For the second straight game, Duke raced out of the gates in the first half for a 2-0 lead. And, once again, the Blue Devils were able to make that lead hold up in the second period to upset 14th-seeded Michigan State 2-1 Sunday in East Lansing and advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.
“I think we got nervous at halftime with the lead,” head coach John Kerr said. “It’s a dangerous lead, a 2-0 lead, and we knew if they scored they would be back in the game. Mentally it would be in their favor. Luckily for us we defended well towards the end.”
Duke (14-6) held possession for most of the first 45 minutes en route to its first-half advantage. Right off the bat, junior Cole Grossman ripped a shot from 20 yards out that flew over the crossbar. Following an exciting first two minutes in which Michigan State (11-8-2) also generated a scoring chance, the game slowed down, with neither team creating much offensively.
As the match wore on, the Blue Devils’ offense warmed up. A ball served in by Grossman led to a Christian Ibeagha header that barely missed the post.
Duke kept the pressure on, and finally broke through in the 29th minute. Grossman flighted a corner into the box, where Andrew Wenger headed the ball down to Temi Molinar. The sophomore midfielder then passed it across to Ibeagha who hit the post with his first attempt but was there to finish the rebound.
Only 14 minutes later, the Blue Devils struck again from yet another corner. The Michigan State goalie failed to clear the ball, and Wenger won a battle in the box and finished.
“We’ve been working on some set pieces all week,” Kerr said. “We’re a threat on the corner kick—we’ve been a threat all season. [Grossman] plays a good ball in and we’ve got some good headers and guys who want to be on the end of things so that’s exciting for us.”
In the second half, however, the Duke offense slowed down and Blue Devil goalie James Belshaw was forced to step up.
Ten minutes into the period, the Spartans’ Rubin Bega fired a shot on target from 12 yards out, and Belshaw made a spectacular save to parry it away. Only moments later the Duke keeper made another reaction stop to block a header off a Michigan State corner.
As time wore on, desperation began to set in for the Spartans, and they redoubled their efforts to get back into the match. After a couple more near misses, Michigan State finally broke through with 13:37 remaining. Following a foul just outside the penalty area, Bega ripped the free kick past the wall and into the left corner of the net.
Only one goal behind, the Spartans kept attacking. The Duke defense buckled down, however, and with the exception of one more great save by Belshaw, limited Michigan State’s opportunities.
“When you’re playing away from home the home team’s going to have some kind of flurry,” Kerr said. “They got back in the game with a free kick and caused us some pain down the stretch, but we held in and did what we had to do to get the victory.”
The win puts Duke into the Round of 16, a stage it has not reached since 2006.
“This team wasn’t really sure what to expect when we started,” Grossman said. “To represent Duke and put Duke back on the national scene has been an honor.”
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