One year after being stunned at home in the second round of the NCAA College Cup, Duke exorcised that demon by defeating Brown 2-0 at Koskinen Stadium Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils (17-3-1), the top seed in the tournament, knocked off Brown (11-5-3) using the same formula that won them the ACC regular season and tournament titles.
Duke recorded its third straight shutout and received goals from its two leading scorers-Michael Videira and Mike Grella-to carry it past the Bears and into the round of 16.
It had been 10 days since the Blue Devils had beaten Wake Forest in the ACC tournament title game, and the time off appeared to re-energize Duke in the first half.
The Blue Devils created several good scoring chances early in the game, including a shot from Joe Germanese that skidded in front of the goal line in the 17th minute.
Duke did find the net 10 minutes later off a broken corner kick. After Zach Pope's corner bounced through the box untouched, sweeper Tim Jepson found Videira behind the defense. The midfielder made one move and then beat Brown goalkeeper Jarrett Leech for the 1-0 advantage.
"We've been working a lot on recycling our runs," Videira said. "[Jepson] played a good ball, it kind of got over everybody, and I was able to bring it down. I was just alone."
Grella added to the Blue Devils' lead in the second minute of the second half, when he beat the defense and blasted a shot past Leech from 15 yards out.
"[The second goal] definitely took a lot out of them," Grella said. "It just demoralizes them when you get down 2-0, and you're away from home and you're playing the No. 1 seed."
Two goals were more than enough for the Duke defense, which has given up just one score in four postseason games.
"That team wins not because of Michael Grella and Michael Videira scoring goals," Brown head coach Mike Noonan said. "That team wins because they play solid defensively. They did that again tonight. They're tough to break down."
Although the Bears controlled possession for the majority of the second half, they managed only four shots after the intermission. Blue Devil goaltender Justin Papadakis made two saves in his seventh shutout of the season.
"It's a tribute to the team defense," Duke head coach John Rennie said. "Defense is a team thing, and we've been playing very good defense in the last half of the season in particular."
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