The fifth-ranked field hockey team played without a goalie for more than 10 minutes this weekend and won. Twice.
In a pair of games against Radford and Davidson, head coach Beth Bozman replaced her goalie with a helmeted 11th field player, or “kickerback.” With Duke holding a secure second-half lead in both contests Bozman used the opportunity to practice a power play situation.
“If you’re down by a goal in the last couple minutes of a game and you need to win, that’s a good way to try,” Bozman said. “We’re just practicing, and Davidson was really upset with us for doing that, but you have to practice these things.”
Duke (9-2) blanked Radford (3-6) 10-0 Saturday and Davidson (3-7) 13-0 Sunday. The games were the fourth and fifth times Duke has outscored its opponents by more than 10 goals in 2004.
Scoring was not an obstacle for the Blue Devils this weekend as eight players notched at least one goal and nine dished out at least one assist. Senior Chrissie Murphy and sophomore Amy Stopford earned hat tricks Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“It’s always a good feeling to put some in,” said Murphy, who added two assists against Radford and a goal versus Davidson. “It wasn’t the most important game of our season but it always gives you confidence going into next weekend.”
Throughout Sunday’s contest against Davidson, corners provided productive scoring opportunities. During the first half, Duke scored three of its eight goals on corners. This weekend’s success on corners comes after converting just of 1-of-12 opportunities in a 2-1 loss to North Carolina last weekend.
During the first half, Murphy, Gracie Sorbello and Stopford all scored on corners. Less than 12 minutes into the game senior Johanna Bischof received a pass on a corner. She faked and sent the ball to Stopford, who quickly knocked the ball into the goal. The score was Duke’s second of the day and the first for Stopford, who recorded her first career hat trick. The corner efficiency was indicative of the Blue Devils’ play throughout the game.
Davidson’s best scoring chance of the day came when the Blue Devils were in the kickerback formation. The Wildcats’ Kelly Brennan challenged kickerback Traci Stewart on the left side of the cage. Junior defender Kirsten Bostrom aided Stewart in truncating Davidson’s offensive attempt.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god somebody stop her,’” said midfielder Stewart, who was playing kickerback for the first time. “I thought [Bozman] was kidding at first because I didn’t know what a kickerback was. It’s something you have to get used to, I guess.”
Junior Nicole Dudek opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the game Saturday. Hilary Linton sailed the ball past the Radford defense to Dudek, who shot it by Radford goalie Amy Dietz from the left side. The Blue Devils continued to attack for the remainder of the game, tallying six goals and 40 shots.
Bozman was happy with the team’s weekend performance against a pair of unranked teams. The Blue Devils will resume their play against elite competition Saturday when they travel to College Park to take on No. 2 Maryland.
“We’re on the right track,” Bozman said. “We’re definitely moving forward, we keep tweaking things every week and we think we’re in a good place.”
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