Missed early opportunities cost the Blue Devils a crucial game against their biggest rival.
Duke's typically potent attack was muffled by a strong North Carolina midfield Friday night, as the No. 16 Tar Heels defeated the Blue Devils 2-0 at Koskinen Stadium. It was UNC's first win in Durham since 2000.
"They outplayed us, no question about it," Duke head coach John Kerr said. "They were up for it, and they put great pressure on us and didn't allow us to play our game.
Duke (6-4-1, 2-2-1 in the ACC) got off to a fast start, as senior forward Mike Grella led a wave of energy out of the locker room. In just the third minute, Grella was able to corral a through ball and beat Tar Heel goalkeeper Jacob Wescoe from the left side, only to have the goal called back on a late offside call.
The Blue Devils continued to play a high energy game through the first 15 minutes, as Grella seemed poised to take over. Despite the early signs of hope for Duke, it was UNC (9-2-1, 2-2) that was the first to capitalize, as Brian Shriver headed a cross past senior goalkeeper Brendan Fitzgerald in the 18th minute.
The goal ended Fitzgerald's shutout streak of more than 400 minutes, and seemed to take the life out of the Blue Devils.
The Tar Heels dominated the rest of the game, nearly scoring again two minutes later as senior defender Darrius Barnes cleared two consecutive balls off his own goal line for Duke. The Blue Devils managed two more scoring opportunities before half, but were overwhelmed by UNC in the second frame.
"It boiled down to work ethic," Fitzgerald said. "And we got outworked tonight."
It was clear the Tar Heels were working harder as the game wore on, as they controlled the ball in the middle of the field and contained Duke's backs and wing players. The Blue Devils frequently tried to force the ball down the left side via freshman midfielder Temi Molinar, who was left isolated with UNC defenders too often to generate any opportunities. Duke was reluctant to switch the ball to right winger Joseph Pak, despite Pak's two scoring chances in the first half.
"We recognized that they were overplaying Temi and we tried to switch the ball quicker, but we didn't do it enough," Kerr said. "We didn't capitalize on that space."
The second half also saw periods when Grella was unable to get any touches to lead the attack, a result attributed to the combination of swarming Tar Heel defenders and through balls out of Grella's reach.
As UNC increased its defensive pressure, the Blue Devils became progressively less disciplined, losing the ball at crucial moments and finding themselves out of position on defense. Not only did this lead to scoring opportunities for the Tar Heels, resulting in Shriver's second goal of the night, but also hindered the Duke attack, as the Blue Devils struggled to maintain possession in the middle of the field.
"We definitely got looser after we went down 1-0, 2-0, and needed to win," Grella said. "We got a little sloppier trying to play some long balls and put some pressure on them. We definitely did lack a little discipline."
"That was disappointing from my aspect because I think we're better than that," Kerr said. "We've shown better than that and that's something were going to have to address. It looked like we were tired in the second half, they were first to almost every ball and we are going to have to work on that this week. We're going to have to work hard and get back to basics."
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