September 1, 2014

sportswrap september 1, 2014

DARBI GRIFFITH/THE CHRONICLE

the chronicle

PHOENIX BURNED MEN’S SOCCER: DUKE WINS NIKE CLASSIC• CROSS COUNTRY: BLUE DEVILS TAKE VIRGINIA DUALS

2 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

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Football

Column

Blue Devils ground Phoenix Lasting

Impressions

Brian Mazur Beat Writer It took no time to see that Duke football was ready to continue its winning ways that it got used to last season.

The Blue Devils took advantage of momentum that resulted from a quick start ELON 13 in the first half and cruised past visiting DUKE 52 FCS opponent Elon 52-13 Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Boone led the Blue Devils offensively, completing 22of-33 passes for 247 yards and four touchdowns that lit up a Phoenix defense that struggled to stop the Duke offensive attack. Boone is now 11-2 as a starter.

“We executed pretty well,” Boone said.

“They started mixing their looks a little bit, which was inconsistent from what we were working on all week. We made our adjustments, I thought our offensive line did a great job adjusting. Our [running] backs found their holes and got the necessary yards.”

The Weddington, N.C., native got the offense going early, leading the Blue Devils (1-0) down the field on their opening drive, which ended in the end zone with a fouryard pass to wide receiver Issac Blakeney.

Blakeney, who recently switched from the slot to the No. 2 outside position, finished the game with four receptions for 45 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns.

The Elon offense, led by redshirt senior quarterback Mike Quinn, found some early success against the Duke defense, but the Phoenix (0-1) were stifled each time they moved into the red zone. On a pair of drives in the first half, Elon had to settle for field goals by kicker John Gallagher.

“It was very important [to keep them out

Ryan Neu

Xirui Liu | The Chronicle Redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Boone threw for 247 yards and four touchdowns Saturday against the Phoenix.

of the end zone in the first half],” defensive tackle Carlos Wray said. “We are a strong defense and we are going to play hard.”

Quinn did have limited success when he was not being chased around the backfield by the Duke defense, throwing for 190 yards on 19-of-38 passing. Kierre Brown—Elon’s 2013 team MVP—caught five of Quinn’s passes for 70 yards.

Leading 7-3 after the first quarter of play, Boone began to pick apart the undersized Phoenix defense. On the first play of the Blue Devils’ third drive of the game, Boone lofted the ball to a wide open Jamison Crowder, who had ran past the Elon defense for a 46-yard touchdown. This would only be the beginning of a Duke offensive clinic that churned out 567 total yards.

The connection between Boone and Crowder was the first of two on the evening, as Boone also found his favorite target again with 11:32 to play in the third quarter for a 13yard touchdown pass that extended the Duke lead to 35-6. Crowder finished with seven receptions for 93 yards. The Monroe, N.C., native needs only 79 receptions and 1,267 yards to break program and ACC records for receptions and receiving yards.

The Blue Devil passing attack also benefitted from a steady run game that racked up 275 yards on the ground. Junior Shaquille Powell contributed to the Duke lead on a two-yard scamper into the end zone midway through the second quarter. True freshman See Elon on Page 4

Football

Plenty to take away from Elon victory Michael Schreiner Beat Writer On a day when teams around the conference and country struggled against inferior opponents, Duke cruised to a 52-13 season-opening win against Elon in a game that provided few surprises.

On the good side of a 39-point betting line, the Blue Devils came into the game as heavy favorites. Anthony Boone was expected to rip apart the Phoenix secondary, Duke’s backfield duo of Shaquille Powell and Josh Snead were supposed to run freely and most assumed the Blue Devil defense would easily contain an Elon offense that was shutout by its two previous ACC opponents.

And, for the most part, they did.

Boone threw for four touchdowns without a turnover, Powell and Snead averaged 5.6 yards per carry and the Phoenix did not reach the end zone until Duke’s starters were on the bench. The Blue Devils did not have a turnover—or many mistakes at all—and the game was never truly close. But when that was supposed to happen, what can you take away?

