The Blue Devils took over three hours to play the full 90-minute game against Boston College last night, but it was the final 73 seconds that gave them the win.
Delayed by thunderstorms that caused two interruptions, Duke battled the Eagles for the majority of the game with two goose eggs on the scoreboard.
But with just over a minute left on the clock, Rebecca Moros sent a free kick across the field into the six-yard box, where a leaping KayAnne Gummersall headed it into the net to put the Blue Devils ahead, 1-0. Jerseys sticking to their skin, Duke players hugged on the field, and the bench exploded in celebration.
The Blue Devils were sopping, muddy and sweaty. But no one seemed to care.
As the final minute ticked off the clock, the Eagles could not send the game into overtime, and Duke (6-4-1, 2-1 in the ACC) downed No. 25 Boston College (7-3-0, 1-1) Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium.
"It was huge for us to get this win," head coach Robbie Church said. "We need wins in the conference, and we need wins to get to the NCAA tournament.... We had to get this."
Both teams came out strong in the first half, but despite their four shots apiece, neither team could find the net. As halftime approached, the wind picked up, and raindrops started falling. Lightning and thunder began at halftime, resulting in a nearly two-hour game delay.
After getting back on the field, Duke was able to get off nine shots-Boston College had five-before lightning caused another delay 31 minutes into the half. As the Blue Devils sat in the locker room for the second time that evening, their morale stayed high.
"We were still really enthusiastic, and we knew that it was going to come down to mental toughness at that point," Moros said. "That is the worst in the world to be all warmed up and fired up and ready to go and have to sit and come back out and sit again. So we knew it was just going to come down to who is mentally tougher and who wanted to gut it out and get the win."
The unusual situation was not a problem for Duke, which has had to face several of them this season. Church called the Blue Devils' recent road games "a travel disaster," and Duke has had several pairs of games with only one day of rest in between.
But unlike in several of its games this season-the Blue Devils have lost four of their past seven contests by just one goal-Duke was able to finish its scoring opportunities Thursday night. Although they did not score on their first 12 shots, the Blue Devils were able to connect on their last.
"It's definite frustrating when you keep getting chances and you're not scoring-and that's happened in a few of our past games," Gummersall said. "But every day in practice, Robbie [Church] has been instilling in our minds that our hard work is going to pay off sometime, and I definitely think that it did tonight. All you need is one, and we got it."
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