No. 7 Duke Falls in NCAA Third Round to No. 10 Saint Louis

Saturday, November 27

Durham, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

14-5-1, 5-2-1

Saint Louis

16-0-4, 8-0-0

Saint Louis

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 7 Duke Falls in NCAA Third Round to No. 10 Saint Louis

11/28/2021 12:09:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)JOHN KERR POSTGAME Photo Gallery

DURHAM – In a game with a combined six goals in the final 40 minutes, the seventh-seeded Duke men's soccer program dropped a 4-3 decision to 10th-seeded Saint Louis in the third round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday night in Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils (14-5-1, 5-2-1 ACC) saw its season end, despite goals from sophomores Thorleifur Ulfarsson, Nick Pariano and freshman Jai Bean. Pariano led the Blue Devils with three points on the night, while sophomores Amir Daley and Peter Stroud, as well as freshman Shakur Mohammed tallied assists. The Billikens (16-0-4, 8-0-0 A-10) were paced by three points from Simon Becher. Senior goalkeeper Eliot Hamill made five saves in net for the Blue Devils.

"I'm proud of these guys, because its not easy to muster up the energy to fight back, especially when we were 3-1 down with two goals to get back into the game," said head coach John Kerr. "We do have that desire, that heart, that will to win and we just came up a little bit short tonight."

Saint Louis was the first team on the board, when Mason Leeth scored on a feed from Christian Buenida in the 18th minute. The goal proved to be the only shot on goal for either team in the first half, as both teams traded possession carefully for the remainder of the half.

The Blue Devils came out of halftime energized and began to find holes in the Billikens defense. After probing the defense for several minutes, Daley made a great move to drop his defender to the ground, opening up room to feed Stroud. Stroud fed a crossing ball to the back post, where a cutting Ulfarsson got head on the ball to blow it by the Billikens goalkeeper and tie the game at 1-1 in the 54th minute.

With the goal, Ulfarsson moved into a tie with Kerr (1986), Ali Curtis (2000) and Jay Heaps (1995) to finish eighth on the single season goals list with his 15th of the year. Ulfarsson ends the season with 31 points, for the most in a single season by a Blue Devil since Andrew Wenger in 2011.

Saint Louis was quick to respond, as the benefactors of an enormous deflection of an Antino Lopez tackle, that sent the ball from near midfield deep into Duke's third. Becher found the ball and crossed it to John Klein, who beat Hamill to give the Billikens a 2-1 lead in the 58th minute.

The Atlantic-10 champions were not done, scoring again on their next shot in the 63rd minute, with Becher earning the tally to make it 3-1. The Blue Devils did not back down and were quick to respond with eight of their 10 second half shots coming after the Billikens' third goal.

After three key saves from Hamill, the Blue Devils were able to get a goal back, when Mohammed delivered a cross into the Billikens box. A Saint Louis defender went for a clearing attempt, but missed, with the ball continuing to Pariano, who deposited the cross into the net to make it a 3-2 game in the 74th minute.

The Blue Devils rushed to continue the offensive push and were rewarded quickly. After Stroud drew a free kick just outside the Billikens box, Pariano delivered a cross to an open Bean, who deposited a header past an out of position goalkeeper to tie the game at 3-3 in the 77th minute.

However, just two minutes later, the Billikens caught a break off a corner kick, when the ball took a deflection off a Duke player and into the net for an own goal to put Saint Louis back in front. The goal proved to be a decisive one, as the Billikens held the Blue Devils without a shot on goal for the remaining 11 minutes of play.

The loss concludes a historic season for Duke men's soccer, who won 14 games for the first time since 2009. The Blue Devils will return to action in the fall of 2022.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMSOC".

#GoDuke