Searching for its tenth victory, a season-best under head coach Robbie Church, the Duke women's soccer team (10-4-1, 3-2 in the ACC) shutout Virginia (11-2-2, 3-1-1) Saturday evening at Koskinen Stadium, 1-0. The victory also marked the second time in the last six years that the Blue Devils captured three wins in the ACC.
From the beginning, Duke applied constant pressure to the Cavalier defense.
"The only way you can play a quality team, like Virginia, is to attack the whole game," Church said.
Then in the 34th minute, junior Casey McCluskey drove the ball down the right side of the field to sophomore Carmen Bognanno, who assisted Shelly Marshall with her second goal of the season.
"I just turned on the ball and shot. Once I looked up, I could tell the ball was headed for the right upper corner," Marshall said in regards to her 15-yard chip into the back of the net.
This would be all the scoring the Blue Devils would need, as they continually shut down Virginia's offensive attacks and held the Cavaliers to one shot in the first half.
Virginia's first shot came when Cavalier freshman Ariel Thompson picked up the ball in a dangerous position with only the keeper to beat. Charging at Thompson, senior goalie Thora Helgadottir slid and smothered the ball in the midst of Thompson's shot.
"There were not many opportunities, and unlike Virginia we took advantage of ours," Church said.
Duke brought even more intensity in the second half by winning four corner kicks and outshoting Virginia five to three.
"We played the best we've played all year, and did well to beat a very technical team like Virginia," McCluskey said.
This win marks the first time the Blue Devils have beaten the Cavaliers since 1997, and the second time this year they have knocked off a top-five team.
"That is big-time for our program," said Church, " If we continue to put zeros on the board on the other side, we will win a lot of games."
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