Last week, Duke traveled 2,600 miles to play California-Santa Barbara—and met a crowd roughly four times that number.
In a game played in front of 11,242 fans—the sixth-largest crowd in NCAA regular-season history—the No. 19 Blue Devils gave up two second-half goals to the Gauchos and fell 2-0.
Head coach John Kerr said the team fared well in the unique atmosphere and compared the playing environment to ACC road games at Maryland, except Friday night, in a California twist, the opposing fans threw tortillas.
“When we play Maryland, it’s the same way. It was a little annoying [Friday] that fans threw tortillas on the field,” Kerr said. “There’s so many people cheering, unfortunately for the opposing team.”
The Gauchos (7-3-2) looked strong for much of the first half of the game, putting much pressure on the Blue Devils, but Santa Barbara’s efforts were stymied by an excellent defensive effort. This was highlighted by a span of three corner kicks, all unsuccessful against Duke. The defensive chess match continued into halftime with a 0-0 tie.
“Our defense was tremendous, Andrew Wenger and Sebastien Ibeagha specifically.” Kerr said. “They really kept things going for us.”
Duke (5-3-4) came out in the second half with more offensive intensity, putting more pressure on the Gauchos’ defense; however, their efforts were stopped each time. The Blue Devils’ inability to capitalize led to Santa Barbara’s Danny Barrera scoring the go-ahead in the 56th minute after a botched clear by Duke.
On their heels again, the Blue Devils played stingy defense until Sam Garza put away the decisive goal in the 79th minute.
“We really played our best soccer after their first goal,” Kerr said. “We had a lot of good looks in the second half against a defense that was strong and fast. The results aren’t great, but I’m happy with what we’ve done so far.”
Senior captain Cole Grossman spoke highly of the defense, but made it clear that the team can not give up late goals.
“I think we’ve played the hardest schedule in the country so far, but we have to start winning games.” Grossman said. “The best teams don’t concede goals. It’s all about defense.”
Grossman said that he must ramp up his efforts to help Duke win its first game since Oct. 5. The ACC Tournament, after all, is just a few short weeks away.
“I need to take it to the next level, and I have to be the one to step up on the competition.”
The Blue Devils return to Koskinen Stadium Tuesday to take on High Point at 7 p.m.
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