Belshaw Makes 15 Saves in Tie with No. 20 Louisville

Friday, September 3

Durham, N.C.

7:30 PM

Duke University

Louisville

Belshaw Named to Preseason All-America Team

Belshaw Makes 15 Saves in Tie with No. 20 Louisville

9/4/2010 12:19:00 AM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C-Duke University sophomore goaltender James Belshaw made a career-high 15 saves to help the Blue Devils to a 0-0 double overtime tie with No. 20 Louisville in the first day of the Duke/Nike Soccer Classic. Included in Belshaw's numerous stops was a penalty kick save in overtime as 11th-ranked Duke played a man down for the final 43 minutes of the contest.

"I've seen a lot of games in my lifetime and it's the best performance I've ever seen live," head coach John Kerr said about Belshaw's play in net. "It rivals up there with Kasey Keller's performance against Brazil when they one 1-0."

Both teams opened the game with a lot of intensity and intent on going forward with the ball. The Blue Devils had the first good look just over five minutes into the game when freshman defender Sebastien Ibeagha headed a Ryan Finley corner kick over the crossbar.

Louisville (0-0-1) had a good opportunity at goal in the 26th minute on a long throw-in from the right side, but Belshaw smothered the low shot to keep the Cardinals off the board. The Cardinals started to build momentum in the final 12 minutes, creating a variety of chances. However, the Blue Devil defense clamped down and was able to clear the ball out of danger each time as the two teams headed into halftime knotted at zero.

The Cardinals came out of the break on fire, creating multiple dangerous opportunities. Belshaw made back-to-back saves, stopping a point-blank stop on a header from Andrew Farrell and then deflecting away the rebound off the foot of Mark Knight.

After weathering the Louisville storm, Duke (0-0-1) started to get into a good rhythm. In the 61st minute, a header from Finley hit the post and bounced away. Minutes later junior Temi Molinar used great individual work to beat three Louisville defenders and fed a through ball to Finley. The sophomore striker collected the pass and ripped a shot over the crossbar. Finley continued to shine as he fired a shot just wide of the far post. He led all Blue Devils with six shots on the evening.

Playing with a man advantage, Louisville built a strong attack through the midfield with Ryan Smith receiving the final through ball just inside the 18-yard box. Smith sent a screaming shot low to the far post, but Belshaw made the stop with his right foot. As the intensity in the game built, so did the quality of play by Duke's defense and goalkeeper. Belshaw rose to the task for the eighth time of the night with a diving save to his right and came up big again for the Blue Devils just minutes later as he came off of his line to stop a breakaway opportunity.

"It's part of the job really," Belshaw said. "The defense was magnificent tonight. We played good football at times and Louisville was a great side. They really put the pressure on us after going a man down."

With the pressure on their defense, the Blue Devils nearly put one on the board again as Molinar broke loose with an overlapping run down the left flank and sent a shot past the right post. Near misses proved to be the story of the evening as Duke and Louisville battled to a scoreless tie through 90 minutes of action.

Belshaw's stellar play continued into the overtime sessions as he kept Duke in the game time and time again. He finished with four saves in overtime. In perhaps the biggest play of the game, Belshaw put his shot-stopping abilities on display as he stopped a penalty kick by Nick Corliss. Belshaw read the penalty shot correctly, diving to his right to gobble up Corliss's attempt to lift the Cardinals to victory.

"As the day was going, I didn't really think he was going to make it," Belshaw said. "I have little things I do on penalties and I felt confident."

The native of Nottingham, England added a few more saves to his collection in the final minutes to keep Duke unbeaten to start the season.

Louisville held a 30-13 advantage in shots and a 9-4 edge in corner kicks. Cardinals' goalie Andre Boudreaux went the distance and was not forced to make any saves.

Duke closes out the third annual Duke/Nike Classic on Sept. 5 against Sacramento State at 2:30 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.

-d-u-k-e-