The answer is plenty, if you widen your focus.

First, the fact that the game went according to plan is important in itself, as that was not the

First impressions are everything. The firmness of a handshake, random mannerisms and that little bit of ketchup still on your shirt because you didn’t realize it had fallen there can all have an impact on how that person you’re meeting for the first time will view you.

The sports world is no different.

One of the better examples of this right now is Johnny Manziel. Anybody who follows sports—and plenty of people who don’t— know who Johnny Football is. Maybe on their morning commute they heard the disc jockeys of WRAL mention the photo of Johnny at a party with a rolled up dollar bill. Maybe they turned on the local news and the image of Johnny in a Las Vegas pool surrounded by more than 10 beautiful women popped up. Or maybe they actually happened to see one of the countless highlights of Johnny being Johnny on the football field.

Manziel’s personality is polarizing—you either love him or hate him—but one thing that everyone can agree on is that we view him as someone who loves to party and has a bit of an attitude problem. And that’s the image that he’ll have to try and shake off to be a successful player in the NFL. The first impression is the one that sticks and the one that takes years to overcome— that is if that first impression isn’t an actual depiction of who you are.

It’s not just individuals who are susceptible to the curse of the initial assumption, though.

Teams are just as vulnerable, maybe even more so.

Prior to a team’s game in any sport, whether it be basketball, curling, football or sailing, pundits love to dig deep and analyze the team based on the sum of its parts as well as the individual components that make that team up. Fans do it too, to some extent, as they argue amongst friends about whether or not Team A will beat Team B—from experience, this particular form of discussion involves the raising of voices, but then again so does every episode of ESPN’s First Take.

But as soon as that team takes the field for its opener everything changes, and it can go one of two ways.

Scenario One—If the team loses and/ or does not live up to expectations: it doesn’t matter who the star quarterback is, how good the role players off the bench are, how many goals were scored, or what the head coach said in his or her press conference after the game.

The team could come out the next week and play considerably better but the impression that is left with everyone is “Will this team revert back to the team we saw before?”

Since the Patriots repeated as Super Bowl champions in 2005, no Super Bowl winner has come back the next year and won a playoff game, and half of those teams failed to make the playoffs following their hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy. One of those teams was the 2012 New York “Football” Giants. Big Blue was coming off its second Super Bowl in four years and looked poised to compete for another.

But the Giants lost their opening game to the

case around the country. From Chapel Hill to Charlottesville to Auburn, games stayed closer than expected for longer than they should have.

Facing Elon without a number of key players from last year’s team, Duke could have let that happen. It could have committed turnovers, missed field goals, or given up big plays on missed assignments. Many will recall that it made these same mistakes in its loss to a visiting Richmond team three years ago.

But the Blue Devils did not have any mishaps of that magnitude Saturday night, and that says something about the team’s depth and readiness to play. And because they took care of business in the way that was expected of them, they were able to put a lot of youth on the field later in the game.

If they had allowed the Phoenix to stick around, then they would not have had three freshmen on the field to thwart an Elon fourth down conversion attempt midway through the third quarter. Nor would Duke have been able to put three different quarterbacks under center to run the offense for multiple drives each. But it did, and the experience those young players received will pay dividends going See Take Away on Page 4

Darbi Griffith | The Chronicle Freshman running back Shaun Wilson rushed six times for 71 yards in Saturday’s blowout of Elon.

See Impressions on Page 4

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2014 | 3

Men’s Soccer

Duke explodes for 8 goals to win Nike Classic Brian Pollack Beat Writer

It wasn’t pretty at the beginning, but Duke pulled things together in the second half to earn its first win of the year.

The Blue Devils defeated Stetson 8-2 Sunday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium thanks to an offense that Stetson 2 exploded for seven 8 goals in the second Duke half and erased a 2-1 halftime deficit. With the victory, as well as a tie against Loyola Marymount on Friday, Duke won the John Rennie/Nike Invitational.

