According to coach Kerstin Kimel, playing Princeton in constant rain did not affect her Duke squad. But the Blue Devils were clearly phased by the Tigers' second-half offensive attack, which controlled possession and scored six goals in the last 30 minutes of the game.
Led by junior standout Liz Smith, No. 4 Princeton (3-1) dropped the No. 5 Blue Devils (3-2) 10-7 at Koskinen Stadium yesterday afternoon. Duke trailed just 4-3 at halftime, but the Blue Devils were unable to keep control of the ball after the break as they quickly fell into a 7-4 deficit.
"The difference had to be possession," Kimel said. "Princeton had the ball for a majority of the second half, and we had some turnovers at critical moments of the game. It's not like we had a ton, but we had some that we shouldn't have made."
The Blue Devils played strong defense for much of the game and traded goals during the first half. But they could not control possession, and the Tigers' ball control forced Duke back on its heels during the second period. A highlight-reel goal by a driving Lauren Gallagher cut the Tigers' lead to 7-5, but Duke never got closer.
After Gallagher's goal, Princeton won the jump and held the ball for over three minutes in its zone. Tigers junior Jess Nelson then all but put the game away with a late goal that extended the score to 8-5.
Princeton then dominated the time of possession, and when the Blue Devils finally did get the ball, they turned it back over before reaching midfield.
Princeton was led by Smith, who had a pair of goals and an assist, while the Blue Devils received two-goal performances from senior Kate Soulier and junior Kate Kaiser.
"We just made some mistakes," Soulier said. "Just shooting into triple-teams and being impatient.... It was pretty balanced, both teams played pretty hard."
Kimel was pleased with some individual performances, but pointed to a lack of patience on the offensive end. The Tigers had more success centering their passes, which led to easy goals down the stretch. On the other end, Duke struggled to feed the ball inside the crease, often firing at the goal under pressure after getting a lot of good looks in the first half.
"We took a lot of bad shots against a goalie who is pretty weak," Kimel said.
Duke's coach also pointed to momentum as a key to the game. Princeton controlled possession after the break and, as a result, attacked the goal with much more frequency. With Duke pushed back in its own zone, the Tigers were able to find seems in the middle for multiple scores.
"We got a little intimidated by their aggressive style of play," Kimel said. "I don't think we did enough to control the momentum and Princeton's game is all about having the momentum."
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