Hurricane Florence's floods gave way to clear skies Tuesday in Durham, but Duke's offense remained stuck in the mud after a long layoff.
The ninth-ranked Blue Devils lost to unranked Georgetown 1-0 on their home turf at Koskinen Stadium, their second straight defeat after starting the season with three victories. The match was Duke's first in nine days and just its second of September after its Friday rivalry showdown against North Carolina was postponed due to the storm.
"We started off really rusty. We’ve had one game in 20 days, and that’s too long for a team that played well the first three games and was sharp," head coach John Kerr said. "Not to have a game to keep us going really was difficult for us."
Georgetown jumped in front quickly with the only goal of the game in the sixth minute, as junior forward Achara got open in the box and headed a cross from Dylan Nealis into the left side netting. Although Duke put two shots on goal in the first 10 minutes, Hoya goalkeeper Giannis Nikopolidis stopped them both, and the two defenses settled in for the rest of the half.
Playing without starting midfielders Brandon Williamson and Kevin Feucht—Kerr expects both to be back by the start of the weekend—the Blue Devils still have not scored a goal in the month of September after getting shut out 3-0 by Louisville Sept. 9. Duke struggled to keep possession and build dangerous threats into the box throughout the first half.
"Our quality wasn’t there in the final third tonight, and we had some good moments, and we didn’t capitalize on some of those good moments. We certainly have to improve in that department," Kerr said. "It was a game of two halves. They clearly dominated the first half."
The second half started out much like the first ended, with neither goalkeeper seeing much action. Nealis sent a shot sailing over the crossbar early in the half, and Duke junior Daniele Proch put a cross on forward Daniel Wright's foot moments later, but Wright whiffed on the chance.
The Blue Devils finally took their first shot of the half midway through the period when an attempt by Proch from the left side of the net was blocked, but Duke could not get a clean shot on a loose ball in the box on the ensuing corner kick with Georgetown's defense scrambling.
The Blue Devils' best chances came in the final 15 minutes with the team pressing forward offensively. Proch turned on a bouncing ball in the box and sent it toward the bottom left corner of the net, with Nikopolidis needing to make a diving save. Moments later, Blue Devil freshman Issa Rayyan sped down the right flank and sent a shot at the net that Nikopolidis punched out of danger, and on his next chance, he delivered a cross to Wright, who shot it off Nikopolidis' chest from a tight angle.
"The response in the second half from a real poor first half was excellent," Kerr said. "We just didn’t get that last pass right or the last finish, and it’s disappointing, because we shouldn’t have necessarily lost that game on our second-half performance."
Duke fended off several dangerous counterattacks to keep its hopes alive, with goalkeeper Will Pulisic finishing the night with four saves, but it couldn't capitalize on the other end.
The Blue Devils will look to get back in the win column in their ACC home opener Friday night against Boston College.
"We were struggling at the end there with some of the guys in terms of fatigue because you lose game fitness when you don’t play games," Kerr said. "Hopefully we can respond well."
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