particularly as its players entered the contest with intense optimism.
"We really felt we were going to come out here and just run over these guys," Blue Devil co-captain Trevor Perea said. "We weren't looking past them in any way--we were really excited for it. Things went wrong early and we could just never come back."
William & Mary senior Doug Henry put his side in front 10 minutes into the contest, as his well-struck 18-yard chip shot eluded the grasp of Duke goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge. A stalemate then ensued for the majority of the opening half, with neither team mounting many effective attacks.
The pace picked up after the intermission, however. The Blue Devils struggled vigorously to break the Tribe defensive backline, only to have Ralph Bean put William & Mary ahead 2-0 with a 65th-minute strike. The Tribe were obviously undaunted at having to face Duke on its home field.
"You have to understand that our home field is [artificial] turf," William & Mary head coach Al Albert said. "We play a lot of really good teams and most of them away, so playing a tough game away is not anything different for us. I was concerned about it... but I thought it didn't really change the game much."
Facing a two-goal deficit, the Blue Devils responded immediately as Perea and teammate Jordan Cila executed a beautiful give-and-go with Perea depositing a fierce strike past William & Mary backstop Trevor Upton less than four minutes later. As Duke continued to press it appeared as if a balancing strike would surely come.
Despite hitting a post and mounting several other dangerous challenges, though, the Blue Devils could not escape elimination.
"I don't know how we didn't score that second goal," Duke head coach John Rennie said. "We scored a critical goal to make it 2-1. We took over the game and had everything going, and hit a post. Normally you score the second goal, and if you do in that case, then the game is yours."
Instead, Duke struggled in vain to break the Tribe's defensive framework. After striking the woodwork 15 minutes from the time the Blue Devils' offense stagnated, William & Mary steadfastly denied Duke entry through the midfield.
Perea spoke afterwards about the frustration that built up as the Blue Devils saw their best efforts go fruitless.
"It's one of the hardest things in soccer, and it's one of the things that makes the game so different," he said. "You get something like that to happen [a two-goal advantage], and then you can sit back. It's so difficult to get the ball in the goal with 11 guys sitting in front of it. No matter what we did we just couldn't seem to get the second one."
William & Mary now moves on to challenge in-state rival Virginia Wednesday evening. In contrast, Duke's season has ended, and with it the careers of its senior class, a successful group whose freshman year was marked by the Blue Devils mid-season No. 1 ranking.
"It's obviously going to be very difficult for the seniors," Rennie said. "They've had four great years-they've played in three NCAA Tournaments and won an ACC Championship.... It is disappointing, but life goes on."
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