The Blue Devils needed a nearly flawless game if they wished to upset North Carolina at Koskinen Stadium Sunday.
But mistakes and a minimal offensive attack ended Duke's hope of picking up its second win in two years against the No. 2 Tar Heels (14-1, 6-0 in the ACC) in the Blue Devils' 3-0 loss.
"North Carolina is a very good team" head coach Robbie Church said. "If you make mistakes against them, they are going to punish you for that. And they did."
The Blue Devils will have little time to rebound from the loss as they travel to face another top-10 opponent, No. 9 Wake Forest (12-2-0, 4-1), 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Although the Blue Devil offense could not generate many scoring opportunities against North Carolina, the defense kept Duke (7-5-1, 3-2) in the game by limiting the Tar Heels to only one goal in the first 60 minutes of play.
North Carolina, however, ended a comeback bid by the Blue Devils midway through the second half when it caught Duke's defense off-guard and knotted two goals in less than a minute.
After the young Duke defensive backfield had held off the Tar Heels's front line for most of the game, UNC was able to penetrate deep into the Blue Devils' zone. Working the ball around the box, senior Elizabeth Guess found freshman Whitney Engen on the backside for the score in the 63rd minute.
On a similar play 44 seconds later, the Tar Heels struck again as another freshman, Tobin Heath, put North Carolina ahead, 3-0.
Junior goalkeeper Allison Lipsher said the Blue Devils got caught "ball-watching," and the Tar Heels took advantage of the defensive lapse.
A Blue Devil mistake in the first half led to UNC's first goal. Seven minutes into the game, the referee called a questionable foul, giving UNC a free kick that deflected off the Duke wall in front of the net and bounced into the high corner for the first goal.
Senior Darby Kroyer said the Blue Devils could not afford to give North Carolina opportunities like that early in the game, even if the players felt that the call was wrong.
Unforced errors throughout the game plagued the offense as well.
In the first half, the Blue Devils were unable to work the ball deep into the Tar Heel zone because of seven offside calls.
"We were caught offside too often, which was because we were a little eager," Kroyer said. "We did a lot of really good things, though, but we had problems with the final pass. We just need to learn to stay onsides."
Duke had two late scoring chances but was unable to capitalize as the Tar Heels cleared both balls off the goal line in the final 10 minutes.
Church said Sunday he planned to give his players some rest in order to reenergize and refocus themselves before their matchup against the Demon Deacons.
Last season, the Blue Devils won at home, 3-0, and carry an eight-game series winning streak into Winston Salem.
"Wake will be a totally different game [compared to UNC]," Kroyer said. "We have to be competitive. We need to focus, keep our heads up and move on."
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