One game after a second-half offensive explosion carried Duke past Wake Forest, the fifth-ranked Blue Devils couldn't find the back of the net in a 0-0 double-overtime tie with No. 24 Virginia Tech Tuesday night at Koskinen Stadium.
Playing its third consecutive ranked opponent, Duke (5-0-1, 1-0-1 ACC) controlled possession for most of the game but failed to score against the Hokies' tight defense. Virginia Tech stacked their defensive end with nine players, leaving only leading-scorer Patrick Nyarko upfield.
"It's a part of the nature of the game--sometimes the goals don't come," head coach John Rennie said. "They have a good plan where they defend with everybody. To beat a team that defends like that, you have to score goals. Then they have to come out and play."
Virginia Tech (4-1-1, 0-1-1) attacked early, earning two corner kicks in the game's first three minutes. Following that aggressive start, however, the Hokies managed only two more corners in the final 107 minutes of play.
The Blue Devils took control of the game later in the first half, creating multiple scoring opportunities with six shots. Joshua Bienenfeld provided Duke with its best chance to get on the board with a shot from the top of the box, but it harmlessly clanged off the crossbar.
Duke continued to pressure the Hokie defense in the second half but was unable to capitalize. Michael Videira was called for a foul on a deep run to the Hokie net, and several minutes later, Chris Loftus lost control of the ball in the box.
In the second overtime, Pavelid Castaneda narrowly missed a chance to win the game when his blast from just beyond the 18-yard-line bounced off the left post.
"It's always disappointing," Videira said. "We hit posts. We had chances everywhere. We did our part defensively, we just didn't score any goals."
On the other side of the field, the Blue Devils stifled Nyarko and Virginia Tech's counter-attack. The Hokies did not seriously threaten Duke goalie Justin Papadakis after halftime, aside from two runs by Nyarko late in regulation. Virginia Tech managed just one shot in the overtime periods.
Papadakis made four saves en route to his second shutout of the season.
"Against Wake Forest, we felt like we got exposed a little bit with people playing over the top, so we dropped the line back a little today," Papadakis said. "We worked on it pretty hard in practice the past couple of days."
After the offense bailed him out from two second half deficits against Wake Forest last Friday, Papadakis was happy to return the favor last night.
"I was glad that we were able to hold the line for them tonight because they've come through for the team the past five games," he said.
Rennie said that the lack of offense was not cause for concern-heading into the game, Duke was ranked third in the country in scoring, averaging 3.4 goals per game.
"The goal is two inches too narrow or too short," Rennie said. "We've been scoring a lot of goals, but it's hard to score goals. We needed that first one, and we didn't get it."
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