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BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech (2-2-1) men’s soccer team dropped a 3-1 decision to the Duke Blue Devils (3-2-0) to open Atlantic Coast Conference play. Freshman Tobias Hottner registered his first goal as a Hokie in the contest.

“We didn’t perform tonight,” said head coach Oliver Weiss. “We were indecisive and we weren’t tenacious. This was a winnable match for us and there seems to be a lot of little pieces we need to put together, for this team to come together.”

The Blue Devils jumped ahead to an early 1-0 lead in the 12^th minute of play. Duke freshman Kyle Bethel scored his third goal of the season off a cross from fellow freshman Temi Molinar foot, to take the lead. Tech’s best opportunity in the first half came when freshman Luiz Yamashita dribbled through multiple Duke defenders, in the 42^nd minute, and took a shot past Duke senior goalkeeper Brendan Fitzgerald towards his right. The play was stopped prior to the goal with the referee calling a hand ball foul on Yamashita.

At the half Duke held a 7-1 advantage in shots and took five corners to the Hokies one.

In the second half the Hokies registered the equalizer in the 52^nd minute. Graduate student Demanya Dogbey crossed a ball to the left side of the pitch to a crowd of players. Hottner gathered the ball and pushed it past Fitzgerald to tie the score 1-1.

Duke regained its lead when senior Mike Grella scored his fourth goal of the season. Grella received a ball from Bethel, he then ripped a shot to the left corner to beat Hokie junior goalkeeper Brendan Dunn, giving Duke the lead 2-1. Bethel struck again, this time in the 87^th minute of play, beating junior goalkeeper Stefan Caulfield and put the game out of reach 3-1.

In the net for Tech, Dunn closed out the match with seven saves; while Caulfield posted one save in the match.

The Blue Devils ended the game winning the shots battle 19-6 and were awarded more corners 7-4.

Next up the Hokies will travel to Queens, N.Y. to take on No. 11 St. John’s in a non-conference match on Sunday September 14. The start time of the match is slated for 7:00 p.m.

For updates on Virginia Tech men's soccer, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_MSoccer).