The women's soccer team did it again.
Despite a host of injuries, No. 7 Duke (12-2, 4-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) managed to defeat No. 16 Maryland (7-5-2, 3-2) on the rain-slicked field of Duke Soccer Stadium Friday night.
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 3-0 lead and, despite a second-half Terrapin surge, held on for the 3-2 victory. For Duke, the victory was its seventh straight, keeping it in a first-place conference tie with No. 1 North Carolina.
The Blue Devils came into the match a weakened team, playing without their two leading scorers-sophomores Emily Feeney and Sherrill Kester-along with freshman Stefanie Kraay who could not play due to injury.
"I think it says a lot about the players who have come in to start that usually do not," sophomore Kim Cahill said. "It's also given us so much experience so when everyone comes back we'll be better than ever. It's made our team more of a workhorse. We may not have the superstars that other teams have, but we work hard together and the best teams on paper don't always win."
Duke got on the board quickly when senior Samantha Baggett scored on a Snow Brenner pass less than five minutes into the match. Despite the quick start, scoring came to a standstill, as the score remained 1-0 at the half.
Seven minutes into the second half, however, the Blue Devils scored again. Senior Andi Melde dribbled down the left side of the field skillfully avoiding Maryland defenders and centered the ball to junior Kristy Whelchel. Whelchel sent the ball into the back of the net, scoring her fourth goal of the year.
Nine minutes later, Cahill took another Melde pass and burst past several Terrapin defenders, setting herself up with a one-on-one opportunity against the goalie. Cahill booted the ball into the net for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
Melde continued to step up her play for the Blue Devils. Friday night she notched two more assists, bringing her season total up to 12. In the last five games, Melde has come up big, scoring four goals and passing for seven assists.
The story of the game for Duke, however, was the strong play of its defense. For the first 65 minutes of the match, the defense stifled the Maryland offense.
"Lauren Cyran has played with several different casts of characters in front of her defensively," Duke coach Bill Hempen said, "and Snow has started one game, played sparingly and came in and did well... The team defense for 65 minutes was as good as its been all year."
In the final 25 minutes of the match, Maryland scored two goals and gave the Blue Devils some reason to be worried. Toward the end of the match, several Duke players were obviously fatigued and not as quick as they were in the first half. For much of this time, the ball was in the Duke half of the field.
With 25 minutes left to play, Maryland's Michelle Deville put the Terps on the board with a shot that eluded Duke goalie Isis Dallis. The defense stayed strong, surviving several close calls by the Maryland offense. With 1:20 left in the match, Terrapin goalie Alli Wolff came out of the box and netted a goal off a corner kick, bringing the Terps within one. The Blue Devils managed to close out the game with solid ball control in the final 1:20.
Sunday's scheduled match versus No. 10 Nebraska (12-2) was canceled due to the poor field conditions caused by this weekend's rain. It will be played Monday at 1 p.m. at Duke Soccer Stadium. While it is Duke's third match of the week, it will only be the Cornhuskers first. The extra day off could prove advantageous for the Blue Devils, giving them additional time to rest up and heal their wounds.
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