The men's soccer team (2-0) took an extra lap around victory lane this weekend as they continued their success into the early season with wins over Liberty and Georgia Southern.
Playing in the Wolfpack Invitational at Duke's own Koskinen Stadium, the Blue Devils trampled over the lowly Liberty Flames 4-0 Saturday and finished with a strong second half to beat Georgia Southern 4-1 Sunday evening.
"The defensive effort this weekend was outstanding," head coach John Rennie said. "A lot of heart, a lot of determination, a lot of toughness. It was great to see."
After outshooting the Eagles 7-4 in a first half full of a drizzling rain, Duke had nothing to show for its performance but a tied game with just over three minutes remaining in the second period. The Blue Devils used their defensive line of Matt Ahumada, Matt White and Kyle Helton to set up several scoring attacks.
In one of the successful runs, senior Jordan Cila collected a pass about 25 yards from the goal and maneuvered his way into the 18-yard box. Cila, who had a goal and an assist in each game this weekend, pushed the ball to his right for Blake Camp who quickly changed directions and hit Danny Wymer in front of the net to give Duke a 2-1 lead.
"I think there's a really strong feeling on this team this year that we don't want to lose games we shouldn't," midfielder Camp said. "They [Georgia Southern] came back and put us in a dangerous situation. It puts things in perspective and we rehuddled and got things together."
Sophomore Camp contributed two assists and one goal in a nine-minute span Sunday against the Eagles. None of his offensive outbursts was more important than his nifty assist to Danny Wymer to put the Blue Devils ahead for good with 33:31 remaining in the game. Wymer's score came at pivotal point in the game as Georgia Southern had just tied the game at 1-1 minutes earlier.
Utilizing the counterattack as their main weapon of choice, the Eagles standout player Tony Moffat muscled his way through the Blue Devil defense and was taken down from behind by freshman defender Helton. Defender Brad Mitchum took the free kick from just outside the 18-yard box and rifled it through the hands of Duke goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge into the back of the net.
"It made us wake up and get reorganized," Rennie said. "We responded very, very well."
Wymer, who had two goals on the night, opened the game with a score at the 42:23 mark as sophomore Ian Carey hustled down the right flank and served a ball into the box. After several Georgia Southern defenders missed Carey's cross, Wymer volleyed the ball behind goalkeeper Adam Webb.
"There's a lot of runs where I don't get the ball," Wymer said. "I just try to make the most of it when I get it. Sometimes its being at the right place at the right time."
The Blue Devils opened their regular season Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 throttling of Liberty. Junior White scored the first goal of his career with a 25-yard blast past Flames goalkeeper K. J. Sabotchick to give Duke a 1-0 lead.
Freshman Josh Swank contributed in his first game ever as a Blue Devil with a goal assisted by Cila and Carey. Perhaps the only problem with Saturday's 4-0 victory was a slight groin injury to junior Nigi Adogwa. He sat out Sunday's match, but Rennie said it was not a major injury.
The Blue Devils will take the field again this Friday against William and Mary in the Duke Invitational at Koskinen Stadium.
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