With another couple of wins under its belt this weekend, the field hockey team (8-1) is off to its best start in over ten years.
"We're doing exactly what we planned to do," Duke head coach Beth Bozman said. "We're getting better with every game and moving forward. We had a little bump with [No. 1] Wake Forest, but we've been improving ever since."
Facing No. 13 Northeastern Saturday, the Blue Devils took an early lead when Katie Grant collected Kim Van Kirk's pass from the line and put a shot past Husky goalkeeper Diana Nelson. Van Kirk took advantage of a break from Northeastern's defense and knocked in another shot to put the Blue Devils up by two.
Grant, who leads the team in points, recorded another goal in the second half, giving Duke the 3-0 win. While Northeastern had the advantage in penalty corners, 10-5, Duke was still able to outshoot the Huskies 9-4. The Blue Devils did not allow the Huskies a single shot in the second half.
"The difference in the Northeastern game was that we were able to capitalize on our scoring opportunities," Bozman said. "We've been able to get into scoring opportunities, and now we can take advantage of them."
Yesterday, the team defeated the University of New Hampshire 4-2 in a game that the Blue Devils dominated early. Chrissie Murphy scored with 3:32 into the game to give Duke the early lead, which it would keep for the rest of the game. Outshooting and outcornering the Wildcats in the first half 15-3 and 9-2, respectively, the Blue Devils were up 1-0. Wildcat goalie Christine Buckley recorded 11 saves in her valiant effort.
"[Buckley] was outstanding, especially in the first half," Bozman said. "She played a great game."
Dominating UNH in the second half, Van Kirk and junior Gracie Sorbello--who along with Grant leads the team with eight goals--took advantage of two more scoring opportunities to extend Duke's lead to three. However, the Wildcats were able to do something the last couple of opponents could not: score.
UNH's Katie White took a corner pass from Jen Stamp and put it past Duke goalie Christy Morgan at 51:08. Sorbello answered for the Blue Devils five minutes later with another goal off a penalty corner at 56:23. Right after Sorbello's goal the Wildcats took a timeout and subsequently put another tally on the board at 58:09. Even with scoring chances at both sides in the last minutes of the game, the score remained unchanged. Duke outshot the Wildcats 24-7 and had 16 corners to their two goals in a game that clearly demonstrates why Duke is ranked fourth in the most recent NFHCA polls.
The momentum the team has gathered will hopefully carry it to their next game against No. 2 North Carolina Friday.
"The entire team played well overall," Bozman said. "We've been concentrating on playing together rather than on who's going to shine today. We played a very cohesive game today."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.