Men's Soccer Drops Heartbreaker to Wolfpack

Friday, October 9

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

N.C. State

Men's Soccer Travels to No. 4 Wake Forest on Friday

Men's Soccer Drops Heartbreaker to Wolfpack

10/9/2009 10:00:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.-North Carolina State's Ronnie Bouemboue tallied a goal with 49 seconds left to play in the second overtime to lift the 18th-ranked Wolfpack to a 1-0 victory over ninth-ranked Duke in ACC men's soccer action this evening. The loss is the first for the Blue Devils on their home field this season.

"It was a tremendous team effort overall," head coach John Kerr said. "We shut [Ronnie Bouemboue] down for most of the game. Christian [Ibeagha] and Andrew Wenger did a great job on him. We took Alan Sanchez out of the game with Ryan McDaniel who was tremendous for us tonight. It's a cruel game because I thought we edged it with possession and we edged it with shots and our play and we didn't come out the result we wanted."

While not for lack of attacking, Duke (7-4-0, 2-3-0 ACC) and NC State were unable to find the back of the net, finishing regulation in a scoreless tie.

Duke had the better of play in the opening minutes of the first extra session. Six minutes into the golden goal period, senior Ryan McDaniel fed junior Cole Grossman into the left side of the penalty area. Grossman ripped a left-footed shot, but was denied by the crossbar for the second time in the game.

The Blue Devils continued to get forward in the second 10 minutes. Christopher Tweed-Kent got open down the left wing and forced Widman to make his first save of the evening. Looking for its seventh win at home this season, Duke battled and kept NC State (8-2-1, 2-2-1) off the board until Lucas Carpenter found the feet of Bouemboue just inside the 18-yard box. Bouemboue was able to turn on his defender and slip the ball past Duke goalie James Belshaw for the game-winner.

Much of the opening 15 minutes of the contest was played in the middle of the field as Duke was the lone squad to fire a shot. The Wolfpack tired to thread the ball through Duke's backline, but an organized Blue Devil defense kept NC State from generating any dangerous chances. NC State had its first good look at goal with 18:45 left in the half as Bouemboue's shot was deflected over the crossbar.

Play started to open up in the final 15 minutes of the first half with end-to-end action. The Wolfpack had the best opportunity of the opening 45 minutes with just over seven minutes left to play. Bouemboue broke loose near the endline and ripped at the near post where Belshaw came up with the point-blank stop to send the squads into halftime in a scoreless draw.

The second half started with a bang with both squads playing direct and into the opponent's box. As play settled, Duke freshman Ryan Finley drew a penalty 25 yards from goal. Grossman's ensuing free kick sailed over the wall and hit the underside of the crossbar and came down directly on the goal line where it was quickly sent out of bounds by the NC State defense.

NC State hit the woodwork minutes later when Kristopher Byrd's shot was denied by the crossbar.

Duke nearly grabbed the 1-0 lead with less than 15 minutes left in the second half. Senior Trae Harrison ran onto a long ball from the back, but Wolfpack goalie Christopher Widman was there just in time to pick it off of Harrison's foot.

The Blue Devils had a 12-11 edge in shots and a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks. Belshaw finished with three saves, while Widman had one.

Duke will take on UNC Greensboro in its next game on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.

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