Looking for its first conference victory of the season, the men’s soccer team battled No. 11 Duke Friday night at Dail Soccer Field, resulting in a scoreless tie.

The Pack entered the game as the ACC’s top scoring team with 24 goals, but scoring opportunities were few and far between as strong defensive efforts from both teams highlighted the game.

The team succeeded in limiting the number of touches by Duke’s Ryan Finley, the nation’s leading scorer with 10 goals on the season.

Although the Blue Devils finished the contest with a slight 10-9 lead in shots, only two shots were on goal compared to five shots on goal for the Wolfpack (5-5-1, 0-4-1 ACC).

Chris Zuerner and Tyler Lassiter, State’s top two scorers, were held in check all night by Duke’s swarming defense.

Midway through the first half, Zuerner and Craig Sutherland each put a shot on goal, but Duke goalkeeper James Belshaw made a pair of saves to keep the game all square at 0-0 as halftime was approaching.

Much like the first half, defense was the story of the second half as neither team could muster anything offensively. Duke’s best scoring opportunity was denied when Zuerner made a heads-up defensive play to clear a shot by Daniel Tweed-Kent in the 60th minute to keep the game scoreless.

State’s goalkeeper Will Mackvick had a rather uneventful night as the redshirt junior only had to make one save en route to his second shutout of the season.

The Pack will travel to South Carolina Thursday to take on the Gamecocks before heading to Wake Forest Saturday, still seeking its first conference win of the year.