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Confident Markus Fjortoft, Duke men's soccer eye first ACC win against Pittsburgh Friday

<p>Markus Fjortoft started as a freshman and sophomore and is part of a much-improved Duke defense allowing 1.0 goals per game this season.&nbsp;</p>

Markus Fjortoft started as a freshman and sophomore and is part of a much-improved Duke defense allowing 1.0 goals per game this season. 

The Blue Devils got back above .500 following a dramatic win Tuesday, and will now look to add their first ACC win of the year in what could be a momentum-building week.

After getting shut out in its first two conference games against ranked opponents, Duke knocked off Georgia Southern 2-1 Tuesday and will look to notch another win against Pittsburgh Friday at 7 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils have yet to score in ACC play this season and are tied for 77th nationally out of 203 teams with 1.5 goals per game—an area in which they will try to continue improving against another defensive-minded team.

“Our last pass hasn’t been good,” Duke head coach John Kerr said after Tuesday’s game. “We need to really focus on that and get our touches right.”

Tuesday was the second time all season the Blue Devils (3-2-1, 0-2 in the ACC) have scored multiple goals in a game, with graduate student Ryan Thompson’s game-winning goal lifting Duke to a hard-fought win. 

Thompson was not the only Blue Devil to score his first goal of the season against the Eagles, as junior defender Markus Fjortoft notched his first of the year in the first half. The Asker, Norway, native has started every game of his career and is part of a Duke defense that has anchored the team through the first third of the season. 

“Coming into my third season, I feel more set,” Fjortoft said after Tuesday’s game. “I’m a lot more confident, I feel like I’m a better player than I was last season and the season before that.”

Led by graduate student goalkeeper Robert Moewes—who is third in the ACC with 4.5 saves per game—the Blue Devil defense has gone from one of the worst in the ACC to one of the best. 

It will look to shut down the Panthers (1-5-1, 0-2), who like Duke have struggled to score for much of the season. Pittsburgh has scored six goals in its first seven games this year, but as is the case for the Blue Devils, more than half of those goals came in one game, a blowout win against Saint Joseph’s. 

“It’s a blessing for any player to have a goalie that can get you out of some tough spots,” Thompson said. “When there’s only a couple goals each game, a few big saves can be the difference between a loss and a tie or a tie and a win.”

Although the Panthers have struggled to score, their own stingy defense has kept them competitive in losses, including a hard-fought 1-0 loss at then-No. 1 North Carolina last week. Pittsburgh is coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to Loyola, and is hoping to come out on top in what could be a defensive battle Friday evening. 

The Panthers are led by freshman midfielder Luca Mellor, who leads the team with two goals this season, and goalkeeper Mikel Outcalt. Like Moewes, Outcalt has been peppered with shots early in the season—he leads the ACC with 34 saves. 

“We know that Friday night is going to be a difficult game,” Kerr said. “They have a veteran coach from the ACC, Jay Vidovich, who knows what he’s doing. They’ve added some players to their squad, so no game is going to be a walk in the park.”

After taking on three top-25 teams in a row, the Blue Devils find themselves in a softer part of their schedule. Like Georgia Southern, Duke’s next four opponents sit outside the top 25, meaning a Blue Devil team that is hoping to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011 could make a statement before taking on ACC powers like Virginia Tech and the Tar Heels.

The Blue Devils flashed their potential with a 1-0 win at then-No. 9 UCLA Sept. 2. They will look to take another step in the right direction by getting their second straight win Friday night.

“It’s a long and a short season,” Thompson said. “Every game is so important, we know that from the last four years where at the end of the season we’re looking back and counting maybe if we had done this in this game, we would have gone to the tournament.”

Mitchell Gladstone contributed reporting.

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