Duke ran into an increasingly familiar problem Friday, as it failed to finish on any scoring opportunities against last year's national champions.
The Blue Devils were unable to overcome a Maryland goal in the 14th minute Friday and fell, 1-0. No. 14 Duke (7-2-1, 2-1-1 in the ACC) controlled the first 10 minutes of the game, but after the No. 3 Terrapins (10-1, 3-1) scored on a header off a corner kick early on, the Blue Devils could not erase the deficit.
"Before the goal, it seemed like we had more control of the game-we were possessing the ball more and controlling the field," Duke junior Michael Videira said. "We had them in a corner until the goal, but they slowly got more momentum as we lost it. The rest of the game was pretty back and forth, but we definitely lost the initial momentum we had."
In their last three games, the Blue Devils have scored just one goal, which came in the 77th minute of a 1-0 victory over Boston College. The win Friday was the seventh shutout of the season for Maryland, as the Terps topped Duke 12-11 in shots and 5-3 in shots on goal.
"They got a goal on a corner kick and made it stand up," head coach John Rennie said. "Now we're into the conference season, and we kind of beat each other up. It's very tough playing on the road, and most of these games are going to be very hard-fought, very close games, and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of this one."
The contest against Maryland drew a record crowd of 6,489 fans to Ludwig Field-the second time this season that a Duke game has brought a record-setting crowd to an opponent's stadium. The last time was Sept. 8 against Wake Forest, when the Blue Devils topped the Demon Deacons, 4-3. That game was also the last time Duke scored more than two goals in a game.
"When you go to Maryland, their fans are so crazy about everything, so it's a hostile atmosphere to play in," said Videira, who had two shots, both on net. "It's great for the game of soccer in general, but it makes it hard on the field because it's tough to communicate and hear each other when it's so loud."
The only goal of the game came early in the first half, when Maryland's Maurice Edu, waiting about 10 yards out in the middle of the box, headed a corner kick from Graham Zusi into the back of the net past Duke goalkeeper Justin Papadakis.
The Blue Devils had a chance with a free kick into the Terps' box with eight minutes remaining in the half but could not capitalize, and the period ended with Maryland on top. Two Blue Devils nearly reached the ball to get a shot off, but Terrapin goalie Chris Seitz got his hands on the loose ball first. After some jostling, the ball was knocked free, but it eventually got headed back to the keeper, and the Duke opportunity was lost.
"Right now, we're having a tough time finishing the final shot," Videira said. "We're not having trouble putting together plays or building our attack. I guess luck just isn't going our way, but I don't think were doing anything differently from the beginning of the season."
The Blue Devils would have one final chance to tie the game with nine minutes left in the second half. Junior Zach Pope drilled a corner into the box and connected with Mike Grella, but the sophomore forward's strike went high and landed on top of the goal.
"We had our chances, but you're not going to have many chances either way in a game like that," Rennie said. "We had several good scoring chances, and unfortunately we didn't score a goal. You're not going to get a lot of chances in a game that's so closely contested."
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