The men’s soccer team won two games this weekend in the 2004 Duke/adidas Soccer Classic, defeating the Columbia Lions 1-0 on Friday night and the Farleigh Dickinson (N.J.) Knights 2-0 Saturday. Head coach John Rennie picked up his 400th career victory against FDU and junior Blake Camp raked in MVP honors for the tournament. The team improved to 5-0 on the season, and goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge, a senior co-captain, has yet to surrender a goal this year.
“I think we’ve gotten a little bit better every game, and I think this is the best we’ve played so far,” Rennie said. “We’ve worked very, very hard and we’re continuing to get better. You can’t ask for anything more with a young team.”
Although the Blue Devils only triumphed by a single goal against Columbia, Duke controlled the game from start to finish. The lone goal was of the most spectacular variety, as sophomore Chris Loftus connected on a bicycle kick from 10 yards out in the 28th minute. The play began with a header by freshman Paul Dudley and freshman Spencer Wadsworth deflected the ball before it landed on Loftus’ foot.
The Blue Devils, who started five freshmen, created one opportunity after another while stifling the Lions’ attack, booting 19 shots and allowing just seven. Camp took five shots and set up several others. Freshman Michael Videira banged four shots as he faked out numerous Columbia defenders.
“Of course we’re happy with the result,” Wadsworth said. “But we didn’t finish that well tonight. I mean we had 16 shots and one goal, but what we did well was we worked hard the whole game, we never gave up, and we just gave it all we had.”
Saturday night against a well-respected Farleigh Dickinson squad, an early foul against the Knights set up the first of two goals for the Blue Devils. In the sixth minute, Videira sent the indirect kick over the heads of the 6-foot-7 Dudley and 6-foot-5 Loftus. The ball found 5-foot-8 junior Danny Kramer, who volleyed it into an open goal for the 1-0 lead.
“We have so many tall targets so I think everyone just pretty much forgot about me,” Kramer said. “The ball just fell into my lap, and luckily I put it away.”
The Knights threatened only once, when Antonio Nunziata took a direct free kick from 20 yards out and hit the crossbar during the 25th minute. Until late in the second half, the game remained 1-0. Duke played like it did the night before, outshooting FDU 17-3. At the beginning of the half, Loftus appeared to score a goal on a header after a beautiful cross by freshman Zachary Pope, but it was disallowed when the far referee flagged Loftus for offside.
The Blue Devils finally secured the game in the 84th minute, when an all-freshman connection gave Duke the insurance goal it needed. The play began with Dudley feeding an effortless touch-pass to Tomek Charowski down the left side, whose left-footed cross was deflected by Wadsworth past the outstretched arm of Knights’ goalkeeper Dean Arnoutakis.
Despite hitting a milestone with his 400th victory, Rennie was a bit surprised when asked how he felt about it.
“I didn’t realize that,” Rennie said with a chuckle. “It feels great, particularly [because] the fifth game of the season was our biggest game so far. I think it’s a very good win and I’m delighted with that as well as 400, so it’s all good.”
On the injury front, Nigi Adogwa hurt his hamstring against Columbia and did not play against FDU. Loftus injured an ankle late against the Knights. Rennie said that both players were questionable for Duke’s next game, which takes place Wednesday at 7 p.m. when Campbell comes to play at Koskinen Stadium.
The ACC season begins Saturday evening when Clemson comes to Koskinen. That game will also begin at 7 p.m.
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