The Blue Devils entered Wednesday night's game against South Carolina looking to break out of their scoring slump by getting early goals and scores from their stars.
Fortunately, they got both.
Senior Paul Dudley scored in the seventh minute and junior Mike Grella converted a second-half penalty kick to give Duke a 2-1 victory over the Gamecocks (4-3-0). Once again, the No. 12 Blue Devils (4-2-0) outshot their opponent-this time 29-9. But this time, they were finally able to take advantage of that edge and record a win.
"We got a lot of chances throughout the game, and we got good chances early," head coach John Rennie said. "We finished one, and that's what we needed to do. That made it a lot easier for us-not playing the whole game either even or behind."
Dudley's goal, which came off a Grella header that hit the crossbar, relieved some pressure on Duke. But the Gamecocks responded less than 20 minutes later, as Sam Arthur rifled a shot past Blue Devil goalkeeper Justin Papadakis into the right side of the net.
"We were 1-1 with South Carolina," Grella said. "We should be able to dictate the game and dictate the pace and be crisp all the time. They shouldn't get on the board, and we shouldn't have problems with a team of that caliber."
Duke made adjustments at halftime, and the results were clear. The defense was more compact, allowing the Blue Devils to win possession on long balls more quickly. Rather than chasing down the Gamecocks on second chances, Duke had control and was ready to attack.
The defensive improvement let the offense turn up the heat in the South Carolina zone, finally resulting in a Blue Devil goal. After being fouled in the box, Grella knocked a penalty kick into the lower left corner of the net to give the Blue Devils a one-goal margin they did not relinquish.
"I like to put it like, 'The bucket's full, and sooner or later it'll tip over,'" Grella said. "We put a lot of pressure on their back line. I kept getting through in there, so I tried one more time and I got taken down in the box. It was a little bit soft.... [Penalty kicks] are kind of my specialty. I don't miss very often, so it was pretty simple from there on in."
Grella's game-winner came on a penalty kick, but the Blue Devils had plenty of other opportunities-they just did not find the back of the net, a trend that is becoming all too familiar. Rennie said the upside, however, is that at least his team is not wasting its opportunities.
"When you have possession, possession, possession, and you don't get chances then you're going, 'Well, the other team's doing what they want to do,'" Rennie said. "We had possession and we had scoring chances, so we did everything we wanted to do. We just obviously want to score more goals."
But Wednesday, Duke was content just to take a win over the Gamecocks.
"It wasn't the prettiest victory, but it's a win," Papadakis said. "That's the only way to get back on track is [with] a win, so we're happy."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.