Though they struggled to score for most of the game, the No. 4 Blue Devils felt as if they were going to beat Valparaiso one way or another.
And their confidence paid off as Duke (2-0) came away with a 2-0 victory Sunday night at Koskinen Stadium.
A scoreless tie for three quarters of the contest, Valparaiso was able to keep the game within its reach, but the Duke squad continued to apply pressure to a stingy Crusader defense until it crumbled.
"It wasn't really about us as much as them-they were just dropping back and making it very, very hard to play," head coach John Rennie said. "They just wanted a very slow pace, a very slow game, and its just hard to play against that.... When the team just decides alright, 'We're gonna pack it in and we're not gonna let you play the way you want to,' it's hard."
Junior forward Mike Grella finally ended the drought, however, when he nailed an uncontested shot with 21 minutes left in the second period. Graduate student transfer Joshua Medcalf headed a lob pass from goalie Justin Papadakis past the Crusader defenders as Grella made his break. The ball found its way past the keeper into the back-left corner, giving Duke a 1-0 lead.
Duke had plenty of scoring opportunities against Valparaiso, but it took the squad longer than it had hoped to get rolling offensively. The Blue Devils out-shot the Crusaders 28-to-8 on the night, with just eight of those chances in the first half.
On the other end of the field, the Duke defense-even without sidelined senior leader Tim Jepson-stifled any runs the Crusaders tried to start. Freshman Christian Ibeagha, who has started since August 25 while Jepson recovers from a hamstring injury, played especially tough defense for all 90 minutes.
"Christian is awesome," Grella said. "I don't want to pick any favorites, but I'm going to say it tonight, he's my favorite freshman player. He's a good guy, great player- just has stepped up and plays like he's been here for two or three years."
The solid defense provided time for the Blue Devils' scoring attack to show signs of life. Duke gained offensive momentum right before the end of the first half, which opened up the field in the second. With about seven minutes to go in the opening period, Grella had the ball to the left of the cage with only the keeper in his way of a clear goal. His shot was barely deflected above the net by Crusader goalie Ryan Schwartz. Grella was obviously stunned, covering his mouth in shock and disappointment. It was not enough to slow the deadly attackman down, however.
"[It was] one of those games that sooner or later they were bound for defeat because they were just sitting back, packing up the back," Grella, said. "We were just knocking on the door a bunch of times and sooner or later [the scoring] was bound to happen."
When the second half started, Duke appeared anxious to get a goal. Senior forward Spencer Wadsworth made a quick steal off the first pass and made a charge towards the net, dishing it to junior Pavelid Castaneda, who lasered a shot just wide of the cage.
"The second half we were more aggressive which is what we talked about at half time," Rennie said. "When we were going to goal, we were much more aggressive, we picked up the tempo."
After Grella found the net midway through the second half, the Blue Devils continued their charge. Two shots clanked off the post as Duke got closer to adding to its lead. Finally, it was Grella again who scored, this time by settling a nicely-lobbed cross from the right side and pushing it past the keeper with ease.
"These teams are tough to play because they don't play us straight up," Papadakis said. "I thought we came out in the second half with that high tempo despite the opposition trying to stifle play a little bit and we scored two nice goals, so I think we're happy with the result."
The Blue Devils opened the weekend with a 6-1 manhandling of Delaware Friday at Koskinen Stadium and play Villanova next in the Duke Classic Sept. 7 at Koskinen.
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