Duke Falters at SMU, 3-1

Friday, September 5

Dallas, Texas

8:30 PM

Duke University

SMU

9/5/2014 11:22:00 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

Box Score

DALLAS –Southern Methodist scored a pair of late first-half goals to hand the Duke men's soccer team a 3-1 loss in the Mustangs' home opener. Senior Nick Palodichuk scored the goal for the Blue Devils in their first loss of the 2014 campaign.

Duke drops to 1-1-1 overall, while SMU picks up its first win to improve to 1-2-0 on the year.

“We got off to a decent start against a hungry SMU team,” said head coach John Kerr. “We did not capitalize on some good early moments. SMU gained momentum after scoring two late first-half goals and one just after halftime. We are a young team starting six freshmen and we didn't give up, which was pleasing.”

The Blue Devils started strong at Westcott Field, moving the ball well through the midfield and into the offensive third. Duke attacked well early, but was unable to find holes in the Mustangs' defense in the final third to get quality looks on goal.

After Duke controlled the run of play through much of the opening half of the first period, SMU started to put passes together to generate dangerous scoring looks. The Mustangs broke into the scoring column in the 35th minute as John Lujano slotted a ball to Stanton Garcia behind Duke's defense and Garcia slipped it past goalkeeper Joe Ohaus for the 1-0 lead.

The Blue Devils regained some of the rhythm it had prior to the Mustangs' goal, but an SMU corner kick that ended up in the back of Duke's net in the 44th minute put them on their heels heading into the locker room. The Mustangs won a corner kick despite Duke having the better of possession and Colten Habecker finished the service into the six-yard box by Jared Rice for the 2-0 lead at the half.

Looking to rebound much like it had in its previous two games, Duke was unfortunate to give up a penalty kick to the Mustangs that made it 3-0 in the 54th minute. The Blue Devils pressed forward with a strong sense of urgency, creating havoc for the SMU defense.

Freshman Jeremy Ebobisse got a great look at goal as he defended well to win the ball back inside the penalty area. Collecting the ball 10 yards from goal, the rookie striker's shot hit the outside of the net to keep SMU's shutout hopes alive.

After a couple other near misses for Duke, Palodichuk put the Blue Devils on the board with a 40-yard strike to the right corner of the net. The senior midfielder took advantage of SMU's goalie being off the line and perfectly lofted the shot over his head and into the goal for his first tally of the year.

Duke, energized, continued to play with urgency in search of another late goal to try to salvage a tie. The Mustangs hung tough and did well to possess the ball and keep the Blue Devils from scoring again.

SMU led Duke 15-9 in shots, while the Blue Devils had a 9-5 advantage in corner kicks. Ohaus made four saves for the Blue Devils and Michael Nelson had two for the Mustangs.

The Blue Devils return home to host Temple, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.