Duke Posts Victory over Virginia Tech in ACC Finale

Friday, October 28

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Duke Posts Victory over Virginia Tech in ACC Finale

10/28/2011 10:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.-The Duke men's soccer team closed out its ACC regular season schedule with a 2-1 victory over Virginia Tech this evening at Koskinen Stadium. Sophomore Jonathan Aguirre and senior Jan Trnka-Amrhein helped lead the Blue Devils to their ninth victory of the year with their play.

Aguirre netted Duke's first goal of the game and Trnka-Amrhein was responsible for the second, which was ruled an own goal for the Hokies. Senior Christopher Tweed-Kent notched the assist, his seventh point in the past three games. The Blue Devils improve to 9-6-1 overall and finish their ACC schedule 4-3-1 and stand in a tie for second in the league. Virginia Tech falls to 4-11-2 overall and 1-5-1 in the ACC.

For the second game in a row, Duke took an early lead when Aguirre connected on a Tweed-Kent cross in the sixth minute. Tweed-Kent collected the ball on the right flank and served it to the back post where Aguirre got a couple of touches and put it past Virginia Tech goalie Kyle Renfro.

"We kind of played a different tactical game today because we didn't have [Andrew] Wenger up front so there was not as much of a threat in behind," head coach John Kerr said. "So we used the movement of Nick Palodichuk and Chris Tweed-Kent to try to find little gaps in between the defense."

The Blue Devils controlled the run of play for much of the first half after the goal. Virginia Tech was able to generate a good rhythm in the final 15 minutes, but Duke's defense was able to stay strong and not allow a goal to put the Blue Devils up 1-0 at the break.

"I thought in the first 15 and 20 minutes we found those and didn't capitalize on possession in that final third," Kerr said. "Then we allowed them to get in the game a little bit, but in saying that we still had most of the possession. "

Virginia Tech came out strong to start the second half and set the tone. Duke defended well in the opening minutes and responded with some good offensive play. The Blue Devils drew their fifth penalty kick of the season with just over 18 minutes to play, but junior Andrew Wenger missed it high to keep the game 1-0.

Just seven minutes later it was the effort of Trnka-Amrhein that gave Duke the 2-0 cushion with an outstanding header off of a corner kick. Freshman Sean Davis served the ball towards the near post where the senior captain beat his defender to the ball and headed it to the far post. In an effort to clear it away a Virginia Tech player knocked it in the goal.

The Hokies quickly slashed Duke's two-goal lead two minutes later with a tally from Taylor Lemmon off an assist from Jed Prater. Lemmon snuck the ball just under junior goalkeeper James Belshaw after a cross from Prater to the left post.

Energized by the goal, Virginia Tech pushed forward and attacked without abandon in the final 12 minutes. Duke held off the Hokies' final push to earn the one-goal victory.

"This time of year any win is a good win," Kerr said. "We'd like to have a shutout, but grinding out a win like that was good. I thought Joe Pak did a superb job at right back today. He was really sharp. Dan Tweed-Kent continues to impress me with his consistency. Our two center midfielders are really progressing and that's nice to see."

Duke held a narrow 9-7 advantage in shots, while the Hokies had seven corner kicks to Duke's three. The Blue Devils are now 7-1-0 when leading at the half and 7-3-1 when scoring first in the game.

In goal, Belshaw and Renfro both had three saves apiece. The win was Belshaw's 30th of his career.

Duke hosts a pair of non-conference foes to close out the year. The Blue Devils welcome Elon on Nov. 1 and Mercer on No. 4. Both matches are at 7 p.m.

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