DURHAM, N.C. – The Yale men's soccer team once again shined on the national stage.
Kahveh Zahiroleslam's goal at 68:33 earned the Bulldogs a 1-1 draw at No. 4 Duke on a gorgeous night at Koskinen Stadium.
Both teams entered unbeaten, and the game certainly lived up to the hype. There were a combined 21 shots with Yale holding a slight 11-10 advantage. The Bulldogs, though, may have had a greater edge in high-quality opportunities.
Duke (6-0-2) struck first late in the first half when Felix Barajas slid to deflect home a long cross from Ruben Mesalles.
Yale, wearing their new gray uniforms for the first time, applied heavy pressure early in the second half and was finally rewarded when Zahiroleslam took a terrific feed from
Sigfus Arnason and fired a shot inside the far post.
Only moments earlier, the Bulldogs had just missed tying the score, but Zahiroleslam's hard shot from in front banged off the crossbar.
There were some anxious moments for Yale in the final minutes. The Bulldogs were forced to play the final 20 minutes a man down after a red card was issued. Goalkeeper
Elian Haddock, though, rose to the challenge. He made two saves in the final seconds to preserve the draw and finished the night with five stops.
"This was a fantastic performance from the group tonight against a very good Duke team," said
Kylie Stannard, the 5K Corral Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "It was probably our most complete 90 minutes we have had so far which is exciting. We knew not to panic after going down a goal as we had played well in the first half and created a couple more chances than Duke. In the second half, I thought we were clearly the better team and actually felt we could have scored a couple more before we found the equalizer. We had several strong spells and definitely had the momentum when there was an extremely disappointing call that put us down a man. However, the guys showed amazing grit and resiliency to still get a good result."
Yale (4-0-3) is still unbeaten after seven games. The Bulldogs have victories over West Virginia, ranked No. 10 in the nation at the time, and Villanova and a draw with Rutgers on their resume.
Yale is narrowly outside the top-25 national rankings in the United Soccer Coaches poll. The Bulldogs received 16 votes this week, the second most of the teams also receiving votes.
Yale opens Ivy League play on Saturday, hosting Penn at 7 p.m. at Reese Stadium.