“It’s great to see it all come together,” senior midfielder Sean Davis said. “We put so much work into the preseason, the guys have worked really hard, and so I think this is a great reward for us. We were definitely tested, we had two great matches that really pushed us and I’m glad to see us come through.”

Despite the final score, the game was still hanging in the balance for much of the match. The Blue Devils (1-0-1) jumped out to an early lead, scoring off a corner kick in the 10th minute. Davis—who was named the tournament’s MVP—took the corner from the left side and played it near the front post, where freshman Cameron Moseley used his 6-foot-4 frame to emerge from the scuffle and give Duke a 1-0 advantage.

“Sean put in a great corner and the keeper bobbled it,” Moseley said. “The ball dropped to my feet and my eyes got as big as possible.

That’s when I kicked it as hard as I could, and it bounded over the line.”

The Blue Devils continued to attack well early on—racking up eight shots in the opening period—but were unable to pad their lead despite a multitude of chances.

The Hatters (1-1-0) took advantage, drawing even in the 29th minute when freshman Jared

Jack White | The Chronicle Freshman Cameron Moseley made the most of his first career start Sunday, as he scored a pair of goals to kick off the Blue Devil rout.

Huber slid a shot past Duke goalkeeper Joe Ohaus for his second goal in as many games.

Stetson continued to capitalize on its chances, jumping ahead 2-1 with less than four minutes remaining in the first half on sophomore David Caulfield’s volley from well outside the 18-yard box. It was only the Hatters’ second shot of the half, but both shots found the back of the net and that was enough to give Stetson the lead heading into the locker room.

The Blue Devils wasted little time coming out of the break, evening the score at 2-2 in the 50th minute when Moseley poured in his second goal of the afternoon. Moseley— inserted into the starting lineup Sunday after coming off the bench in the season opener—received a through ball near the top of the box from Davis and knocked it past goalkeeper Paul Ladwig, who came out of the net to challenge the shot. “[Getting the start] meant the world to me,” Moseley said. “Just having the coaches trust me, and the belief that I can contribute

to the team in the best way possible. I believe that today I proved it.”

But the Duke offense was far from finished. The Blue Devils took the lead for good in the 59th minute when sophomore Seo-in Kim fired a shot from the right side of the box that found its way into the corner of the net to put Duke up 3-2. Kim—who came off the bench in the 27th minute after starting Friday—struck again later in the half to provide the Blue Devils some insurance and extend their lead to 4-2. Senior midfielder Nick Palodichuk earned the assist on the play, sending a long cross into the box that Kim volleyed in for the score. “[Scoring two goals] was great,” Kim said.

“First and foremost, I’m just proud of my team that we could come back. I just have to be ready. Whenever I’m in there, I have to contribute, so I was happy with that [today].”

Duke was off to the races from there, scoring four more goals—one apiece from Brody Huitema, Matt Slotnick, Macario Hing-Glover and Bryson Asher—in the final

20 minutes to reach the final margin of 8-2.

The Blue Devils had 16 players who played at least 20 minutes and had six different goalscorers on the day, highlighting a very deep and talented roster that returns 84 percent of its scoring from a season ago, in addition to a well-regarded freshman class.

Head coach John Kerr was quick to point out the importance of receiving contributions from up and down the roster, and is excited to see it develop even further as the season progresses.

“It’s pleasing because if somebody is having an off game, we can bring somebody else on to keep the level [of play] and the momentum and the energy high,” Kerr said. “We still have some things to iron out, but it’s a young team with some really good veteran leadership.

If we can keep our composure and keep working, we’re going to be dangerous this year. We scored a lot of goals from a lot of different angles, and that was very pleasing to see.”

Women’s Soccer

Cobb-led Blue Devils cruise to victory in home-opener Zac Elder Staff Reporter

Jesús Hidalgo | The Chronicle Senior Kelly Cobb got back to her scoring ways in Sunday’s victory.

