UNC Greensboro 2, Duke 0
DURHAM, N.C. ? Behind Tebatso Manyama’s goal and assist, UNC Greensboro kept their Cinderella story alive by defeating host Duke, 2-0, on a chilly night in the first round of the 2008 Men’s Soccer NCAA tournament.
The Spartans moved to 9-11-2 as they extended their season and magical late season run, while the Blue Devils ended their season with a 10-8-2 record. The Spartans are just the fifth team in the 50-year history of the NCAA Tournament to make the field with a sub-.500 record, but are the second straight to do so and win a first-round match. New Mexico did in 2001, defeating Florida International.
It was Manyama second-straight heroic performance. The senior from Johannesburg, South Africa had the game-winner in UNCG’s 2-1 win over College of Charleston last Sunday, scoring just 57 seconds after the Cougars had tied the game.
The Spartans, appearing in the tournament for the fourth time in the last five years, will face the ninth seed in the tournament, Loyola (MD), on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Baltimore. UNCG has won at least one game in the tournament in each of those four appearances. The Spartans advanced to the Round of 16 in each of the three previous appearances.
UNCG set the tone in the opening minutes as they had two near chances in the first five minutes. Tim Masters shot from 20 yards out in the fifth minute sailed just high of the crossbar. Cruz Oronos ripped a shot less than a minute later from almost 25 yards out that went a hair over the crossbar and landed on the top of the goal.
The Blue Devils’ best chance in the first half came in the 18th minute when Darrius Barnes collected the ball at the top of the six yard box. His shot was destined for the right corner of the goal but Spartan goalkeeper Nate Berry was up to the task as he made a diving save to his left to keep the score knotted at 0-0.
UNCG immediately attacked after the save by Berry and registered the first goal of the evening. Tebatso Manyama delivered a cross from 25 yards out and after the ball took one bounce, Nirav Kadam one-timed it into the right corner of the goal to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
UNC Greensboro almost made it 2-0 heading into the locker room for halftime in the 41st minute. Jokull Elisabetarson blasted a free kick from 23 yards out that rang off the crossbar, keeping the lead at just 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
The Spartans thought they had a 2-0 lead again in the 52nd minute when Kadam found the right corner of the net, but was flagged for offsides.
Just three minutes later, though, the Spartans broke through the Blue Devil defense to make the score 2-0.
Tim Masters dribbled down the right flank and delivered a perfect ball to Manyama, who pushed the ball into the right corner of the goal just past Duke goalkeeper Brendan Fitzgerald for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
With the victory all but wrapped up in the waning minutes, Duke mounted a furious attack as they looked to get on the board. It looked as if the Blue Devils finally had scored when Pavelid Castaneda’s beat goalkeeper Nate Berry, but defender James Lofton cleared the ball off the goal line to preserve the shutout and extend UNCG’s late-season magic.
The shutout was the fourth of the season for Berry and the fifth for the team this season.