The Blue Devils were outshot 17-3, earned three yellow cards and attempted seven corner kicks Friday night against Boston College, but still found themselves in two overtimes.
And despite being outplayed for a majority of the game, Duke pulled out a 1-0 double-overtime victory over the Eagles in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Forward Mike Grella scored his ninth goal of the season in the 102nd minute and goalkeeper Brendan Fitzgerald posted five saves in the win.
"At the end of the day, good teams find ways of winning when they aren't playing very well," head coach John Kerr said.
Indeed, Duke (5-3-1, 2-1-1 in the ACC) did not play its best during the first 90 minutes. Boston College (3-5-1, 2-2) controlled play for most of regulation, preventing the Blue Devils from creating any forward momentum beyond a few early chances.
"I felt like we were fortunate to come away with a win," senior defenseman Graham Dugoni said. "But at the same time, we deserved it. We played hard and buckled down when we had to."
The Eagles' ability to control the pace of play was due largely to senior Alejandro Bedoya. The 2007 All-American tallied eight shots in the game.
"He's a very dangerous player, but I thought we handled him pretty well," Dugoni said. "I felt we were able to negate his influence for most of the game."
That was a large part of Duke's game plan, and the Blue Devils were successful, at least early in the match.
But defender Ian Kalis was lost midway through the game to injury, and with fellow freshman Kyle Bethel out with a broken arm, the shorthanded Blue Devils were forced to change their lineup and strategy.
"Christian Ibeagha man-marked [Bedoya] in the first half, so we were able to shut him down," Kerr said. "But we couldn't get any offense going, so we restructured the lineup a little bit.... That gave us some more play [on offense], but it allowed Bedoya to have some more room in the second half."
Bedoya, however, beat the defense and broke free with less than 30 seconds to go in regulation before his shot hit the crossbar.
"We thought to ourselves, 'Hey, the gods are with us,'" Kerr said. "They're on top of us but they hit the crossbar, so maybe it's not going to be their night."
Bedoya's inability to convert late in the game gave Duke some momentum heading into the final period. The defense remained stout, allowing three shots in the first overtime and none in the second.
"You don't take any risks [in overtime]", Dugoni said. "At the back, you say, 'We're going to keep this game at 0-0 if anything else, and we're going to let our forwards finish it off.'"
Grella did just that, taking a pass from freshman Temi Molinar and firing a shot into the upper right-hand corner past the Eagles' goalkeeper.
"If you're able to find Mike Grella in the final third, something exciting can always happen," Kerr said.
The victory keeps Duke in the hunt in the ACC as it heads into the season's stretch run and a matchup Friday against rival North Carolina.
Most importantly, though, the win gives the Blue Devils confidence in their ability to stymie the opponent defensively and come through in the clutch on offense.
"It shows that even if things get tough, if we believe in ourselves going forward, we can conjure up a goal if we need it," Kerr said.
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