Men's Soccer Bedevils Duke in Win

The North Carolina men's soccer team began its game against Duke on Saturday night with an intensity -- an urgency, even -- not seen in its previous seven games.

And in the end, that attitude manifested itself in victory, as the Tar Heels defeated the Blue Devils 1-0 at Fetzer Field.

Midfielder Logan Pause, in his first game back since injuring his left knee in the preseason, slid a 25-yard shot into the lower right corner of the Duke goal in the 52nd minute to give the No. 13 Tar Heels (6-2, 1-1 in the ACC) their first ACC win.

"I thought there was certainly a little more fire in the game today," UNC coach Elmar Bolowich said. "I was confident the team would pull through."

At the start, it seemed as if North Carolina would put No. 18 Duke

(4-3, 1-1) away early. The Tar Heels were all over the field and contested each Blue Devil pass while consistently pressuring the Duke defense. UNC back Danny Jackson even earned a yellow card in the game's third minute.

Also, the Tar Heel offense had three different scoring opportunities within the game's first 10 minutes. Duke goalkeeper Scott Maslin made a sliding save to divert a Sean McGinty shot from 12 yards in the game's sixth minute and watched David Testo top a bounding ball left of the goal a minute later.

In the 10th minute, UNC forward Marcus Storey took a throw-in from the left side of the 18-yard box and moved in on Maslin. But when Storey tried to cross the ball to a creeping Noz Yamauchi, Duke's Matt Ahumada cleared the pass.

"We didn't really battle hard early in the game, and they were certainly very strong physically and took control of the match in the first half," said Duke coach John Rennie.

The Tar Heels' physical defense held Duke's long-ball offense in check. Bolowich said he set up UNC in a formation that mimicked Duke's, thus creating one-on-one matchups across the field.

Blue Devil forwards Owoicho Adogwa and Jordan Cila, the targets of many of Duke's long balls from the back, were constantly harassed by UNC's defense.

Defensive midfielder Grant Porter marked Adogwa, a speedy freshman from Nigeria. Porter shadowed Adogwa and slowed the Blue Devil's production.

"Elmar told me he had speed, so I was just messing with him a lot, trying to get into his head, trying to be physical with him," Porter said.

Adogwa didn't take a shot the entire game. Tar Heel defender David Stokes marked Cila and kept him from getting a shot on goal, as well.

And after Pause scored on a quick give-and-go from Storey at the beginning of the second half, UNC's defense didn't have a true scare until the game's 81st minute.

Duke midfielder Donald McIntosh took advantage of a North Carolina turnover in the midfield and made a 30-yard run toward the Tar Heel goal.

His grass-cutting shot from 16 yards got by UNC goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey but rolled just left of the goal.

"To be honest, I was a little nervous when he came through," Porter said. "We've given up one or two maybe-weak goals every once in a while."

The game was encouraging for UNC, which played a cohesive 90 minutes on both sides of the ball. With Pause's return and Storey's emergence, the Tar Heels now seem to have more offensive weapons than they have had all season.

And North Carolina played with a gumption unmatched so far this year.

"I think the seniors set the tone," Storey said. "I think we kind of played for the seniors because they wanted this last game (against Duke) at home."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.