The Duke women's soccer team was due for a rebuilding year. Apparently, the freshmen are thinking otherwise.
Freshman Casey McCluskey continued her torrid goal-scoring streak and classmate goalie Katie Straka recorded her second career win in as many tries as Duke put away Old Dominion 3-1 Friday night in Norfolk, Va.
"As a whole team, we have a lot more confidence," Straka said. "We're starting to find ourselves a little bit more. We're starting to come together. We had some bumps in the road. Right now, we're trying to pull it all together and find what we're good at."
McCluskey, however, continued to shine individually, notching her sixth goal in the last four games, including at least one goal in each of those matches. The forward from Fairfax, Va. scored first off a corner kick midway through the first half and added an insurance goal late in the match to secure the road victory.
"She's just been on fire," Straka said of McCluskey. "She knows where to find the back of the net, and a lot of other people are building off of that. Coming in as a freshman, you can't ask for anything more."
The Blue Devils took McCluskey's goal into halftime for a 1-0 lead, before ODU senior Jen Henley tied the game at one apiece 10 minutes into the second half. ODU then spent much of the match fighting off Duke, which held a 9-3 shot advantage in the second half, before Sarah Pickens finally found the back of the net with just under 10 minutes remaining, followed by McCluskey's goal one minute later. Converting opportunities has been an ongoing problem for the Blue Devils this season, but the recent surge in scoring shows that Duke may have turned the corner. McCluskey's scoring streak has come at the perfect time for the Blue Devils, who also have had to deal with a lot of injuries recently.
"We've been working on our corner kicks, and our finishing with the forwards and halfbacks since it's obviously been a big problem for us," McCluskey said. "We've just been concentrating on it lately.
"Because we've had so many injuries, a lot of different players have had to step up. I was just trying to compensate for the injuries we've had."
Straka filled in at goalkeeper for the Blue Devils, who were without the services of Thora Helgadottir for the second time this season. Helgadottir returned to her native Iceland for a national qualifying match versus Spain earlier in the week. But Straka led Duke with a solid effort, notching two saves and allowing just the one goal off a free kick.
"She did really well," McCluskey said of Straka. "She was really nervous going in. The one goal wasn't her fault at all; it was just something that happens. She's communicating back there and stepping up."
The win marked the second straight year in which senior forward Sarah Pickens scored the go-ahead goal versus the Lady Monarchs. Last season, Pickens also scored in the final 10 minutes of the game to provide the Blue Devils with the late-game heroics for which they were so renowned. The win Friday gave Duke a 4-3 record for the season and dropped ODU to 3-4-1.
The Blue Devils only have a few days off before returning to action in a crucial matchup Tuesday versus their archrivals and the top-ranked team in the nation, North Carolina. The Tar Heels are undefeated on the season, coming off a win versus UAB Sunday. Senior Kasey Truman, initially expected to return from her MCL injury in time for the UNC game, is looking at realistically returning in the next 10 days for the Blue Devils.
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