RALEIGH - Fifty-six minutes into yesterday's men's soccer game, the Chick-fil-A cow had seen more shots than Duke goalie Atli Knuttson. During a halftime promotion at Method Road Soccer Stadium, the cow made a half-hearted attempt to stop a youngster's goal; Knuttson's Blue Devil teammates took 17 shots before N.C. State managed its first. Third-ranked Duke (13-1, 4-1 in the ACC) went on to outshoot the Wolfpack 24-5 for the game in an easy 5-0 victory.
The Blue Devils only led 1-0 when N.C. State (4-9, 0-5) finally challenged Knuttson in the 12th minute of the second half, but coach John Rennie wasn't overly concerned with the lack of early scoring.
"We figure we can play like that and wear them down," he said. "That's the way the game of soccer is played. It's just important to score first. Then the other team has to come out of their end more."
Duke figured right, as it poured on four goals in the final 25 minutes of play. Defender Evan Whitfield found the back of the net for the first time in his four-year collegiate career to put them ahead 2-0 in the 66th minute.
"It was really nice [to go ahead by] two goals," Whitfield said, "especially because it was the first goal of my college career. We've been playing good team defense. We've had a lot of games where it's been 1-0, 2-0 at halftime."
The senior has started all 67 games he's played at Duke, earned second-team All-ACC honors three times and had racked up more than 30 shots and 15 assists going into yesterday's contest. In his ninth game since returning from a stress fracture in his right fibula, Whitfield boosted his career goal total to one.
"He took a little while to get his game back in gear," Rennie said. "But he's been playing well and was definitely a big factor in the game."
Whitfield started the scoring play by bringing the ball down the right side of the field and crossing to forward Peter Gail. Gail's point-blank shot was bobbled by Wolfpack goalie Eric Handley, but Handley gained controlled of the ball before the Blue Devils could capitalize. Duke quickly regained possession, though, and Whitfield dribbled in and launched a shot past Handley into the left corner of the net.
Whitfield also picked up an assist on the Blue Devils' first goal of the contest. After his cross eluded Handley's grasp in the 27th minute of the first half, midfielder Stephen Pate drilled the ball into the open net. Pate had entered the game 18 minutes earlier when starter Matt Mayock went down with a knee injury.
N.C. State's best scoring chance was perhaps its first. Midfielder Shaker Asad led forward Sebastian Rodriguez on a breakaway, and Knuttson had to come out of the net. He slid near the edge of the penalty box to block the ball with his legs and protect Duke's 1-0 lead.
Once Whitfield made the score 2-0 nine minutes later, however, the Blue Devils quickly put the game out of reach. Midfielder Jay Heaps tallied his 11th goal of the season in the 74th minute, and Rennie was able to empty his bench. Midfielder Noah Lewkowitz scored on a breakaway five minutes later, then assisted on another first career goal, this one belonging to sophomore reserve Ryan Furgurson, with 2:19 remaining.
Even with the game decided late in the second half, both teams continued playing physically. At one point, Knuttson had words with a Wolfpack player who had crashed into him in the air going after a ball.
The referees handed out eight yellow cards on the afternoon-three to Duke and five to N.C. State-but that didn't spare them from periodic abuse by both coaches. And when the Blue Devils' Daniel Chun accidentally knocked over an official in the 77th minute, the home crowd rewarded him with a mock cheer.
Duke returns to action Wednesday night at home against Campbell, then travels to Virginia this weekend for a game that could determine the ACC regular season champion.
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