Huitema, Ebobisse Score to Push Duke to 2-1 Win

Tuesday, October 28

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

Georgia State

Duke Hosts No. 17 Charlotte in Final Exhibition

Huitema, Ebobisse Score to Push Duke to 2-1 Win

10/28/2014 10:35:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C.—Duke freshman Jeremy Ebobisse and sophomore Brody Huitema both tallied goals to close out Duke's regular season home schedule with a 2-1 victory over Georgia State Tuesday night. The Blue Devils finished 7-2-1 at Koskinen Stadium for the 2014 regular season.

“We dominated play from start to finish,” said head coach John Kerr. “Again it was the same old story in that we didn't finish our chances. The last pass, the last finish is not happening for us right now, but at least we got two goals to go through to win the game and that's what's most important at this time of the year.”

Duke (7-8-1), looking to get off to a fast start like that on Friday night, was ready to go from the opening whistle. After generating good scoring opportunities in the opening four minutes, Duke's offensive-minded play draw a foul in the penalty box just five minutes into the game.

With two saves already under his belt Georgia State (6-9-0) goalkeeper CJ Cochran added a great read and save on the penalty kick and ensuing rebound to keep the Blue Devils from going up 1-0 in the early going. Duke continued to dominate possession and nearly took a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute as a Huitema header slipped just over the crossbar.

The longer the Panthers kept Duke off the scoreboard the more momentum Georgia State seemed to build. Georgia State started to gain steam with more possession but the solid Blue Devils' backline refused to let the Panthers get good looks at goal.

“I thought Chase Keesling did a great job for us at right back,” Kerr said. “He played 90 minutes for us tonight for the first time in a long while so I'm very pleased with him in the back right now.”

Duke finally broke through in the 36th minute with a great piece of combination work. Sean Davis, supremely confident with the ball at his feet, found rookie Bryson Asher on the left flank. One touch later for the speedy winger and he slipped the ball right across the face of the goal where Ebobisse tapped it in for his second tally of the year and a 1-0 Blue Devil lead.

The assist was the third for Davis in three games and pushed his total to eight for the year.

“I'm just trying to enjoy it,” Davis said. “These are my last few games at Duke, a place I really fell in love with over the years. I'm just trying to enjoy it, give as much to the team and lead the way.”

The lead was short-lived for the Blue Devils. Less than two minutes later, Georgia State found itself deep in Duke's defensive third and what appeared to be a cross from Niklas Kivinen deflected off of a Duke defender and curled over Wilson Fisher's head to tie the game 1-1.

The Blue Devils started the second half the way they started the game and quickly capitalized on another penalty kick. Jake Butwin drew the foul in the penalty box and Huitema stepped up and buried the shot to put the Blue Devils up 2-1 with 43:21 left in the game.

Fisher came up big less than 10 minutes later with a one-handed stop to keep Duke in front 2-1. The senior goalie finished the night with three saves, all of which came in the second half.

Duke pressed on in search of a third goal, but was just off the mark with its final touch. Freshman Brian White had a great chance on the doorstep that he sent over the crossbar and Davis had his chance pulled in by Cochran.

The Blue Devils outshot Georgia State 26-8 and had a 7-2 edge in corner kicks. Cochran finished with an impressive 13 saves.

Duke closes out the regular season Friday night at Virginia Tech. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.