University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
No. 3 Tar Heels Battle Blue Devils To 2-2 Draw
September 30, 2011 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 30, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels battled to a 2-2 draw with rival Duke (5-4-1, 2-1-1 ACC) Friday night in front of a record crowd of 4,825. Billy Schuler tallied his team-leading seventh goal of the game as Carolina now sits at 8-1-1 on the season and 2-1-1 in ACC play.
The Tar Heels saw their shutout streak end at four Friday night but kept their unbeaten streak alive as Carolina earned a point in the ACC standings to remain in a tie with Duke for second place in the league.
The Blue Devils struck fist in the 15th minute when Nick Palodichuk finished off a cross from Andrew Wegner after a pass up the right flank from Chris Tweed-Kent. Palodichuk sent the ball past goalkeeper Scott Goodwin from eight yards out to put Duke in front in the first stanza.
The Tar Heels answered back before the halftime whistle when Rob Lovejoy found a streaking Billy Schuler. The junior forward raced down the right side and ducked inside a defender and in an attempt to cross the ball to a cutting Ben Speas the pass was deflected. Duke's Riley Wolfe deflected Schuler's pass directly into the goal for the Tar Heel equalizer.
Schuler was eventually awarded for his effort in the 75th minute when he found the back of the net for the seventh time this season. Junior Enzo Martinez found Schuler near the top of the box and Schuler dribbled to his left and fired a shot into the upper left corner of the goal to put Carolina in front.
As the minutes ticked down the match seemed to be in the Tar Heels' hands until Carolina turned the ball over in its own end.
Andrew Wenger collected the turnover and fed it to a cutting Wolfe who sent a shot on target from 20 yards out that Goodwin was unable to get a hand on knotting the score at 2-2.
The 87th minute saw freshman defender Jordan McCrary make a careless challenge on Duke's Andrew Morales resulting in a straight red from the referee and giving the Tar Heels just 10 men for the final three minutes of regulation.
Carolina was able to withstand the Duke attack in the dying minutes of regulation and nearly earned a penalty in the final minute. Junior Jordan Gafa tracked down a ball in the box and was surrounded by four Blue Devils before being taken down. The referee saw Gafa's fall as a dive and issued a yellow card for the offense sending the match into extra time.
Billy Schuler nearly found the game winner in the third minute of overtime when he made a stop and go move on a pair of defenders to free himself for a shot on target that was deflected out for a corner kick.
Schuler would put two more shots on goal near the end of the first overtime period but neither challenged Duke goalkeeper James Belshaw.
Rob Lovejoy tallied the lone shot on goal in the second overtime period as both teams traded possession until the 106th minute of action.
Duke earned a free kick in the attacking third and Andrew Wenger had the shot blocked before nearly picking up the game winner in the 109th minute with a bending effort from 18 yards out.
Tar Heel goalkeeper Scott Goodwin recorded five saves on the night as the Tar Heels outshot the Blue Devils by a narrow 18-17 margin.
With the draw the Tar Heels now sit on seven points in conference play and are currently tied with Duke and trail Maryland by two points.
The Tar Heels and Blue Devils split the Battle of the Blues point as a result of the draw and Carolina now leads the all-sport competition 1.5-0.5. The Battle of the Blues competition is sponsored by Continental Tire.
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