From the way things started Sunday against Wake Forest, Duke seemed poised to score another upset in the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils came out firing in the first 20 minutes, and the Demon Deacons relied on missed opportunities and great goalkeeping to keep the game scoreless. Wake Forest (16-2-2) managed to regroup and reverse the tide, however, and by the end of the first half Duke (14-7) was staring at a 3-0 hole en route to a 4-2 loss in the Round of 16 in Winston-Salem.
“I thought in the first 20 minutes of the game we had some good opportunities and unfortunately we didn’t take them,” head coach John Kerr said. “But it started off really well for us. Unfortunately, Wake Forest is very talented and they converted three good opportunities they had in the first half.”
Aside from the scoreboard, the first-half statistics were even or in Duke’s favor. The teams each had seven shots and the Blue Devils earned four corner kicks to the Demon Deacons’ one. Goals are all that count, though, and Wake Forest converted its opportunities at an impressive clip.
The game remained tied at zero until the 30th minute when Zach Schilawski, Wake Forest’s leading scorer, made his first mark on the game. Following a counterattack, Schilawski received a pass from about 20 yards out and fired a shot over the head of Duke goalie James Belshaw.
Duke nearly leveled the game on a corner kick moments later, but then the Demon Deacons were back on the attack. Schilawski showed why he is considered one of the top offensive players in the ACC by beating Belshaw again, this time on a rocket into the bottom corner.
Not satisfied with their two-goal lead, the Demon Deacons struck again just before the halftime whistle. This time, Austin da Luz flighted a ball into the box, where Sam Redmond was able to find the back of the net with a spectacular headed effort.
“I thought...we could go in [down] 2-0 at halftime and come back out and get one early and put them under pressure,” Kerr said. “But that third goal really hurt. In fairness to us, we did great to hang in there and not pack it in and we kept attacking and kept our formation.”
With their backs against the wall, the Blue Devils came out after the intermission determined to climb back into the game. They were finally rewarded for their efforts in the 56th minute, when a hand ball by Wake Forest gave Duke a penalty kick. Junior Cole Grossman stepped up and knocked it in, getting Duke on the board.
Five minutes later, the Demon Deacons earned a penalty of their own, which Belshaw stopped, keeping his team in the match. The Blue Devils couldn’t keep it going, however, and da Luz provided the final blow in the 66th minute to make it 4-1.
“Anytime you get a big swing like that, a goal or a saved penalty kick, it helps give you momentum,” senior Ryan McDaniel said. “Credit to [James Belshaw] because it was a heck of a save. It’s hard to sustain that, though... and I think that if we had the ball directly after that more in their half we might have been able to put them under more pressure. But unfortunately it was kind of a midfield game after the penalty kick, which kind of slowed the momentum down.”
Ryan Finley tacked on a goal only minutes later, but Duke simply couldn’t mount enough pressure to make the game close in the end.
“Their movement is tremendous,” Kerr said of the Demon Deacons. “They move in sync with each other. They know where each other are and the ball keeps moving and it makes it very difficult for defenders to track them.”
The loss ended the season for the Blue Devils, who had made an impressive postseason run with wins over Winthrop and No. 14 Michigan State in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.