With baseball dominating the world of sports Wednesday night, the No. 19 Duke men’s soccer team (13-2) faced off with UNC-Asheville (4-7-1) in front of a modest crowd at Koskinen Stadium. After a slow start, the Blue Devils netted a goal with 12 minutes remaining in the first half and scored one more in the second en route to a convincing 2-0 win.
“They came out to play with a heck of a lot of intensity and enthusiasm and really surprised us, but we were able to finally settle down after the first 10 minutes and take control of the game,” head coach John Rennie said.
On a shot from just more than 30 yards out, midfielder Michael Videira scored the Blue Devils’ first-half goal. Videira took a pass from Joe Kelly and launched it into the night sky, a move which caught the UNC-Asheville goalkeeper off guard at the 18-yard mark. The Videira shot sailed over his head, landing in the back of the net.
“He loves to shoot,” Rennie said of the goal that brought the crowd to its feet. “That’s just one of those goals you see once in a season, and it was wonderful for him.”
Duke came out strong in the second half, and after only one minute of play, Videira again launched a shot toward the Bulldogs’ goal. Goalie Michael Pereira made a remarkable save as he snared the ball from the air and pulled it to his chest before Duke could tally its second goal of the contest.
Five minutes later, however, Spencer Wadsworth took a Videira pass and made a diving kick from the penalty kick line, placing it in the bottom right corner for Duke’s second goal.
The Blue Devils were physically much bigger, but the speed of Bulldogs’ forward Daniel Bandoly led to two early breakaways. On both occasions, senior goaltender Justin Trowbridge came out of the net to challenge Bandoly, and both of the shot attempts sailed wide of the Duke goal.
“Justin inspires confidence in his teammates and is having an absolutely great season,” Rennie said. This marks the Blue Devils’ 10th shutout on the year. Trowbridge and freshman Justin Papadakis have allowed only seven goals all season.
UNC-Asheville was the last midweek contest of the season, and Rennie decided to rest most of his players to keep them fresh for the upcoming push toward the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.
“We wanted to get guys some rest and have nobody play the full 90 minutes,” Rennie said. “It was also nice that we got everybody some playing time and guys scored goals who hadn’t in a while.”
After losing two of its last three games—both to ACC rivals—Duke regained momentum to keep its ACC regular season championship hopes alive.
Duke will clash with No. 3 Virginia next weekend in Charlottesville, Va. The Blue Devils will then play one more game on the road against South Carolina before returning home and completing their ACC season against No. 15 Wake Forest.
Duke would clinch the ACC title with wins over Virginia, the defending ACC champion, and Wake Forest. Losing to either would, at best, give the Blue Devils a second-place finish in the conference.
“We’re a young team. I don’t know how we’re going to match up against them,” Rennie said.
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