During their four-game winning streak, the Blue Devils had been consistent defensively even without senior co-captain Tim Jepson.
Friday at Koskinen Stadium, Boston College showed that Duke is not the same without him.
Then-No. 19 BC (7-1-1, 4-0-0 in the ACC) defeated the Blue Devils by a score of 4-2 in a matchup that pitted two of the ACC's best teams. The Eagles controlled the game for long periods, and defensive miscommunications and bad bounces doomed then-No. 4 Duke (7-3-0, 2-1-0) to its third defeat of the season.
"Every team has a bad game every once in a while, and tonight was our night," head coach John Rennie said. "We made very bad mistakes on the first and third goals, and you can't give away two goals in one game to a team as good as Boston College."
The Blue Devils fell behind almost immediately, as Alejandro Bedoya opened the scoring in the seventh minute of play. Bedoya fired a shot which was saved by goalkeeper Justin Papadakis, but the Eagles player recovered the rebound and headed it into the net.
Duke threatened the Boston College goal for the next 20 minutes, but was stunned by Paul Gerstenberger's swerving free kick that put the Eagles up 2-0 in the 32nd minute. Just minutes after the Blue Devils had come close to scoring, BC attacked the opposite goal and nearly scored on a corner kick that Duke sophomore Josh Bienenfeld cleared off of the line. A foul was called on the ensuing scramble, however, and Gerstenberger buried his shot into the top-right corner of the goal.
The Blue Devils responded well to the two-goal deficit and scored a deserved goal just before halftime. Senior midfielder Zack Pope played a low cross into the box which was corralled by Joshua Medcalf. Medcalf then laid the ball off for freshman Cole Grossman, who buried it into the side netting. Then, only five minutes after the interval, Medcalf received a perfectly-placed cross from Pope and headed it coolly into the goal, tying the game and giving Duke momentum.
The Eagles didn't fold, though, and scored an opportune goal four minutes later. Gerstenberger whipped in a low free kick from the right sideline, and it took several deflections before finding the back of the cage.
"It was a gift kind of goal, and all of a sudden it just drains your energy," Rennie said. "You work so hard to get back in the game, and to give up a goal like that was crushing for us."
The Blue Devils never truly threatened to get back into the match, and B.C. midfielder Mike Conicoff sealed it with yet another rebound goal, this one in the 74th minute.
Duke next takes on North Carolina in Chapel Hill Thursday in a crucial game in terms of both bragging rights and conference standings. Rennie said he hoped Jepson would be back to take on the Tar Heels.
"I don't think we need to work on anything in particular, I think we just need to come out and play with some intensity," Medcalf said. "If I were North Carolina, I'd be a little bit worried about that game."
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