The men's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to five games with a 3-0 win over Boston College Friday, in what head coach John Rennie called the team's best performance of the season.
"That's the best ninety minutes we've played so far," the coach said. "We're not as good as we can be, but we're better now than we were two or three weeks ago."
In their previous conference matchups against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, the No. 9 Blue Devils (7-1-1, 2-0-1 in the ACC) had been forced to overcome second-half deficits. Against Boston College (4-3-1, 0-2-1), however, Duke had tallied two goals by the 22nd minute and secured the shutout with tight defense all the way through.
The Blue Devils jumped in front early with a goal by forward Spencer Wadsworth in the 12th minute. Wadsworth beat Boston College goalkeeper Issey Mahalo with a hard shot to the upper right-hand corner of the net from 15 yards out. Defender Kyle Helton picked up an assist on the goal, Wadsworth's fourth of the year.
The team did not wait to add to its advantage, scoring less than 10 minutes later. Freshman forward Mike Grella scored on a one-time shot off a pass from Wadsworth to give the Blue Devils a two-goal advantage, which they carried into halftime.
In the second half, Duke added an insurance goal with less than four minutes to play. Midfielder Chris Loftus fired a hard shot on net and Mahalo made the save, but could not secure the rebound. Midfielder Danny Kramer picked up the loose ball and kicked it into the net to give the Blue Devils their final score of the evening.
"It's more of putting the game away when we have the chance to, instead of letting the teams hang around," Wadsworth said. "Both those games [against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech] we had opportunities early and we didn't finish them, and the games we finish them we had control of the game for the most part."
The Eagles managed only three shots on goal in comparison to Duke's fifteen. Duke goalkeeper Justin Papadakis earned his second shutout of the year and the third of his career with three saves.
"Throughout the year we've had a team defense mentality," Papadakis said. "All of the goals that have been scored, we've learned something from them.... The only bad goal is something you don't learn from."
After the game, several Blue Devils said both the offense and defense units played well as a team.
"We're scoring goals in the league, which is hard to do," Rennie said. "And we're getting them from a lot of different players.... Everything is going well right now, we just have to keep getting better and better."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.