On Halloween night, the Blue Devils didn't pull any tricks.
However, No. 10 Duke (12-5-1, 4-3 in the ACC) did treat its fans to a critical 1-0 victory over No. 19 Maryland (9-7-1, 2-5).
The only goal of the game came in the 9th minute of play.
Sophomore Carolyn Ford lofted a free kick from 35 yards out which was batted down by senior Gwendolyn Oxenham. The ball landed right in front of freshman Darby Kroyer, who sent a bouncing shot from 10 yards out into the lower left corner of the goal.
"I tried to kick a dangerous ball that the goalie has to make a decision on," Ford said.
After the goal, the Blue Devils continued to put pressure on Maryland. In fact, Duke controlled the ball for most of the first half and made short, accurate passes to create a plethora of scoring opportunities.
"I thought we moved and had a lot of penetrating runs and a lot of penetration off the dribble," head coach Robbie Church said. "The only thing we didn't do well in the first half was score two or three more goals. We really should have, but we didn't quite put [the ball] in the back of the net."
One of these chances came in the 30th minute. Midfielder Casey McCluskey sent a precise through ball to forward Carolyn Riggs. Riggs had the keeper one-on-one, but Terrapin goalie Kristen Barnhill made a solid diving save to keep the score at 1-0.
McCluskey was involved in another Duke scoring chance. The junior sent a very hard shot from right outside the box inches over the goal post with only a few minutes remaining in the first half.
The second half had a much different completion, as Maryland came out in a different formation, going from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3, according to Church. This led to increased time of possession and more scoring chances for the Terrapins.
"They got more aggressive to the ball," Church said. "Our spacing wasn't as good and our ball movement wasn't as good in the second half. We kind of caused some of our problems. We tried to force some things."
The best opportunity for a Maryland equalizer came in the opening minute of the second half. Terrapin forward Katie Ludwig had a wide-open breakaway halfway into the second half. However, her shot was weak, and Blue Devils goalie Thora Helgadottir made the save.
The victory marked the last home game for Duke's three seniors: Kelly Harris, Oxenham, and Helgadottir. Before the game, the seniors were honored and received flowers. Helgadottir, a native of Iceland, heard her country's national anthem played before the game. All the Duke players faced their four-year goalkeeper during the anthem.
"It was great," Helgadottir said about the tribute. "That was something else."
Even though the Halloween victory was huge for Duke, the team is not going to take things for granted.
"Were as confident as we need to be," Ford said. "I mean we are confident in ourselves, but were still going to come out hard for every single game."
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