On a sloppy, cold and windy afternoon in South Bend, Ind., the level of play from two of the nation’s top-15 teams matched the weather in which their game took place.
But despite holding Notre Dame All-American attackman Matt Kavanaugh scoreless and not allowing the hosts to lead at any point during the game’s first 55 minutes, Duke could not pull off the upset against the nation’s top-ranked team.
Junior midfielder Sergio Perkovic scored the tying and go-ahead goals in the fourth quarter as the No. 1 Fighting Irish escaped the No. 13 Blue Devils 8-6 Sunday afternoon at Arlotta Stadium to remain alone atop the ACC standings. Duke controlled play for much of the afternoon—using two goals from sophomore Justin Guterding to take a 5-3 lead early in the third quarter—but Notre Dame’s defense clamped down after halftime.
The Blue Devils scored just once in the game’s final 26 minutes as the Fighting Irish wore Duke down and closed the game on a 5-1 run, sealing the victory with a goal from senior Kyle Trolley.
After a full week of six practices, the Blue Devils appeared poised to return to Durham with what would have been a crucial win in what has been a roller-coaster season, leading 5-3 early in the third quarter. Instead, they came home empty-handed.
“We became a tad selfish and fundamentally unsound against a very good defensive group,” Duke head coach John Danowski told GoDuke.com.
Early on, the practice—especially the focus on defensive fundamentals—paid off, as Duke forced the Fighting Irish (8-1, 3-0 in the ACC) into turnovers on each of Notre Dame’s first three possessions. Even with great ball movement—leading to the first of Guterding’s goals—the Blue Devils could not get much past Fighting Irish goalkeeper Shane Doss, who surrendered just two first-quarter goals.
The junior net-minder made 11 saves on the afternoon and let just six Duke shots sneak past him, improving Notre Dame's goals allowed average to 6.6 per game. Doss bailed out his defense on several occasions and set the tone for a group that Danowski and the Blue Devils knew could give them fits.
Duke (7-6, 1-2) grabbed control of the contest in the second quarter, utilizing pinpoint passing to pick apart the Fighting Irish defense and snatch a 4-2 lead. Goals from seniors Case Matheis and Chad Cohan were each the result of tic-tac-toe ball movement—the Blue Devils finished with five assists from four different players—but a diving score from Notre Dame’s Mikey Wynne narrowed the lead to just one at the half.
Momentum stuck with Duke in the first few minutes of the second half as Guterding notched the second of his pair of tallies to stake his side to its second two-goal lead. And although the Fighting Irish failed to register a shot for the first seven minutes of the third quarter, that pattern did not last long.
A feisty Notre Dame defensive corps cranked up the pressure on the Blue Devil midfield unit, limiting Duke to just a 77.8 clear percentage and forcing 23 turnovers. Under head coach Kevin Corrigan, the Fighting Irish have been known for their effective ride defense—one that often challenges opponents as they attempt to carry the ball into the offensive zone. Led by the senior trio of Edwin Glazener, Jack Sheridan and Matt Landis, Notre Dame shut down a dangerous Blue Devil attack that had scored 33 goals in its first two ACC games.
With a pair of left-handed goals from freshman Ryder Garsney, the Fighting Irish pulled even at five entering the final period. Senior Deemer Class got on the board for the first time to give Duke the lead back at 6-5, but Perkovic then caught fire. The 6-foot-4 midfielder completed his hat trick, putting the Fighting Irish ahead 7-6 with 4:45 left—their first lead of the game.
“Not good enough,” Danowski said. “We would have liked to have held them to five, I guess, and then we win. [Today, we were] just not good enough.”
Time is running out for the Blue Devils as they sit just above .500 for the season and in fourth place among ACC teams. They have just three regular-season games remaining in addition to the ACC tournament in Kennesaw, Ga., beginning April 29—but even that is not a certainty.
If Danowski’s squad hopes to earn one of the four spots in the tournament and avoid having to play No. 2 Brown instead as the odd team out, it will need to pick up a critical win next weekend when Duke heads to Charlottesville, Va., Sunday to visit No. 20 Virginia.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."