The Blue Devils got their revenge on Yale, but the satisfying win was overshadowed by the team's first loss of the season.
No. 12 Duke defeated the No. 23 Bulldogs 3-0 Friday, besting the team that knocked it out of the 2005 Women's College Cup. Sunday, however, No. 16 Connecticut handed the Blue Devils a 2-1 defeat in New Haven, Conn., taking a first-half lead and never relenting.
The Huskies (2-1-1) scored just over a minute into the game when Meghan Schnur found an opening in Duke's set defense on a free kick. Schnur received a ground pass from Karyn Riviere and quickly fired a one-touch shot past Duke goalkeeper Cassidy Powers, who was forced to charge the midfielder.
"We didn't mark up our players on the free kick," head coach Robbie Church said. "The keeper had to come out, and she beat the keeper, and she put it in."
Connecticut gained the deciding advantage in the 25th minute. Brittany Taylor trapped a soaring pass from the opposite side of the field and sent the ball into the back of the net from outside the 18-yard box.
The Blue Devils (3-1) answered less than six minutes later when junior Lauren Tippets scored off a header. But Duke, plagued by numerous offsides calls, was unable to fully carry out its attack, and neither team could find the goal for the remainder of the game.
"I'm very proud of our players-after the second goal, we battled back," Church said. "We controlled much of the play, but we did not execute very well. We did not have as much focus-you cannot give a good team a two-goal lead. We didn't perform as well as we're capable of performing."
The Blue Devils did not have any trouble with offensive execution Friday afternoon. After a scoreless first half, freshman KayAnne Gummersall scored in the 60th minute to put Duke ahead, 1-0. In the game's final 10 minutes, seniors Rebecca Moros and Darby Kroyer each netted a goal to seal the game.
Church said he was happy with the team's performance against the Bulldogs (0-2) but disappointed with the Blue Devils' inconsistency across the span of the weekend.
"We're a very good team and we are capable of playing at a very high level," Church said. "We need to play at that high level all the time."
Duke suffered a similar Sunday letdown last weekend when the team barely escaped Western Carolina, 1-0. The Blue Devils will embark on another Friday-Sunday road weekend in Alabama Sept. 8-10, and Church said the Blue Devils will work on becoming mentally tougher and improving consistency in practice this week.
"We've got to do it every day in practice and we've got to do it in every game," Church said. "We've got to understand that we are a good team every time we step on the field. We've had lapses, but we'll be back-we've got to make sure we play as well on Sundays as on Fridays."
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