When Zach Pope's shot laced the back of the net in the 101st minute of Duke's 3-2, double overtime victory over Wake Forest, Duke's bench and the nearly 3,400 faithful remaining in Koskinen Stadium exploded in a Cameron-esque celebration.
Pope took a quick pass from Danny Kramer in the middle of the box and pounded it past the outstretched arms of diving Wake Forest goalkeeper Brian Edwards, capping an emotional comeback for Duke. The No. 21 Blue Devils, who had been down 2-0 to the Demon Deacons with under 12 minutes to go in the second half, mobbed an ecstatic Pope, who celebrated his first goal of the season by pulling off his jersey and sprinting towards his teammates.
"When we were still down 2-0, nobody stopped at all, and we just kept up the pressure," Pope said. "We knew from the start that we had this game. We actually showed that we're Duke and we actually proved it tonight."
The Blue Devils late charge began when midfielder Chris Loftus received a pass from fellow midfielder Mike Grella in the 78th minute, found himself wide open, and sent a shot sailing past Edwards for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
After Loftus' goal, a Duke team that had appeared lethargic and frustrated for much of the second-half, found its second wind.
"We just needed to score a goal," head coach John Rennie said. "When you haven't scored in a game it tends to wear on you mentally, but getting that goal just gave us that extra adrenaline and rush and picked us up to another level."
The Blue Devils (4-1, 1-0 in the ACC) knotted the score at two with less than five minutes to play when midfielder Michael Videira sailed a free kick from beyond the midline towards a mass of Duke and Wake Forest players stationed in front of the net. The ball skipped off Blake Camp and was headed past Edwards by Kramer without touching the ground.
After that, the Blue Devils never gave the reeling Demon Deacons (3-2, 0-1) a chance to recover. Duke outshot No. 14 Wake Forest 7-0 over the course of the two overtime periods.
"We took over the game. Physically, I think we wore them down a little bit," Rennie said. "We were the fresher team and we were moving the ball better than they were and got more chances."
The Blue Devils came out on fire at the start of the first half. Loftus and Kramer tested Edwards with two quick shots on goal in the second minute of the game but the Wake Forest goalie was up to the task each time.
The Demon Deacons' offense seemed ineffective in the game's early stages against a tight Duke defense that dominated possession for the first 20 minutes.
As time went on, however, Wake's attack began to wear down the Blue Devil defense.
The Demon Deacons struck first when midfielder Wells Thompson beat a Duke defender to the baseline side and fired a perfect shot into the top right corner of the net past a helpless Justin Papadakis in the 21st minute.
"Wake is a team that likes to move the ball around," Loftus said. "When you play against a good team you know that might happen. So we said if it gets to the point where we're getting too tired let's sit back a little bit and make them come at us. We knew that might happen and we adjusted."
Following Thompson's goal, the Blue Devils did not attempt a shot for the remainder of the first half and were outshot 6-3 in the period.
Duke started the second half slowly, as many of the Blue Devils' best scoring opportunities sailed wide on imprecise crosses or were broken up by Wake defenders. The Demon Deacons scored their second goal on a corner kick. The ball sliced between the players in the box before Wake Forest forward Mark Ellington headed it off the crossbar and into the net in the 68th minute.
Papadakis had little chance to stop either of Wake's goals. The sophomore faced 15 shots over the course of the game, nine of which were on goal, and saved a career high seven.
"The heart of our team is just amazing. All the players on this team, everyone came to play, on and off the field," the goalkeeper said.
The Blue Devils were also hindered by a large disparity in foul calls during a physical first half marked by a number of injury timeouts and emotional outbursts. Duke's frustration began to show late in the first half, when Grella spiked the ball after being called for a foul. Duke committed 11 fouls in the first half and Wake Forest recorded four. There were 29 total fouls over the course of the game and four yellow cards were given out.
"Coach was saying ACC games are usually battles in the air and a lot of hitting and attacking," Kramer said. "I don't think we're a dirty team, I think they were taking some dives, that's just what it looked like to me. I mean they're a good team and I'm not really going to badmouth them, but I think we did a great job of dealing with the refs going against us and Coach just said, 'Stay focused,' and we kept going."
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