With just one win through their first four ACC games, the Blue Devils entered Friday desperately needing a victory to revitalize their season.
Instead, No. 18 Virginia Tech rolled to an easy 3-1 victory against Duke at Thompson Field in Blacksburg, Va., knocking the Blue Devils below .500 for the first time this season. Amid a heavy rain thanks to Hurricane Matthew, the Hokies stormed out to a 2-0 lead before halftime despite Duke controlling the pace for much of the first 20 minutes.
And with a third tally less than 12 minutes into the second half, the Blue Devils once again found themselves in a deep hole.
“We were being very direct. We were taking the space, taking the opportunities given to us and our final pass again let us down," Duke head coach John Kerr told GoDuke.com. "It’s frustrating because we’re doing a lot of good things. The approach work has been good, but the final decision in the final third has been haunting us for quite awhile now, and we’ve got to do something about it.”
Even though Blue Devil goalkeeper Robert Moewes came up with six saves—the Dortmund, Germany, native ranks second among all ACC netminders with 45—Virginia Tech (9-2-1, 2-2-1 in the ACC) had nine shots on goal compared to just four for Duke (4-5-2, 1-3-1).
The second-highest scoring offense in the conference did not have an overwhelming number of opportunities with 13 total shots on the night. But the Hokies capitalized on their chances with a 20th-minute strike from Rory Slevin and another tally from Humberto Montero less than 90 seconds before halftime.
"There were periods later in the first half where we were pretty good and didn’t get the equalizer and I thought, ‘Okay, we’ll score a lot in the second half, we’ve just got to get to the halftime whistle only 1-0 down,’" Kerr said. "Unfortunately, we gave a poor free kick away 25 yards from our own box and they scored right before halftime on a rebound goal.”
From there, the tailspin that the Blue Devils have been mired in since their Sept. 2 win at then-No. 9 UCLA only continued. A critical Duke foul set Virginia Tech up from 20 yards away in the 57th minute and junior Marcelo Acuna capitalized. The Hokies' leading scorer buried the free kick, giving his team a 3-0 lead with his ninth goal of the season—seven more than any other Virginia Tech player.
Not only were the Hokies effective on offense, but for much of the night, the hosts controlled the game defensively as well. Virginia Tech kept the Blue Devils off the scoreboard until the final minute, when junior midfielder Cameron Moseley notched his fourth goal of the campaign to spoil the shutout.
The Hokies also managed to break Duke's rhythm early and often, committing numerous fouls in a contest that saw referee John Brady pull the yellow card from his pocket on nine occasions.
"They persistently fouled us in the first half to break our rhythm...without the referee getting on their case," Kerr said. They’re going to continue to [foul] until the referee does that—and he finally did, but it was too late."
With the Blue Devils sitting at No. 81 in this week's RPI and just five games remaining in the regular season, Duke's bid to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011 appears to be a long shot.
But that does not have the Blue Devils' head coach down as his team readies for its next contest at home Friday vs. No. 4 North Carolina.
"[We] kept fighting and challenging Virginia Tech for loose balls and winners and we couldn’t get that goal until the final minute of the game," Kerr said. "I’m happy they didn’t throw the towel in when they could’ve easily.... There’s some spirit there, some heart there."
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."