It was not a repeat of last year by any stretch, but UNC-Wilmington still put up a fight for the first half.
The No. 7 Blue Devils (6-2-0) headed into the intermission of their first regular season game on the road with a slim 1-0 lead, but Duke ended up dominating the struggling Seahawks (1-5-1) Tuesday night, coming away with a 5-0 win. The shutout avenged the Blue Devils' surprising home loss to UNC-W a year ago.
Duke expected UNC-Wilmington to try and slow the game down by playing a more passive, defensive game. But the Seahawks had a different game plan and caught the Blue Devils off guard by pushing the ball offensively and keeping the pace of the game high throughout the first half.
Mike Grella got Duke on the board in the 10th minute of play when he rattled the ball into the back of the net from the middle of the box. But the Blue Devils, who were averaging about 23 shots per game entering the contest, were held to a mere six attempts on net in the first half.
"The rest of the half actually was pretty even-the statistics were very close," head coach John Rennie said.
Rennie attributed Duke's lack of production to the somewhat unexpected defensive pressure employed by the Seahawks throughout the game.
"They were playing very hard, very fast and aggressive," Rennie said. "It certainly worked well for them for the first 45 minutes."
But UNC-W could not sustain its strategy and was incapable of keeping the Blue Devils from pulling away later in the game.
"We thought if we kept the ball moving quickly they would get stretched, and they did," Rennie said. "We had to play well because they were playing a very high-pressure game, and if we didn't move the ball quickly they would have two or three guys on us and win it."
Senior forward Paul Dudley scored on both of his shots on the night, notching his fourth and fifth tallies of the season. His first goal came just five minutes into the second half and opened the offensive floodgates to drown the Seahawks. Reserves Joshua Medcalf and Brad Ramsey also scored to provide the game's final margin.
Defensively, Duke played freshman Doug Ferner for the whole 90 minutes of regulation for the first time this season while senior goalkeeper Justin Papadakis had three saves to record his third shutout.
The Blue Devils will attempt to make it four straight wins Friday at Clemson.
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