After a slow offensive start to the season, Duke poured in three first-half goals Sunday against the University of Alabam at Birmingham in the Blue Devils’ first home action of 2014.

No. 21 Duke netted just two scores in its first three matches of the year, but needed 1 less than 30 minutes UAB of play to register DUKE 3 three goals against the Blazers. Led by veteran Kelly Cobb and underclassmen Toni Payne and Imani Dorsey, the Blue Devils controlled the match from start to finish en route to an easy 3-1 victory.

“After not scoring any goals last weekend, we knew it was coming,” Duke head coach Robbie Church said. “We still have to work on it. We put up 31 shots and got three goals. We had some balls that we should have finished, but the kids played really hard.”

The Blue Devils (2-2) started off the scoring flurry just six minutes into the match.

Sophomore defender Christina Gibbons lofted a cross into the box for a quick chip by Cobb over the goalkeeper’s head and into the

back of the net.

“Honestly, I can’t even remember it because it happened so fast,” Cobb said. “I just saw the ball go in the upper right hand corner and just felt a relief.”

Cobb earned Soccer America AllFreshmen First Team and All-ACC Second Team honors after registering 11 goals and 31 points, both school records for freshmen, in her first year in Durham. After injuries and a stint playing with the U-20 World Cup team in Japan limited her to 10 collegiate games as a sophomore, Cobb tallied just 17 points in 24 games as a junior. Cobb’s score against the Blazers (2-1) was her first of the year, a good sign for the Blue Devils.

“She’s having her best year ever,” Church said. “She’s finally healthy and she’s just up and down the field. It was great to see her score a goal because as a forward you always judge yourself on goals and assists.... It was great to see her get that goal because she’s played really well.”

Complementing the veteran Cobb was the duo of Dorsey, a freshman, and Payne, a sophomore.

Less than five minutes after Cobb’s score, Duke went up 2-0 when Dorsey sent a cross

into the box that found the foot of Payne for a finish from three yards out. Payne returned the favor to Dorsey in the 28th minute, feeding a pass to the freshman for her second goal of the season.

Payne and Dorsey combined for nine shots, including three shots on goal and the two scores, and spent most of the match harassing UAB defenders inside the 18-yard box. It was the second game in a row in which both Dorsey and Payne netted a goal.

“Toni and Imani are good, and [sophomore midfielder] Rebecca Quinn up there, these kids play a high level of soccer,” Church said. “You can see that. They look for each other and they play off each other. They do a lot of special stuff.”

Payne started in all but three of Duke’s matches a year ago and earned All-ACC Freshman Team honors after registering 11 points, including the game-winning goal against Miami. Dorsey, like Cobb and Payne before her, should see significant playing time at the forward position for the remainder of her freshman year after starting the season with a pair of goals and an assist.

See W. Soccer on Page 4

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Cross Country

Duke women storm to victory at Virginia Duals Sophomore Wesley Frazier set the tone for a new season and put the setbacks of 2013 far behind her at the Virginia Duals Friday.

Kicking off the season in Charlottesville, Va., the Blue Devils dominated the women’s field, nearly sweeping the top five finishes en route to the team victory.

Duke took command of the 4,000-meter race early with Frazier at the front of the pack, ready to show new women’s head coach Christine Engel and herself what she could do after a year off from competitive running.

“Wesley was definitely excited to race,” Engel said. “She has worked hard to get to the level where she is now, and she was really eager to get out there and see where she is from a fitness perspective. She wasn’t really nervous.

She was excited and composed.”

Fellow sophomore Hannah Meier, graduate student Jessie Rubin and junior Anima Banks settled into the lead pack with her. As the race progressed, Frazier pulled ahead of the field and her teammates, leading a line of blue uniforms to the finish for a one-through-four

sweep. The sophomore claimed her first win of her collegiate career in just her second race with a final time of 14:01.

