Could it happen again?
When UNC-Charlotte forward Meredith Mayo tied last night's women's soccer contest with 11 minutes remaining, it seemed as though Duke would let another game slip through its fingers.
However, this time, Duke proved to be more resilient than its opposition.
Duke midfielder Kim Daws snapped the team's two-game losing streak, ending an intensely fought game in the 101st minute with a game-winning overtime goal to beat UNC-C at Koskinen Stadium. Daws scored off a free kick taken from just beyond the top of the 18-yard box, firing a ball that deflected off the wall of 49er players and into the upper-right hand corner of the net. Leaning the wrong way, Charlotte goalkeeper Andrea Kollmorgen could only watch helplessly as Daws' strike flew past her, ending the game in sudden death.
Upon seeing the ball find the back of the net the entire Blue Devil team immediately rushed the field to mob an ebullient Daws and celebrated the conclusion of an extremely physical game.
Duke's Gwendolyn Oxenham, who tenaciously attacked for almost the entire game, gave Daws her scoring opportunity after being dragged down from behind. Finding herself with a direct kick only 20 yards from the goal, Daws didn't hesitate to shoot.
"The keeper was over to the left," she said, "so I decided to bend it around [the wall] and it deflected off and went in."
Daws' powerful shot was even more impressive considering that she played the duration of the brutally contested match.
In the waning minutes of the second half, Daws nearly had to leave the game after being sandwiched between two UNC-Charlotte players, a play which surprisingly did not result in a 49er foul. Seeing Daws huddled on the ground and clearly in pain, a very concerned coach Bill Hempen received a yellow card for arguing the questionable no call.
Upon being reminded of the incident Daws, flashed a victorious smile.
"I had a lot of emotions going into [the shot]," she said. "It was a physical game, I just wanted to end it."
The game's physicality clearly raised both teams' level of emotion, especially in the second half. After observing the referees' reluctance to stop play, both teams relentlessly battled for every inch of Koskinen Stadium.
"We mentioned [the physicality of the game] at halftime," Hempen said. "We were going to have to match their intensity in order to beat them, and I think it was a very hard-fought game."
Although they were forced to play an extra period because of the resiliency of the UNC-Charlotte, the Blue Devils clearly dictated play throughout the entire match. While unable to score in the first half, the Blue Devils certainly didn't lack opportunities to do so. In the game's ninth minute, Oxenham couldn't convert on a breakaway as Kollmorgen made a terrific save.
One minute later defender Rebecca Smith almost reproduced her only goal of the season, a memorable strike against North Carolina, as her shot hit the cross bar off a corner kick. Daws also ripped a shot against the goalpost in the first half, but the Blue Devils couldn't finish despite a multitude of opportunities.
In the second half Duke substitute Alexis Highsmith finally ended the scoring drought with a rocket in the game's 52nd minute from 30 yards out that found the top-left corner of the net and gave Duke the lead.
However, evoking memories of Duke's last two games, in which the Blue Devils scored first but eventually surrendered goals late in the contests to the opposition, UNC-Charlotte struck back.
Capitalizing off a Blue Devil turnover at midfield, Jessica Mays played an excellent cross to Mayo, who beat Duke goalkeeper Thora Helgadottir.
Despite yielding the goal to Mayo, Helgadottir performed stellarly throughout the night, making seven saves, many of which came off point-blank drives.
Afterwards, Helgadottir said the team would take a lot of momentum from the victory.
"We lost a lot of confidence [after] losing three games-in all of them we were ahead--so this is a pretty big victory for us," she said. "I think we're slowly getting our confidence back."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.