On a sloppy night dominated by poor passing and wasted opportunities, No. 12 Duke managed to barely hold off pesky UNC-Wilmington (4-2-1) at Koskinen Stadium.
Under a steady downpour, the Blue Devils (5-1-1) outlasted the Seahawks in the double-overtime contest, coming from behind to win 2-1.
Junior midfielder Cole Grossman finished a cross from freshman Andrew Wenger in the 102nd minute to give Duke a crucial rebound victory following the Blue Devils’ first defeat of the season, a 2-1 loss against then-No. 3 North Carolina Friday.
Despite outshooting UNC-Wilmington 23-9, the Blue Devils could not break through when it counted, squandering countless scoring opportunities.
Early on, however, Duke seemed destined for an easy victory. The game’s first twenty minutes saw the Blue Devils come out firing on all cylinders, and they created scoring chances as early as the third minute. However, the Seahawk defense held strong, creating just enough pressure to prevent an early goal.
“We should have been 2- or 3-nil up,” head coach John Kerr said. “When you don’t capitalize on that play and those opportunities, you allow teams to get a little confident.”
After being outshot 11-0 in the first half, the Seahawks stormed back at the start of the second. Blue Devil goalkeeper James Belshaw briefly delayed the inevitable, making a spectacular one-handed diving stop on a point-blank shot. However, UNC-Wilmington finally drew blood when junior striker Tyler Wheaton bombed a shot from 35 yards. After deflecting off a Duke defender and flying high into the air, the ball spun off the right post into the net, causing an uproar from the Seahawk faithful.
“It was a little unfortunate,” senior defender Josh Bienenfeld said. “But we all got together, kept our focus and it was great to see everyone committed to getting our first goal.”
That strike came in the 73rd minute, when freshman Ryan Finley beat his defender and rifled a shot past UNC-Wilmington goalkeeper Brock Duckworth from the top of the box. Duke continued to threaten throughout the rest of the half as UNC-Wilmington began to tire.
By the end of regulation, the Blue Devils had rediscovered their early swagger to regain the momentum before the start of the extra period.
“There was only going to be one winner in overtime, and that was us,” Kerr said.
Duke’s superior skill finally shined through in overtime. Early in the second extra session, Wenger burned his defender down the left sideline and offered up a cross that landed on the foot of Grossman, who smoked it past the overmatched goalkeeper. As the Blue Devils rushed the field, the team looked unsure as to whom it should mob, finally splitting to envelop both players.
“We sure made that one interesting, didn’t we?” Kerr said after the game, shaking his head.
Although Duke escaped with a win despite its subpar showing, a similar performance would be disastrous when the Blue Devils resume ACC play Friday night at Boston College.
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