For three quarters, Duke chased North Carolina on the scoreboard, battling back from deficits as large as three goals to tie, but despite the Blue Devils’ best efforts, they could not get in front of the Tar Heels.
Until the fourth quarter.
In front of a capacity crowd of 4,000 on a warm Friday evening, No. 5 Duke took down North Carolina 11-10, leading for just 11 minutes and 32 seconds of game time but squeezing out a win with a huge defensive stand to prevent overtime.
“One of our goals each year is to beat Carolina,” senior attackman and captain Justin Guterding said. “And that was as much of a team win as you’re ever going to get. Defense stepped up when they needed to, faceoffs were dominant.... Guys were able to hit their shots.”
Guterding’s assessment rang true in the sense that the Blue Devils needed major contributions from all three units to overcome North Carolina. The Tar Heels scored efficiently to start, winning the faceoff and breaking the Duke defense down during three continuous minutes of play before North Carolina’s captain, attackman Chris Cloutier, put his squad on the board.
The following possessions for the Blue Devils (9-3, 1-1 in the ACC) were riddled with errors and bad luck, as shots came off of pipes and passes flew errantly. The Tar Heels capitalized as Timmy Kelly tore his way through a double team and beat Duke goalkeeper Danny Fowler in a one-on-one situation.
Guterding answered soon after, though, putting the Blue Devils on the board, and the two sides traded saves and clears for the remainder of the first quarter. Duke struggled mightily on offense in the first 15 minutes, as it tried to solve the unique zone defense that North Carolina (6-5, 0-1) threw at it.
The Blue Devils struggled against Towson’s zone as well earlier in the season before managing to break through for a narrow win.
“It’s a really interesting zone. It’s really different,” Duke head coach John Danowski said. “They play the two short sticks in the middle defensively and on the crease, so when you lock on, they don’t pass the man on.... We needed ball movement, ball speed...the six quarters of zone offense we’ve played now are the most we have in my time here.”
Although the Tar Heels pushed their advantage to 4-1 thanks to goals from Cloutier and William Perry, Duke responded. With outstanding ball movement, a run of wins at the faceoff X from freshman Joe Stein and chemistry between Guterding and junior Brad Smith, the Blue Devils went on a three-goal run to knot the contest at four goals apiece. In the process, Guterding earned his 300th career point. He finished the night with seven points and 304 in his career, putting him in a tie for second with Jordan Wolf on the Duke all-time leaderboard.
Kelly and Smith traded goals to end the first half, with both teams headed into the locker room deadlocked at five.
The Tar Heels responded quickly to start the third quarter. Although Stein won 10 of 12 faceoffs in the first half, the Tar Heels gained the upper hand by putting longpole Jack Rowlett out at the X to challenge the freshman. The result was goals from Justin Anderson and Ryan Macri, as the Blue Devil defense was back on its heels.
Peter Welch and Smith answered for Duke with strong shooting from the midfield and scrappy groundballs, but Kelly and Cloutier kept North Carolina out in front. Despite a quiet afternoon, though, freshman Joe Robertson put an exclamation point on the third quarter by snagging a pass from Guterding and slotting it home just before the buzzer sounded, bring the Blue Devils within one.
Duke finally mastered the zone and found key defensive stands in the fourth quarter while also putting everything together at the faceoff X.
Danowski countered North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi’s use of Rowlett with sophomore Brian Smyth at the X. With Stein and Smyth trading off on the draw, the Blue Devils went 4-of-5 in the highest leverage moments.
“We have a different one-two punch than most teams are used to,” Stein said. “I think I’m better at going against short sticks and [Brian’s] better at controlling the ball, getting ground balls and just being a scrappy player.”
Smith turned a jump shot into the tying goal, Peter Conley gave Duke the lead with a rocket left-handed shot and Guterding cut through to the middle of the field and snuck one between the pipes to bring the Blue Devil advantage to 11-9, capping a 4-0 run.
Although Duke forced turnovers and began to dictate the pace of the North Carolina offense, the team was not immune to a colossal error. After Fowler made a big save, his outlet was intercepted at midfield by Andy Matthews, and with Fowler 30 yards from his own goal line, Matthews put the shot into the empty net.
Smyth won the ensuing faceoff for the Blue Devils, and the offense bled the clock down to 2:40 before a save and clear put the ball back in the hands of the Tar Heel offense with a chance to tie. After a minute of active offense, Breschi called a timeout, and just 34 seconds later, Duke senior midfielder Sean Cerrone, back after missing last week’s loss due to injury, caused a Cloutier turnover.
The Blue Devils were unable to clear, and North Carolina got one last shot. With 18 seconds left to play, Cloutier was blocked and defenseman Cade Van Raaphorst sent the ground ball across the field, allowing Duke to hang on for the victory.
After their dramatic Tobacco Road rivalry win, the Blue Devils will take the field next in South Bend, Ind., at Arlotta Stadium against Notre Dame next weekend.
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