An early goal was all the men’s soccer team needed to beat Ohio State Sunday and earn a trip to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1995.
The 3-0 win over the Buckeyes (12-7-2) at Koskinen Stadium sets Duke (17-5) up for another matchup with Virginia, which has beaten the Blue Devils in both of the teams’ previous contests this season.
“This is the best-balanced team we’ve had at least since the ’95 team, and we knew that going in,” said head coach John Rennie, who compared his 2004 squad to a 1995 team that lost to Wisconsin in the national championship game. “But how quickly it’s going to come together, how far you’re going to go, there’s no way to predict that.”
Freshman Michael Videira put the Blue Devils on the board in the 11th minute, scoring after a Danny Kramer throw-in. Videira, the ACC Freshman of the Year, dribbled around Ohio State goalie Ray Burse and knocked the ball into the lower left side of the net.
Although both teams had several more chances to score in the first half, including a Spencer Wadsworth shot that glanced off the left post, the game remained 1-0 until late in the second half.
As the Buckeyes pressed forward with increasing desperation, the Blue Devils clung to their narrow lead and capitalized when their opponent
The Blue Devils clung to their narrow lead as the Buckeyes pressed forward with increasing desperation and took advantage of their opponent’s focus on offense. Duke netted a pair of goals to seal the victory with less than eight minutes remaining.
“When Ohio State started throwing everybody forward, taking some risks toward the end there, you either have to score the goal and finish the game, or maybe they’re going to tie it up, and I thought our guys did a great job of doing exactly that—finishing our chances and ending up with a 3-0 game,” Rennie said.
Wadsworth sent a corner kick into the box, and Videira and an Ohio State defender jumped up to head the ball, which deflected toward midfielder Danny Kramer. He knocked the ball into the back of the net with 7:58 to go.
Duke surged forward and scored again less than a minute later on a Blake Camp goal. Videira passed the ball down the right side of the field to Wadsworth, who centered it. Camp beat the Buckeye goalie for the Blue Devils’ final score.
Freshmen Wadsworth and Videira—who have added much of the offensive firepower that has propelled Duke to its best season in nearly a decade—each finished with two assists.
“Now we have a certain role that we must play on the team,” Videira said. “We haven’t been playing for such a long time with the team, we have to step it up every time. At the beginning of the year, we were just considered the freshman starters, and now we became more a part of the team. Together we’ve become more solid.”
Duke advanced to the Sweet 16 by defeating 12th-seeded Old Dominion 2-1 in overtime Nov. 23. Despite several missed scoring opportunities for the Blue Devils, the Monarchs (13-6-2) were able to keep the game scoreless until the 73rd minute, when Camp netted a goal on a penalty kick.
ODU tied the score at one with less than 10 minutes remaining, sending the game into overtime. In the 93ed minute, freshman Paul Dudley sent a shot from 25 yards out into the lower right corner of the net to end the game 2-1.
The Blue Devils, who had to beat one seeded team to advance through the first three rounds, are one of only two unseeded teams to remain in the draw. Fourth-seeded Virginia advanced on penalty kicks 6-5 over 13th-seeded New Mexico to earn a berth in Saturday’s quarterfinal, which will take place in Charlottesville, Va.
The first time the Cavaliers and Blue Devils met this season, Duke surrendered its 2-0 lead after two of its players were ejected. Virginia scored three unanswered goals following the red cards, the last one coming six minutes into the extra period.
In the teams’ second matchup, the Cavaliers controlled the tempo and scored three second-half goals en route to a 3-1 ACC Tournament victory. Virginia went on to win the conference championship and entered the NCAA Tournament with a first-round bye.
“I watched the Virginia-New Mexico game last night up in Charlottesville, and I was thinking about who I’d rather play. I think it comes down to the devil you know versus the devil you don’t know,” Rennie said. “We know Virginia, they know us.... I told the team before the game I want another shot at Virginia.”
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