Over the last two years, Duke has struggled to beat Clemson, losing a game in each season to its ACC foe.
But the No. 7 Blue Devils (7-2, 2-0 in the ACC) finally secured that elusive win Friday night when they took down the Tigers (3-5-1, 0-3) with a 4-2 trouncing in Clemson, S.C.
Duke took an early lead when junior Darrius Barnes hit senior midfielder Joe Germanese, who rattled the ball in the back of the cage within the first 10 minutes of play.
Clemson, however, was not deflated by the Blue Devils' early strike. The Tigers came clawing back just thirteen minutes later when senior forward David Bell notched the tying goal.
After junior Mike Grella responded with a goal of his own five minutes later, Clemson became noticeably frustrated, crossing the line between playing intensely and playing too aggressively.
The Tigers' physical game haunted them throughout the contest and nearly erased any hope they had of rallying back down the stretch, as they had 26 fouls called against them, including two yellow cards and two red cards.
"I'm not sure why they fouled as much as they did," head coach John Rennie said. "I'm not sure what their plan was, but it gave us a lot of opportunities to go forward and it cost them two players at the end of the day."
Perhaps the most costly foul came just over 34 minutes into the contest. Clemson freshman forward Sam Petrone received a red card for his second caution of the night and was ejected from the game.
Duke smelled blood and wasted no time in taking advantage of the man-down squad. Within four minutes, Grella tallied his second goal of the contest and his seventh of the season.
Although the Tigers were able to make it a 3-2 game early in the second half, Duke's high-powered offense continued to commandeer the game. Paul Dudley recorded the team's fourth goal in the 76th minute, sealing the victory.
The Blue Devils, who have outshot their opponents in every game, again had more attempts on net. But continuing that streak of outshooting opponents is not the team's focus entering each contest, particularly in a road matchup against a team like Clemson.
"We played very well, it's a very hard place to play-I can't remember the last time we won here," Rennie said. "A win away from home in this league-you just take that for the individual game that it is. We went forward, we scored a lot of goals, and we won a game and we'll take it at that point."
Duke, which has been affected all season by injuries to its veteran leaders, will get a huge boost on defense when senior defenseman Tim Jepson, who has been out all season with a hamstring injury, looks to suit up for the first time this Friday. For the Blue Devils, things are only looking up.
"We started a little behind the curve because of three major surgeries in the spring and Jepson's injury right away," Rennie said. "We're getting healthier, we're getting better and I think when we do get Tim Jepson back now hopefully in another week, we'll get better as we get into October."
Duke has made good use of its last three contests in terms of getting even. The Blue Devils, who defeated both Maryland and UNC-Wilmington in their two previous matches, have now avenged all three of last year's regular-season losses. The next game will be a tough one for Duke as it takes on No. 21 Boston College Oct. 5th at 7 p.m. in Koskinen Stadium.
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