GERMANTOWN, Md. - Mike Grella may only be a sophomore, but he's already won the ACC Championship twice.
One season after knocking home the deciding penalty kick in the ACC title game against North Carolina, Grella lifted No. 9 Duke (16-3-1) past top-ranked Wake Forest (15-3-3), 1-0, Sunday in overtime at the Maryland SoccerPlex.
After 90 minutes of scoreless regulation, Grella's blast from 35 yards out beat Demon Deacons' goalkeeper Brian Edwards for the game-winner.
"I found a little space, and I just had a crack at it," Grella said. "I got the better of the goalkeeper."
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Grella's goal gave the Blue Devils a tournament title to go along with their regular-season conference co-championship, which they shared with Wake Forest. It also marks the first time Duke has won back-to-back ACC tournament championships.
"In this league, it's an honor to win this event," head coach John Rennie said. "The caliber of the teams that are here, the quality of the facilities-it's just a tremendous honor to win it. To win it two years in a row is terrific."
The victory was also Duke's second over Wake Forest this season. This one, however, was a little different from the Blue Devils' back-and-forth 4-3 win in Winston-Salem in Duke's first ACC game of the year.
Sunday's championship bout was fought mainly in the middle of the field, with neither team manufacturing many scoring opportunities.
Duke tallied only four shots in the first half while playing into the wind. The Blue Devils' only chances came in the final minutes of the half, on shots by Pavelid Castaneda and Zach Pope that just missed the net.
The second half was much of the same. Duke came out aggressively after the intermission but was unable to consistently sustain possession. Wake Forest's offense, meanwhile, was stifled by the Blue Devils' back four, led by All-tournament team selection Tim Jepson.
"They use the flanks really well," said midfielder Michael Videira, who was named tournament MVP. "We got tight on our outside [midfield] because that's where they try to channel their passes. Once we got that down, they were doing a lot of kicking over the top, and our defense held strong."
Wake applied pressure to the Blue Devil defense early in overtime but again could not muster a shot on goal.
"I said in the beginning also that it was going to take one goal or less to win this tournament," said goalie Justin Papadakis, who had three saves in recording his second straight shutout and sixth on the season. "We did that all three games. It shows how good our back four is-organization really took away many of their opportunities before they were created."
Seven minutes into the first overtime, Grella moved upfield and caught Wake's defense off-guard when he ripped his shot from well outside the box for the win.
"He just kept going and going and all of a sudden decided he had a clear shot," Rennie said. "That's what a great player does-things that surprise you."
The golden goal erased any chance of a replay of Papadakis' heroics in penalty kicks from last season.
"You definitely have to draw some parallels there," Papadakis said. "But I was glad to finish it in regulation."
The title gives Duke a good chance to supplant the Demon Deacons as the top team in the nation and should secure the Blue Devils a first-round bye and home games in the NCAA tournament. The tournament field will be announced Monday, and first-round games begin Nov. 10.
"We're playing really well right now," Papadakis said. "The play has progressed throughout the year, and we're playing at our best right now. From now on, it's only good teams in there. So we're really going to stay focused and really go for it this year. We really have the team-the chemistry is there, the work ethic is there, and the level of play is there."
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