The scoring touch has finally returned for the men's soccer team. And not a moment too soon.
Seven different players found the nets for No. 9 Duke (10-3) in Wednesday's 7-1 drubbing of North Carolina-Wilmington (7-7). In the six games prior to this one, the Blue Devils had averaged a meager 1.5 goals per game, after scoring 3.5 goals per game in their first six contests. The outburst was all the more important as top-ranked Virginia invades Duke Soccer Stadium this Sunday.
"Offensively, nobody has been able to stop us," head coach John Rennie said.
"[Duke's scoring] is a good sign. But how much it means is questionable."
Duke began the match lackadaisically, as numerous marking assignments were missed by the Blue Devil fullbacks. In addition, freshman back Evan Whitfield was forced to sit out the game since he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season Sunday against N.C. State. Duke's indolence nearly cost the squad in the second minute as UNC-W's Vaughn Reynolds created a breakaway off careless Duke defending, but his shot went wide right.
But at the eighth minute junior Brian Kelly made a run into the penalty box and was tripped up, resulting in a penalty shot. Kelly converted the chance with a solid lefty blast, and the rout was on.
Freshman Jay Heaps scored the second goal of the game on a highlight-film sliding volley as he finished off a centering pass from sophomore Steve Maynard.
The Blue Devils' sloppiness in the back spoiled the bid by freshman goalkeeper John Barth for his first career shutout when, at the 16th minute, junior Sam Smith made a hasty outlet pass that was stolen easily by the Seahawks' Greg LaMendola. Facing only Barth between himself and the goal, LaMendola made good on his chance for the UNC-W's only score.
Goals by Maynard, sophomore Andy Kwon and freshman Josh Henderson gave Duke a lopsided 5-1 advantage at the half as the Blue Devils outshot the outmanned Seahawks 14-5 in the period. Henderson's goal was his ninth of the year, good for third in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The second half started with a scare for Duke as UNC-W's Derek Ford, last year's North Carolina state high school player of the year, made a long run out of his stopper position and fired a shot from 35 yards out.
But Barth made a diving save to his right, deflecting the ball over the endline, and that was the last that was heard from the Seahawks.
Duke produced a number of good scoring chances in the second stanza, but only came up with two goals to show for it. It appeared that UNC-Wilmington simply gave up the ghost as Duke's scores came on a botched save by Seahawk goalie Adrian Powell and a failed clear attempt of a Blue Devil corner kick.
Duke was guardedly optimistic about its offensive output against this low-caliber opponent.
"Tonight was not the best [opportunity] to work on our game," Kwon said Wednesday. "[But] we're clicking better offensively, and we have more people scoring."
The Blue Devils' main objective heading into Sunday's showdown with UVa is improving their defensive marking. The Blue Devils are the last team to have shut out Virginia, having done so back in 1993. But the defense is a far cry from what it was at that time.
"We have to make sure everything is organized in the back," Kwon said. "We're going to have to do it Sunday."
"Communication is our biggest problem," Rennie said. "We need to talk more defensively, and be concerned with not giving as many chances away as we have."
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