No. 2 Duke Puts North Florida Away 5-0 In Last Regular Season Home Match

Tuesday, October 24

Durham, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

Duke University

North Florida

No. 2 Duke Puts North Florida Away 5-0 In Last Regular Season Home Match

10/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? No. 2 Duke (13-2-1, 5-1-1) put on an offensive show Tuesday night against North Florida (4-11-2, 1-5-1), winning by their largest margin of the season, 5-0. Following their recent trend of a balanced attack, all five goals were scored by different players for the Blue Devils. Almost every single player on the roster saw playing time on a night when sophomore defender Graham Dugoni and junior midfielder Michal Videira did not start because of previous cards. It was the sixth win in a row for Duke, which is their longest streak of the season.

Tuesday night's game had its similarities to Duke's 1-0 victory over North Carolina last Friday night. It was the second straight shutout for the Blue Devils, this time recorded by the tandem of sophomore goalkeeper Brendan Fitzgerald and senior goalkeeper Scott Siegel, while junior Justin Papadakis rested after eight straight starts in which he played every minute. Duke allowed North Florida just three shots, of which only two were on goal. The Ospreys also were only awarded one corner kick throughout the entire game. Duke has now allowed only seven goals in its last eleven games, and no team has scored more than one goal per game in that stretch.

On the other side of the field, the game could not have been any different than the previous one against the Tar Heels. Duke took 31 shots and also recorded 12 corner kicks during the game. North Florida goalkeeper Taylor Unsinger made six saves on the 11 shots that were on goal. Duke has now scored 19 goals in their last six games, and those goals have been scored by 12 different players.

Junior midfielder Tomek Charowski began the scoring in the 19th minute of play. Captain and senior midfielder Chris Loftus played a ball through the Osprey defense to junior forward Spencer Wadsworth that left Wadsworth and Charowski two-on-one with the goalkeeper. As soon as Unsinger committed to the ball, Wadsworth slid a pass over to Charowski, who finished it for his second goal of the season.

Wadsworth was not done setting up goals for the night, however, as ten minutes later he chipped the ball up and over to an onside Mike Grella, who beat his defender and then the goalkeeper one-on-one and scored his team-leading tenth goal of the season. Wadsworth leads Duke and the ACC with 11 assists this year.

In the second half, it was more of the same from the Blue Devils. As the regular starters were being given a chance to rest, the Duke reserves showed just how talented they really are, and what to expect in years to come for the program. Freshman midfielder Joshua Bienenfeld commenced the second half scoring with an unassisted goal in the 57th minute. After maneuvering around three defenders, Bienenfeld shot the ball into the left corner of the net from ten yards out for his first career goal as a Blue Devil.

Four minutes later, 6'-7” junior forward Paul Dudley connected on a header for his first goal of the season. The ball was played perfectly to Dudley by sophomore defender Darrius Barnes from forty-five yards out. It was Barnes' first assist this year.

“We played our game tonight and everybody executed really well,” said Barnes after the game. “A lot of times people say it is hard to come in mentally (after a big game such as North Carolina), but we know that every game we have to come in and put forth our best effort. If we do that, there is no team in the country that can beat us.”

Finally, with eight minutes left in the game, freshman midfielder Jordan Lewis headed a ball that bounced off Unsinger's hands and into the net. Senior midfielder Chase Perfect crossed the ball from the left side of the field to the right post from thirty yards away, where sophomore midfielder Brad Ramsey collected the pass and lifted a short pass of his own that Lewis was able to head in. For Lewis, it was the first game he has played in all year, and the first goal scored in his young Duke career.

Duke's Coach John Rennie now is the all-time wins leader for a coach at an Atlantic Coast Conference school, and with the win against North Carolina last Friday night he became the leader for most wins by a coach in ACC matches as well. Rennie has 394 career victories at Duke, and 91 Atlantic Coast Conference wins. Rennie overtook former Clemson coach I.M. Ibrahim in both categories. Rennie also is in fifth place for Division I coaches with 437 overall wins.

The Blue Devils will travel to face Clemson on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. in a critical ACC contest. With a Duke win, or a Virginia loss or tie against Wake Forest on Friday, the Blue Devils will clinch the ACC regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The ACC Tournament will be played in Boyds, Md., located right outside of Washington, D.C., with Maryland as the host school. That tournament runs from Tuesday, Oct. 31- Sunday, Nov. 5.

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