The No. 2 Duke University Blue Devils wasted no time in leaving their mark on St. Louis on Saturday night.
The Devils tallied a goal in the first minute and continued their relentless pressure throughout the match to shut down the Billikens, 3-1.
Duke’s first goal came on a 15-yard volley from midfielder Chris Loftus. Loftus hammered his goal home off of a feed from defender Danny Miller.
The Blue Devil goal marked the first time that an opponent has netted a shot against a Saint Louis University goalkeeper in 2005.
The Billiken shut-out streak lasted 360:57 and was shared by goalkeepers Pat Disbennett, David Greathouse and Jeff Sackman.
Duke built on their lead in the 23rd minute when Loftus and forward Spencer Wadsworth took advantage of a 2-on-1 opportunity, beating Saint Louis University defender Calum Angus into the penalty area.
Sackman came 12 yards off of his line to make a diving save on the advancing Loftus, sending the rebound to his left.
Wadsworth followed on the play and tucked a shot inside the post to give Duke a 2-0 lead.
The Bills mounted their counter-attack early in the second half, breaking through the Blue Devil back line in the 58th minute when midfielder Danny Wynn netted his first goal of the season.
Wynn took possession on the ball in the middle third of the field on a through ball from forward Dado Hamzagic and carried it into the Duke penalty area. Wynn turned in toward the goal mouth and bent a shot into the Blue Devil net, deflecting off of a defender’s back.
SLU had another opportunity just over a minute later, when midfielder John DiRaimondo sent a ball through the Duke back line to Hamzagic.
Hamzagic beat the Blue Devil defense and sent the ball into the back of the net, but was ruled offside, and the goal was cancelled.
Duke took advantage of their reprieve and countered immediately from the restart.
The attack paid off, and the Blue Devils netted their third goal on an eight-yard shot from the right side.
The Bills had additional scoring chances but could not manage to hammer home any additional goals.
Two opportunities came after Billiken players were fouled, but neither Angus nor Wynn could finish on the restart.
Midfielder Alex Matteson was able to take the ball from a Duke defender inside the Blue Devil penalty area, but he sent his shot wide of the post.
Hamzagic had another chance in the 82nd minute but pushed his shot 20 yards wide of the left post.
“Duke is a good team,” coach Dan Donigan said. “Give them all of the credit. We gave them some opportunities, but when you give up a goal in 58 seconds, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.”
No. 26 SLU (1-1-0, 0-0-0 Atlantic 10) started the season with a win over the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos on Thursday before facing Duke. Hamzagic tallied his first two career goals and forward Kyle Patterson added his first to give SLU a 3-0 edge. Sackman played 90 minutes without having to make a save in the victory.
In a release from the Atlantic 10 conference, Hamzagic was named A-10 freshman of the week. He received the award for the week ending Sept. 4.
“I felt a lot of pressure on me,” Hamzagic said. “I knew if I scored my first goal, it [scoring] would keep coming.”
The Bills follow up their match with two more against ranked teams this week.
SLU will travel to the Notre Dame tournament in South Bend, Ind. to face No. 1 Indiana (2-0-0) on Friday and No. 20 Notre Dame (1-1-0) on Sunday.
SLU plays its next home match on Sept. 24 against Northern Illinois.