Hannah Meier was next across the line, finishing in 14:13. Rubin and Banks followed, clocking times of 14:18 and 14:24.

Rounding out the Blue Devils’ five scoring runners, sophomore Haley Meier secured the team victory with a ninth-place finish in a time of 14:45. With runners finishing fifth through eighth and 13th, six-time defending ACC champions Florida State claimed second and Virginia third.

The ACC coaches’ poll selected Florida State as the top team in the conference, giving the Seminoles all but two first-place votes.

Duke was predicted to finish in fourth, behind Virginia in second and Syracuse in third.

But with four runners crossing the line ahead of the veterans on the Florida State roster, including senior Colleen Quigley—the NCAA South Regional Champion and runnerup at the ACC Championships in 2013—the Blue Devils showed they should not be counted out as one of the top teams in the ACC. Frazier and her teammates know they have the potential to surprise the competition,

ELON

TAKE AWAY

Shaun Wilson took advantage of second half minutes to rush for 71 yards on just six carries.

“I like to play four [running backs] if I can,” Cutcliffe said. “[Powell and Snead] did a couple of things, they held onto the football and they got the most out of every carry they got and then some. They’re different is what I like. We have not had one like Shaun, he is a different back than we have played with.”

There was one area of concern for the Duke offense, as a handful of receivers, including Crowder, had trouble hauling in Boone’s passes throughout the game.

“Coach Montgomery and the offensive staff did a great job of adjusting as the game went,” head coach David Cutcliffe said. “You see the balance that created in that ball game.

From that standpoint, Elon knows what they are doing. That is good for us, because it tested us in a lot of areas. The short of what I saw, is that we do have players making plays.

We were not as smooth starting as we could have [been]. But we made up for it.”

On the other side of the football, the defense wasn’t flawless, but it did enough to get the job done.

The front six struggled at times to contain Elon running backs Tracey Coppedge and B.J. Bennett, who racked up 151 rushing yards against a defense that played its first game without senior leader Kelby Brown.

But the defensive line, which lost three starters to graduation last year, held its own in the pass rush, harrassing Quinn all game and hurrying his throws.

Both defensive end Dezmond Johnson and Wray each recorded a sack, contributing to the havoc in the Elon backfield. The defense produced a combined four quarterback hurries on Quinn.

A number of newcomers took their first snaps as Blue Devils. Most notably, redshirt sophomore quarterback Thomas Sirk saw time under center in the second half, as

forward.

The Blue Devils also played their first four quarters of the season without an injury. After a turbulent offseason for the Duke depth chart, the importance of that cannot be understated.

The current Blue Devil starters now have their first game playing together behind them.

Any questions about how players were going step up and react once the season actually started were answered Saturday. It means Duke can go one more week without being forced to overhaul its starting lineup. In a game that the Blue Devils had in hand early, the lack of injuries should set a foundation that allows the unit to continue to grow.

Ali Wells Beat Writer

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he threw for 40 yards and rushed for 54 yards and two touchdowns. His first career touchdown came early in the fourth quarter, when he barreled over a handful of Phoenix defenders before lunging into the end zone to cap a nine-play, 82-yard drive.

True freshmen saw considerable time on defense, with linebacker Zavier Carmichael and cornerbacks Zach Muniz and Alonzo Saxton playing in the second half. The two young cornerbacks shed light on what could be a bright future in the secondary when they recorded backto-back pass breakups toward the end of the third quarter.

“We have some talent in our young people,” Cutcliffe said. “You can see the speed. You see two freshmen defensive backs [Zach Muniz and Alonzo Saxton] out there who can get you excited in a hurry. We have some young quarterbacks. When I went to the locker room I had our team take a knee and I asked everyone who had played in their first college football game to stand up.

And I counted, there were a lot of good football players who played in their first college football game.”

but are wary of high postseason expectations affecting team morale again this year. Engel’s emphasis on the present strikes a good balance for a Duke team recovering from last season.

