The John Kerr era hadn't quite gotten off to the start Duke had hoped.
A return to Koskinen Stadium was all it took to fix that. Facing a familiar foe certainly didn't hurt, either.
The Blue Devils rebounded from a winless opening weekend, beating Kerr's former Harvard squad 3-1 for Kerr's first win as Duke's head coach in a driving rain Friday. Duke then captured the Duke Classic with a 3-0 victory over American (2-2) Sunday.
"It feels great," Kerr said of his first win. "It was very strange [Friday], for my first home game here at Duke to play Harvard.... I'm glad it's over and we're on the right side of the result."
The play of forwards Kyle Bethel and Mike Grella was one of the biggest reasons the Blue Devils (2-2) picked up their first win of the season against the Crimson (1-1). Grella, the senior preseason All-American, set up the match's first goal, feeding a ball toward the net that seemed to be corralled on the right side by Harvard goalkeeper Joseph Alexander.
Midfielder Josh Bienenfeld, however, poked the ball loose from Alexander and dribbled it into a wide open net to put Duke on the board in the 20th minute.
"The goalie had his hands on it, and I thought the ball slid out of bounds," Bienenfeld said. "I saw the ball leave his hands, so I just took it. Sometimes you've got to take those kind of goals."
Grella tacked on another tally less than three minutes later, knocking in a rebound from 15 yards out.
Michael Fucito pulled the Crimson within one in the 35th minute, setting up a tense second half, highlighted by a dangerous chance from Harvard with less than 10 minutes to play. But Blue Devil goalkeeper Brendan Fitzgerald made the save, and just over a minute later, Bethel took it down the left sideline and fired a shot past Austin Harms to give Duke a 3-1 cushion.
After an opening weekend in which they scored just two goals, the Blue Devils will gladly take their six-goal outburst against the Crimson and the Eagles.
"Offensively, I think we're good," Grella said. "We scored two goals [last] weekend, which is not great, but they were top-five teams and we just got together. We put in three [Friday] on a pretty mediocre squad, and so I think the offense is working well."
But Duke is still adjusting to Kerr's new offensive scheme-and while the forwards enjoyed a good weekend, the new head coach said his team still has "quite a ways" to go before it reaches its full potential.
"We feel that we have a lot of weapons, and we have a lot of guys that are still finding their feet," Kerr said. "They're all learning, and we're all trying to figure out how to work together. I'm pleased so far, but as a typical coach, I'm not satisfied."
NOTES
Senior co-captain defender Pavelid Castenada was named MVP of the tournament for his efforts leading a stalwart Duke defensive effort.
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