With 10 minutes left in Sunday’s game, it looked like the Blue Devil seniors were about to advance to college field hockey’s final weekend for the third time.
In a season that saw Duke earn its best start in program history, first No. 1 ranking and first No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, that outcome felt like this team’s destiny.
But that promise came to a crashing halt.
Duke fell to Delaware 3-2 in overtime Sunday afternoon at Jack Katz Stadium—its first loss this year when leading by multiple goals. The Blue Devils had a two-goal lead late in the second half, but succumbed to a furious Blue Hen rally that sent the game into overtime. In the extra session, Duke fell prey to a season-ending goal barely two minutes into the period.
It took an unbelievable solo effort to hand the Blue Devils their first home loss. Delaware sophomore midfielder Greta Nauck got the ball at midfield in overtime, turned one defender the wrong way then proceeded to split two other defenders with one move and bear down on the net unchallenged. She then calmly chipped the ball over the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Sammi Steele into the net for her nation-leading 31st goal of the season.
“They have some very, very talented players on their team,” Duke head coach Pam Bustin said. “In critical moments, those really talented players got the ball and capitalized on it.”
Up until the 60-minute mark of the game, Duke (16-4) was by far the dominant team, outshooting Delaware 11-2 in the first half and putting the Blue Hen defense under extreme pressure. That pressure finally produced results in the 50th minute. Off a penalty corner, junior defender Alyssa Chillano received the ball near the top of the box and lofted a shot over Delaware goalkeeper Emmeline Oltmans into the net for her team-leading 13th goal of the season.
The Blue Devils continued their momentum by adding another goal in the 59th minute off a beautifully-worked counterattack. Sophomore Rose Tynan got the ball at the edge of the circle and slid a centering pass to second-team All-ACC forward Aisling Naughton. The graduate student faked a shot, tricking Oltmans into a dive, then easily lifted the ball over her into the net to give Duke what seemed like an insurmountable lead.
The last 10 minutes of the game, however, were an entirely different contest, with Oltmans’ 11 saves on the afternoon setting up her team’s rally.
The Blue Hens (21-2) refused to keel over despite the 2-0 deficit and fought back to bring the game back within one in the 62nd minute off a penalty corner of their own. Nauck, also the nation’s leader in goals per game, fired the ball to the near post past a diving Steele to give Delaware hope of a comeback.
That hope was realized in the 68th minute when the Blue Hens, who dominated proceedings in pressing for an equalizer, scored a tying goal. It came off yet another penalty corner when Steele saved the initial shot, but the rebound fell perfectly to Delaware’s Kayla Devlin. The midfielder then slid a pass to freshman Ally Pollak, who tapped in her sixth goal of the year to complete the quick comeback and cement the Blue Devil collapse.
“At the end, Delaware put the pressure on,” Bustin said. “They bumped somebody up and were putting more pressure on us. We handled it pretty well, just got some unfortunate breaks that started building up.”
Duke will likely rue the fact that it could not build a bigger lead earlier in the game despite outshooting Delaware 23-13 and creating several high-percentage chances, including one in the first half when first-team All-ACC forward Heather Morris was one-on-one with Oltmans after stealing the ball from a defender. But the senior placed the ball just wide with her shot, finishing her illustrious career with a nine-game stretch without a goal.
The Blue Devils also had a goal disallowed midway through the second half for a foul committed just before the ball went in the net.
It looked like Duke would still prevail even with the missed opportunities. But Morris and the rest of the seniors that led the team to two Final Fours, including a championship game loss in 2013, saw their Blue Devil careers come to a sudden end. Duke was the team celebrating a road upset last year in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals, but this time around it was Delaware, which will carry its 17-game winning streak into the Final Four.
“They’re a great class,” Chillano said of the team’s seniors. “They made an impact on us and we’re hoping to bring their values that they gave to us, we’re going to bring them through for the next couple years that we’re all here. They’re a great group of girls.”
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