CHAPEL HILL—Head coach Robbie Church said after Duke's 9-1 clinic against Wofford that the level of competition was going to go up very quickly Sunday against a Central Florida team that has made nine straight NCAA tournament appearances.
Someone should have told his team that.
The No. 3 Blue Devils picked up right where they left off against the Terriers, cruising to a 3-1 victory against the Knights Sunday afternoon at Fetzer Field. As it did in its first game of the UNC Nike Classic, Duke scored three goals in the game's first 15 minutes and got its starters plenty of rest. Even with several blown scoring chances in the second half, the Blue Devils had little trouble winning convincingly.
"We got to get to the point where we don’t worry what the score is, got to get to the point we just worry about the game and about the minutes," Church said. "We didn’t play as sharp as we could today, but some of that was Central Florida, some of that was coming on Friday and Sunday. They’re not easy to play, it’s not easy to play on a day as hot as this, but we gutted it out and the scoreline could’ve been higher, but sometimes it doesn’t work out and we fought through it."
The Blue Devils (2-0) wasted little time gaining the upper hand against a team that held No. 9 North Carolina to two goals in a 2-0 loss Friday. Less than 75 seconds into the contest, senior Toni Payne threaded a pass in between two Central Florida defenders to junior Imani Dorsey, who sent a shot from the right side of the box into the bottom left corner of the goal past goalkeeper Vera Varis.
Varis' day only got worse after that.
A little more than 10 minutes later, Duke junior Ashton Miller sent a free kick about 30 yards from goal toward the middle of the box. Freshman Ella Stevens—who made her first career start—then finished the play with a header over Varis' head into the back of the net. The goal was Stevens' second after a highlight-reel goal against Wofford Friday.
The Blue Devils' next tally came less than 90 seconds later when Dorsey and Payne hooked up again. But this time it was Dorsey finding Payne, who fired a shot from about 12 yards away on the left side of the box to the right side of the goal, giving Duke a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.
The speed of Dorsey and Payne gave the Knights (0-2) fits throughout the game, opening up the field for Duke to create numerous scoring chances. The Blue Devils' efficiency with their shots was also on display again as Payne's goal made Duke 12-of-15 on shot attempts this season.
“We’ve been working really hard on practice that every shot we take has to be on target and our goal is to just take it to them in the first few minutes and get a good lead and play out the rest of the game," Payne said.
With a huge lead and their strength on defense, Church wasted no time bringing in fresh legs, using eight subs in the final 20 minutes of the first period.
The Knights got on the board in the 31st minute when Saga Fredriksson found Cortney O'Connell on the left side of the box. O'Connell had a poor angle for the shot, but it went through Blue Devil goalkeeper E.J. Proctor's hands.
Central Florida had another chance to cut into Duke's deficit, but AAC Offensive Player of the Year Carol Rodrigues' shot hit the crossbar.
One of the Blue Devils' best chances to score in the second half came on a penalty kick after sophomore Kayla McCoy went down in the box. But after having essentially no chance to save Duke's first three goals, Varis was equal to the task, stopping senior defender Christina Gibbons' penalty kick to keep her team within two.
“We have a lot of great players in our attack and we work well off each other," Payne said. "We have a very deep bench and anyone that comes in is going to be dangerous.”
The Blue Devils had other golden opportunities to add to their lead when Payne and Dorsey got behind the defense, but an offsides call and another Varis save kept the final margin at two.
"We wanted that fourth goal, we wanted to break that game open, but we just couldn’t quite find it," Church said. "You give Central Florida credit, a lot of teams are going to come at us and good teams don’t quit. We’re not going to have big games like we had on Friday night and exhibitions."
Duke will return to action after four days off at Arkansas Friday evening and is expected to get senior Rebecca Quinn—fresh off a bronze medal in the Olympics for Canada—back with the team next weekend.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.