The Blue Devils continued their recent offensive onslaught Tuesday night, increasing their goal total to nine in the past two games—including five from Andrew Wenger.
Wenger played a role in all four Duke goals against UNC-Wilmington, and despite an otherwise-spotty team performance, the Blue Devils pulled out a gritty 4-1 win over the Seahawks (2-5).
As Wenger was quick to point out, though, the score was not reflective of the team’s performance.
“We didn’t play a very good game,” Wenger said, “The coaches aren’t very happy with us, and we’re not happy with our performance tonight either.”
Duke (3-4) struggled in the first 20 minutes, especially with defensive marking. UNC-Wilmington quickly took advantage, finding openings on the wings and swinging in a number of dangerous crosses. A defensive mistake left a Seahawk striker with an open shot on goal, but his attempt missed wide.
Later in the first half, the Blue Devils seemed to gain confidence and began connecting on their passes. In the 34th minute, after several quick touches, Wenger beat his man and found open space. Racing into the 18-yard box, he slid the ball across to senior Chris Tweed-Kent, who calmly placed it in the bottom corner for Duke’s first goal. The Blue Devils went into the break up 1-0 after having taken only three shots to their opponent’s five.
Duke came out sluggish again in the second half. A series of defensive miscues had head coach John Kerr frustrated on the sidelines, and in the 62nd minute, UNC-Wilmington took advantage, scoring on a corner kick.
The Blue Devils shifted into a higher gear after giving up the goal, ramping up their defensive intensity and increasing ball pressure in the Seahawks’ defensive third. Just three minutes after giving up UNC-Wilmington’s lone goal, Duke responded with one of its own. Wenger again found room behind the Seahawks’ defense. Taking the ball to the edge of the field, the junior tallied his second assist on the night with a pass to Nick Palodichuk, who had no problem finishing from point-blank range.
For the next fifteen minutes, momentum quickly swung back and forth. UNC-Wilmington frequently lofted through balls, but their strikers were called off-sides on a number of occasions. The Blue Devils also had chances, but struggled to convert set pieces.
“We have to get better service into the box,” Kerr said. “If we get better service, we can score goals. We’ve got big guys that can score in there. The runs also have to be better, but when the ball’s not coming into the box properly, that deters players from running as hard as they can.”
With 15 minutes left in the half and a 2-1 lead, Wenger began to exploit the tiring UNC-Wilmington defense. In the 81st minute, Wenger received the ball near midfield. Sprinting past his defender and creating a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, the forward expertly placed the ball between the goalkeeper’s outstretched glove and the crossbar. Two minutes later, Wenger scored a second goal after shaking two defenders at the corner of the box. He curved the ball into the back of the net to cement the Blue Devils’ win.
“We’’ve been grinding out the wins,” Kerr said. “The big difference is our finishing. We’ve created a lot of opportunities in the games we’ve lost, and not finished them. The last two games, we have.”
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