CHAPEL HILL -- The women's soccer team suffered its second consecutive overtime defeat Friday night, as the No. 17 Blue Devils, despite jumping to an early 2-0 advantage, fell 4-3 to the 11th-ranked Washington Huskies. A clearly fatigued Blue Devil team then rebounded Sunday with a 2-0 win over Wofford, outshooting the Terriers (0-2-1) 26-2.
Senior midfielder Liz Vaughn's tenacious play earned her the Carolina Nike Classic's most valuable player award.
In the second, easier game for Duke, the Blue Devils would have liked to have finished more of their scoring attempts, but acknowledged that having less than 48 hours to recover from Friday's marathon made for a difficult day.
"Your body doesn't heal, it doesn't recover from a match like Friday's, both physically and mentally," said head coach Robbie Church.
In Game 1, Nichole Martinez put home the game-winner at 105:30, capitalizing off a mele in front of Duke goalkeeper Katie Strakaâ??something that resulted from Duke's inability to clear a Washington corner kick.
With a rotation laden with freshmen and sophomores, the typical conclusion would be to cite Duke's youth and inexperience as the primary reasons for the defeat. The Blue Devils, however, did not allow such an excuse.
"That's not an excuse," Church said, shaking his head. "We quit doing the things that got us the lead.... We have to work as hard as we can to play these top teams."
Sophomore Casey McCluskey, whose right-footed drive in the fourth minute opened the scoring, also turned the blame away from youth.
"I don't think it was inexperience," she said. "I just think we couldn't maintain the intensity we had at the beginning of the game and [Washington] took advantage of it."
Trailing 2-1 at the intermission, the Huskies (3-1) responded with two quick goals in a three-minute period, each the result of crisp passes through the Blue Devil defense that appeared to be caught off guard.
"Mistakes cost goals when you play top-15 teams," Church said. "That means we have to play without mistakes."
Finding themselves trailing after allowing three unanswered tallies, the Blue Devils didn't quit. Following a chaotic scrum in front of the Washington net, freshman Carolyn Ford corralled a loose ball, tying the game at three in the 81st minute.
"We really dominated," said McCluskey. "It's upsetting that they came back and won, but I think we put out a great effort and I think we'll learn from it."
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