“We are really focusing on the process and what we can do each day and each week without over-thinking what’s down the road,” Engel said. “We are really focusing on the here and now. So far everyone is looking at each practice as an opportunity to get better.”

On the men’s side, the Blue Devils also recorded a successful season opener on the Panorama Farms course.

Junior Henry Farley crossed the finish line first for Duke, turning in a time of 12:35 for the 4,000-meter course and earning third overall.

Also among the top 10 finishers, sophomore Daniel Moore took fifth with a time of 12:41.

Sophomore Brian Benesch and freshmen Alec Kunzweiler crossed the line in 12th and 13th with times of 13:00 and 13:03, respectively.

Rounding out the Blue Devil contingent, freshman Shane Kreidel earned 21st with a time of 13:19.

The Blue Devils outscored Liberty and Norfolk State and were just off the pace of Florida State and eventual winners Virginia.

Sure, Jamison Crowder had a couple of uncharacteristic drops early on and Duke’s defensive line allowed Elon’s quarterback Mike Quinn too much time in the pocket at times, but the team’s mistakes Saturday were forgettable. They must be addressed to beat the caliber of opponent the Blue Devils will see later in the season, but few if any will remember what Duke did wrong against Elon in a month.

When nearly everything goes right, it becomes important to look at what could have gone wrong. No Duke unit played exceptionally poorly Saturday, and the great performances were tempered by heightened expectations that resulted from a matchup with weak competition. But Saturday’s win against Elon is an important start to Duke’s season, due as much to what didn’t go wrong as what went right.

IMPRESSIONS continued from page 2

Cowboys that season and everyone started questioning this team and its stability. The G-Men ended up having a good season despite missing the playoffs, but nobody remembers that. They remember the impression left on them after that opening game.

Scenario Two—If the team wins and/or plays very well: there is a tendency to make an excuse or two when the team plays poorly afterward. An example of this is Duke basketball last season. After all of the preseason hype and excitement surrounding Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood, the Blue Devils walked into Cameron and smacked Davidson up and down the court on their way to a 111-77 shellacking.

And after Duke was not able to keep up with Kansas in Chicago a few days later, our minds wandered back to that day in Cameron where we saw Jabari and Rodney combine for 44 points. “The team just had an off day” and “it’s tough playing against such great competition when you’re still trying to find yourself” are two of the reasons that I heard from both friends and professionals on television trying to

Chronicle File Photo The Blue Devils surprised the rest of the pack as they made a team push to overtake ACC-favorite Florida State to claim victory.

W. SOCCER continued from page 3

“I love both the way Toni and Imani play.

Both are very confident, they are willing to take players on one-vs-one,” Cobb said.

“And they’re both very smart players as well. I think that’s a trait of being a Duke women’s soccer player, being both talented and smart on the field.”

The Blazers pulled within two in the 55th minute after sophomore Kimberly Fincher sent a cross in to freshman Rachel Green for an easy goal. But the early goals by Cobb, Dorsey and Payne proved too much to overcome as Duke cruised to the victory and evened its record at 2-2. explain the loss.

The first impression that was left with us was one of a young but dominant team and it was hard to push that memory away.

As with any rule, there are exceptions. If a team plays in a consistent manner—either well or poorly—for an extended period of time, that first impression can be erased momentarily and is replaced by this new version of the team.

But that first impression is never forgotten. It dwells in the back of our minds, biding its time, waiting for an opportunity to spring forth.

To return to a previous example, after Duke struggled against East Carolina, Vermont, Arizona, Notre Dame and Clemson, the perception began to shift. The idea that was once inside our heads as to what that team was started to change. The image morphed to that of a team that struggled not just against good teams but average ones became the prevailing view. And it took a while for the Cameron Crazies to regain the confidence they once had.

So the next time you’re introduced to a friend of a friend, or you have the opportunity to write a column for the first time, remember that your first impression will be a lasting one.

All you can hope is that your first impression is a good one.