Duke Falls to No. 11 Notre Dame

Friday, October 17

Durham, N.C.

8:00 PM

Duke University

Notre Dame

Duke Falls to No. 11 Notre Dame

10/17/2014 11:07:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.—Notre Dame University junior Patrick Hodan tallied a pair of second-half goals to lead the 11th-ranked Fighting Irish to a 4-1 victory over Duke in ACC men's soccer action this evening at Koskinen Stadium.

Sophomore striker Brody Huitema tallied the lone Duke (5-7-1, 2-4-0 ACC) goal in the second half. Classmate Seo-In Kim earned the assist as his initial shot was deflected to the foot of Huitema for the finish on the doorstep. The goal was the second of the season for Huitema.

Duke dominated Notre Dame (8-3-2, 4-1-1 ACC) throughout the first half. The Blue Devils maintained possession and moved the ball smoothly all over the field, but were unable to execute in the final third.

“We did great in the first half,” said head coach John Kerr. “We were very calm on the ball and possessed it well and had some poise in the final third. We didn't execute. We created a lot of momentum going forward but we didn't make the final pass. We have to be a little bit more aggressive when we get into that 18-yard box area.”

Freshman Bryson Asher had a dangerous half chance inside the box deflected wide of the far post and Huitema had a touch go just a bit too far to keep the Blue Devils off the board in the opening 45 minutes.

Despite not being dangerous in the final third for much of the first half, Notre Dame was able to capitalize on a small Duke mistake in the back to grab the 1-0 lead. Leon Brown, left with perhaps a little bit too much space, took a good through ball and made his way to the end line where he fed Evan Panken for the finish with 8:01 remaining in the first half.

Jack Coleman nearly helped even the score with a great corner kick service to the back post. Notre Dame goalkeeper Patrick Wall followed the ball and just barely tipped it out before rookie Jeremy Ebobisse got his head on it to even the score just moments before halftime.

Notre Dame came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. The Irish quickly built the lead to 3-0 with consecutive goals from Hodan in the 60th and 62nd minute.

The Blue Devils refused to quit though and continued to work hard against the veteran Irish squad and in the 78th minute Huitema capitalized on his best chance of the night. Kim managed to move his way into the penalty box and get a shot off that deflected off a Fighting Irish player to the foot of Huitema five yards from goal. The Vancouver native calmly put it away to pull Duke within two.

The momentum didn't last long for Duke as Notre Dame came right back 32 seconds later to regain the three-goal advantage. Jon Gallagher beat a couple Duke players in the box and fired his shot past Duke goalkeeper Joe Ohaus to send Notre Dame back to Indiana with a 4-1 win.

“The promising thing is that we kept playing, we kept trying,” Kerr said. “We got a goal back and made it interesting and the kicker is we let that fourth goal in. It's disappointing but hopefully we'll learn from our mistakes and keep progressing.”

The Irish held a narrow 10-9 advantage in shots, while Duke had the edge in corner kicks, 4-3. . Both goalkeepers made one save apiece.

Duke returns to action Tuesday night at Elon. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.