Virginia and Duke had two total shots on target in a defensive battle won by the Blue Devils, 1-0, on Friday night at Klöckner Stadium.
The only real scoring chance in the first half belonged to Duke (3-1-1), when Adam Luckhurst seemingly scored on a header from close range. The goal was disallowed on a handball violation, and the teams would go into the halftime break locked in a 0-0 tie.
The icebreaker came five minutes into the second half when a cross from Luckhurst took a deflection off Nick Dang, ending up in the back of the Virginia net.
In the final 25 minutes, the momentum swung in the favor of Virginia, as the Cavaliers began to take a stranglehold on possession and created the better of the chances.
The best of Virginia’s opportunities came from a free kick when Danny Mangrov lifted the ball into the center of the penalty area, where it was met by the foot of a sliding Luc Mikula. His shot on target was smothered by the Duke keeper.
“Duke came out hard. They played aggressive, they pressed us in a man-for-man mode ,especially in the first half. It took us out of our rhythm, and they did a really good job of doing that, but they only had one shot on goal,” UVA coach George Gelnovatch said.
“This was another game, like the Colgate game, where they had one shot on goal, and they scored. For me, early on in the season, games look like this where, in an end-of-the world scenario, you get a point from this game, and you don’t lose it. I give Duke a lot of credit. We will look at the film, learn from it, and get ready for the next one,” Gelnovatch said.
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Chris Graham
