In the final regular season game of his career, James Belshaw earned a shutout, and the Blue Devils made sure not to waste it, recording their third win in four games.
Coming off a scoreless draw with Elon Oct. 30, Duke (8-7-2) defeated SIU Edwardsville 2-0 Friday night at Koskinen Stadium as Belshaw earned his career-high eighth shutout of the season.
“The credit doesn’t just go to me. It goes to the whole team,” Belshaw said. “We’ve just had this mentality this year of not conceding goals and just defending like our life depends on it, and that’s what’s brought us our success.”
Averaging 0.74 goals against per game, the Blue Devils own the second-best mark in the ACC this year, and with just one goal allowed in their last six games, their defense has only been getting stronger. The trend continued as Duke allowed just one shot on goal in the first half.
After being shut out themselves earlier in the week though, the Blue Devils looked to get on the scoreboard early against the Cougars (12-6).
“We had good movement in the Elon game, but we just couldn’t capitalize,” freshman midfielder Zach Mathers said. “But I think we really did a great job tonight moving off the ball and getting shots off.”
Duke had just five shots in the opening period, but in the 17th minute, one of them found the back of the net.
Receiving a long throw-in from sophomore midfielder Riley Wolfe at the top of the 18-yard box, sophomore midfielder Sean Davis flicked the ball toward the penalty mark. There, Mathers buried a right-footed volley for his second goal in three games, giving the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.
With a 1-4-0 record in games that Duke has scored only one goal, the offense pushed for a second score.
“We’ve been talking about after we get our first goal to try to press more than we did before,” Mathers said.
Mathers, who is referred to as “Chachi” by his team, just missed a second score 10 minutes later, and the squad went into the break without an insurance goal. To help preserve the lead, Mathers played mostly on the back line in the second half.
“The SIU Edwardsville team was very talented, very good going forward with good movement off the ball,” Duke head coach John Kerr said. “We thought that Chachi could help us in the back. It obviously left a hole in the midfield.”
Although the tactic allowed the Cougars to take greater control of the pace of play, the Blue Devil defensive backs repeatedly made the plays in and around the 18-yard box to keep the lead.
“We did everything that we needed to do in that final third to make sure that they didn’t get any good looks so I’m proud of them,” Kerr said.
In the 57th minute, junior defender Sebastien Ibeagha blocked a shot from just inside the 18-yard box. Then, in the 68th minute, SIU Edwardsville’s Peter Kelly appeared to have broken through the midfield for a clear path to goal when sophomore defender Jack Coleman came in from across the pitch to block the shot.
Additionally, Mathers made several tackles to spoil the Cougars’ opportunities in the final third.
“[Zach’s] dangerous on both ends,” Belshaw said. “I’d like two of him—one in the back and one further forward.”
With mounting pressure on its defense, Duke pressed harder for a second tally. And in the 84th minute, another Blue Devil freshman notched a goal. Off another assist from Wolfe, forward Luis Rendon took the ball through the 18-yard box and netted it from the left side.
“[It was a] great finish from Luis to put the game to bed,” Belshaw said. “We needed that badly.”
With a two-goal lead, Duke took over possession to run out the clock. For the remaining six minutes, Rendon had two chances to add to the margin.
The Cougars, however, were unable to break into the final third of the field, ensuring the Blue Devils’ fourth straight shutout.
“The season’s not over,” Belshaw said. “We’ve still got time to get a few more wins—a few more shutouts— and keep this streak going.”
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