Coulter's goal sends Duke men's soccer to ACC tournament

Duke has often lacked goal-scoring magic this season, but in a must-win game, an unlikely hero pulled a rabbit out of his hat in the nick of time.

Graduate student Tomas Coulter, starting at striker in place of the injured Alex Sauciac, scored the first goal of his Duke career with an acrobatic tally in the 78th minute. Coulter's goal held up, and the Blue Devils secured the seventh seed in this year's ACC tournament with a 1-0 win against Clemson Friday at Riggs Field.

“It’s a scary game out there,” head coach John Kerr said. “We were thinking a draw might [qualify us], but... to be able to say to the team, ‘Win and you’re in’—that was a nice feeling.”

By defeating Clemson (10-6-2, 5-4-2 in the ACC), Duke (8-4-6, 3-3-5) will square off with No. 1 Notre Dame Tuesday in the ACC quarterfinal.

“Complete shocker,” Kerr said. “He’s scored a lot of goals in practice with his head and volleys, but to score a goal and be that coordinated to do that—it was a special moment for that young man.”

Just two minutes later, the Blue Devils suffered a bad break as sophomore defender Zach Mathers received his second yellow card for a late tackle on the right wing against Austin Burnikel. Duke was forced to play a man down for the remainder of the second half, but despite constant pressure from Clemson, the Blue Devils were able to buckle down and weather the storm.

Goalkeeper Alex Long made four saves on 11 Clemson shots to earn his seventh shutout of the season.

The Blue Devils will be without Mathers for their ACC quarterfinal match per NCAA rules. Despite the bookings and the subsequent suspension, Kerr was pleased with Mathers’ energy in the second half.

“The game was hanging in the balance, and there was so much at stake with every touch and every opportunity that we told Chachi if he feels good... to carry the ball forward,” Kerr said. “We love that because… it puts the pressure on their defense because they’re not expecting it, and it really adds another spice to our offense.”

Entering the game, Duke needed a win to guarantee its place in the ACC tournament next week. Battling on the road against a Clemson squad who had only yielded 16 goals all season, the Blue Devils certainly had a difficult task to make headway in the final third.

Opportunities were scarce for both the Blue Devils and Tigers in the first half. Duke outshot Clemson 6-4, but goalkeeper Alex Long was the first half MVP, coming up with two difficult saves on Clemson leading scorer Thomas McNamara to keep the game scoreless.

In the 27th minute, Long dove to his left to parry a McNamara shot wide for a one-handed save. Later in the half, McNamara demonstrated fancy footwork on consecutive runs through the final third, but when he finally broke through and had a look at goal, Long came off his line and was equal to the task.

The key for Duke defensively was shutting down McNamara, a gifted ballhandler who had seven goals and seven assists on the season, ranking seventh and third, respectively, in each category in the ACC.

“We were very aware of him all game,” Kerr said. “He’s such a busy player that we didn’t want to have just one guy follow him. So we had four guys communicate... and we were very aware of his whereabouts all the time. He is a special player and unbelievable ability, and fortunately we held him [scoreless].”

With the win, Duke improved its undefeated streak to eight games and its shutout streak to more than 194 minutes. As the postseason looms, the team is as dangerous as anyone, and its confidence is as high as it has been all season.

“We have belief in ourselves,” Kerr said. “We’ve proven we can hang with the best teams in the country and the best teams in our conference.”