Following the back-to-back double overtime games the men's soccer team played last week, the Blue Devils needed an easy game.
Scoring less than four minutes into Saturday night's game and never looking back, Duke managed to rest most of its starters during the second half en route to a 5-0 victory over Temple (2-6) at Koskinen Stadium.
"We needed to have a game like this," head coach John Rennie said. "It was an ideal game for us. We scored some great goals, and I got a chance to play everybody, and nobody got hurt."
Senior midfielder Danny Kramer was fouled just inside the 18-yard box while trying to make a cut toward the center of the field, 3:18 into the game. Midfielder Blake Camp took the ensuing penalty kick, and his low shot beat the Owls' diving goalkeeper Bryant Hosler to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.
Although No. 11 Duke (5-1-1) had a number of other scoring opportunities over the next several minutes, the Blue Devils could not capitalize as their centering passes were broken up by Temple defenders.
"We got a lot of chances," Camp said. "We probably could have scored more goals."
Finally, with 19:50 remaining in the opening half, forward Mike Grella broke past the defense and took a long pass from Camp. He stopped to collect the ball and kicked a bending shot past the outstretched hand of Hosler and into the right side of the net for an insurance goal.
Duke passed the ball well throughout the contest, Rennie said, and in doing so were able to control the game's tempo. The Blue Devils outshot Temple 16-8 and earned their first shutout since the season opener Sept. 1.
"I was extremely proud of our shutout, because that's something we've been struggling with," Camp said. "We haven't been putting teams away. We've been putting ourselves in a situation where we've gotten a goal or two early on, and then we've let teams tie it up or go one-up on us."
Instead the Blue Devils added their third and fourth goals of the game within 24 seconds of each other, to take a four-goal advantage by halftime.
Although Duke would only add one goal in the second half-Camp's second of the game-the Blue Devils kept on their relentless pressure.
"You have a tendency when you're up a couple goals to try to dribble too much, or shoot from too far out or not play the game the way it should be played," Rennie said. "We didn't do that, we kept the ball moving."
The easy win, and more importantly, the chance to rest some of the team's key players, could not have come at a better time, Rennie said.
Duke has a busy week as it plays Longwood Tuesday and then travels to Boston College Friday.
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