SPORTS  |  SOCCER

Missed opportunities hurt Duke men's soccer in 1-1 tie against Pittsburgh

<p>Junior midfielder Brian White finished with a goal and five&nbsp;shots, but the Blue Devils were unable to&nbsp;break a 1-1 tie.&nbsp;</p>

Junior midfielder Brian White finished with a goal and five shots, but the Blue Devils were unable to break a 1-1 tie. 

In a battle of teams searching for their first ACC victory, Duke looked to continue its momentum from a win against Georgia Southern Tuesday and snatch a second straight home victory.

But after a promising start, the Blue Devils’ struggles to find the net left them with a disappointing finish that will keep them waiting for their first conference win a bit longer. 

Although Duke controlled possession and outshot the Panthers 16-8, the Blue Devils played to a 1-1 draw against Pittsburgh Friday night at Koskinen Stadium. Duke was unable to capitalize on several scoring opportunities throughout the first and second halves, before being stifled in overtime. 

“It stings badly,” Blue Devil head coach John Kerr said. “It’s two points missed for sure and we’re going to have to regroup and make sure we take care of games like these. We were clearly the better team, we dominated the game from start to finish and we need to make them pay.”

Duke (3-2-2, 0-2-1 in the ACC) struck first when junior midfielder Brian White won a penalty kick just 26 seconds after kickoff. Graduate student Ryan Thompson played a long ball over the top of the Panthers defense to White, who was streaking down the middle of the field. As White began to strike the ball, the Pittsburgh goalkeeper Mikal Outcalt came off the line and made contact with the Flemington, N.J., native. On the ensuing penalty kick, White buried the ball into the middle of the net for his third goal of the season. 

“I saw a ball played in, someone flicked it on,” White said, “I chased after it, I saw the goalie was coming out pretty aggressively so I tried to take a touch around him and just take the contact.”

The Blue Devils continued to control play in the next 20 minutes, moving the ball around and preventing the Panthers (1-5-2, 0-2-1) from maintaining possession. 

But Pittsburgh knotted the match in the 22nd minute when junior Darcy Bloeman served a corner kick to the far post, finding freshman midfielder Luca Mellor for a header passed the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Robert Moewes. Mellor leads the Panthers with three goals and six points this season. 

Duke dominated the rest of the action, creating numerous opportunities, most of them coming from runs down the sides and crosses into the box. Thompson and White—who combined for 10 shots, half of which were on goal—threatened again with shots in the 26th and 28th minutes, respectively, but Outcalt was in position to make two of his six saves on the night. 

The Blue Devils’ best opportunity to score the tie-breaking goal came near the end of the first half. Pittsburgh committed a hand-ball during a shot by sophomore midfielder Torbjorn Alseth in the 44th minute, setting up Duke’s second penalty kick. But Outcalt recorded another stop when he guessed right on junior Carter Manley’s attempt.

The rest of the match was an extension of the first 45 minutes. Although the Blue Devils outshot Pittsburgh 8-1 in the second half and held the Panthers to no corner kicks, Kerr’s squad could not find a breakthrough. 

In the 59th minute, defender Markus Fjørtoft fired a shot on goal, but Outcalt responded with another save. Pittsburgh also almost gave Duke a second goal when the Panthers deflected a free kick by Thompson off their own cross bar. 

“We had easily four or five crosses we should have gotten on the end of,”  Kerr said. “It’s disappointing we didn’t finish off our chances.”

In overtime, junior midfielder Macario Hing-Glover continued to pressure the Pittsburgh defense as he attacked along the right side. The Phoenix native generated another scoring chance when he slid the ball across the face of the goal, but senior forward Jared Golestani was unable to reach the ball in time for a shot. 

“We just have to keep working on finishing and movement in the final third so we can get the goals that we need to get,” White said.  

The Blue Devils will return to the field Tuesday night against Georgia State to wrap up a four-game home stretch before continuing ACC play against N.C. State Friday. 

Discussion

Share and discuss “Missed opportunities hurt Duke men's soccer in 1-1 tie against Pittsburgh ” on social media.