There was hope, and then there wasn’t, and then the game seemed to be over, and then Eagles fans everywhere fervently believed for perhaps the best ten minutes of a miserable season. Then it really was over, with the Eagles falling 3-2 to Duke in the first round of the ACC tournament. Daniel Klaric and Christian Bejar scored for the Eagles, with Antino Lopez, Ulfur Bjornsson, and Ruben Mesalles scored for the Blue Devils.
It started with a disaster. Duke came out with their foot on the gas, pressing forward from the starting whistle. Earning a corner, the Blue Devils and Eagles lined up, jockeying for position inside the box. Duke took the corner, serving a perfect in-swinger to the forehead of Antonio Lopez, who nodded the ball home. The header went top center, blasting past Brennan Klein who had little chance to react. With just over two minutes of play, Duke was up 1-0 and Klein was fishing the ball out of the back of the net, frustration evident.
Clearly, Duke had studied. Just over ten minutes later, the Blue Devils tried the same trick, curling a corner towards the top of the six-yard box. This time, Kamran Acito got his head on it, flicking it towards the top of the net. It was a moment of déjà vu…except this time Klein was ready and punched the ball over the top. Duke might have studied in advance, but the Eagles defense were quick studies, adapting to prevent the Blue Devils from scoring again in the first half.
Eventually though, Duke would get their second, and then their third, in just over a minute.
The Blue Devil’s second goal game in the 62nd minute. Drew Kerr sliced through the Eagles defense, splitting Alfie Hughes and CJ Williams before blasting a shot from just outside the six-yard box. Mortiz Gundelach, as he has all season, blocked the shot, but the rebound fell back to Kerr, who passed across the box to Bjornsson, who calmly slotted the ball home near post to give Duke the 2-0 lead.
What would become the game-winning goal, but at the time seemed like extra insurance, came in the 63rd minute, as the BC defense appeared to collapse. Once again carrying the ball and carving up the left side, Kerr would take the ball to the goalline before sending a cross that skipped past the BC defenders and Klein, before being tapped in by Mesalles to make the game 3-0 Duke. The Eagles looked stunned and there was still 25 minutes of soccer to play.
In the 64th minute, Christian Bejar subbed on. By the 80th, he had solved the Duke defense and was on his way to dragging the Eagles by sheer force of will to a comeback.
The comeback started with a pass by Brennan Klein that, with a little duck and shoulder by Bejar, landed right on the money in front of the wingback. Corralling the ball, Bejar popped it over the first defender and read the second defenders’ header perfectly to recover the ball. In alone, Bejar fired off a shot right at Blue Devils goalie Julian Eyestone, who made the initial save but gave up a huge rebound. Daniel Klaric, making his return to the pitch after a long absence due to injury, scooped the ball just outside the 18-yard box and one-timed a rocket back in to score his first collegiate goal.
With ten minutes left it was 3-1. Not a shutout. But Bejar wasn’t finished. The play started on a recycled ball that Marco Dos Santos dribbled into the box, passing to Bejar, who passed back. Closed in on by two defenders, Dos Santos lost possession, but the loose ball fell to Bejar, who wasted no time rocketing it towards the far post. Duke goalie Eyestone dove for it, getting a hand on it, but unable to keep the ball out of the net. Suddenly it was 3-2 and Bejar wasted no time celebrating, instead hustling for the restart. The goal was Bejar’s first.
Ultimately, the clock was the Eagles greatest enemy, hitting zero before the Eagles could find that third goal. BC never scored more than two goals in a game this season, with the lack of scoring being the most consistent issue facing the young Eagles team. Bejar’s fight and the way the team responded to his energy was new though, a glimpse at the mentality the team has been searching for all season.
And, worth noting though not necessarily a problem unique to the Eagles, injuries and a yellow card suspension kept several of the Eagles regular starters from making an appearance. BC was without captain Diego Ochoa, though he traveled, and Jack Burkhardt missed due to yellow card accumulation. Duke had the ability to rotate players significantly, keeping the team fresh and changing the point of attack—the Eagles had no such options.
The Eagles end their season 3-9-5, with an ACC record of 0-5-3. For the second year in a row, BC did not win a single away game.
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