Elisabeth Redmond picked the perfect time to break out of her five-game scoreless streak.
The junior midfielder knocked in two goals Thursday night, leading No. 11 Duke to a 3-1 victory over No. 15 Wake Forest in Koskinen Stadium and helping the Blue Devils rebound from a 3-0 loss to North Carolina a week ago.
"We needed a real confidence boost," head coach Robbie Church said. "We've won a lot of games, obviously 10 games at this point, but what we needed was one against a nationally ranked team. It's a big-time win here for us, and I'm excited about it."
Duke (10-2-1, 2-1-1 in the ACC) took two days off from practice after the loss to the No. 2 Tar Heels and regained its focus, coming into the game against the Demon Deacons (8-4, 1-3) both physically and mentally prepared.
Even though neither team found its rhythm early, the Blue Devils slowly increased their offensive pressure. Senior midfielder Kelly Hathorn came off the bench and put Duke on the scoreboard with around seven minutes left in the first half when she beat the goalkeeper and sent a lofted shot around a Wake Forest defender to the top left corner of the net.
The second half, however, belonged to Redmond, as she put on an impressive display of her finishing skills. She buried a one-touch shot from the center of the box only eight minutes after halftime, taking the assist from senior defender Kelly McCann, who blew by several Demon Deacons on a 70-yard run up the sideline.
"Kelly's so fast," Redmond said. "She's an amazing player and I actually passed it to her right on our 18 [yard-line], and right when I saw her taking off I said, 'I'm going to run with her.' I told her the whole time, 'Kelly, I'm here if you need me,' and she found me at the end. It was an amazing play by her."
Duke took a commanding 3-0 lead when Redmond struck again with 25 minutes to go. After sophomore Marybeth Kreger was pushed in the box, Redmond blasted the ensuing penalty kick into the bottom right corner.
Redmond now has 10 goals on the season, already the seventh-best single-season tally in school history. She also ranks eighth on Duke's all-time points list with 65.
"Wake Forest is a great team, great program, always at war with us," Church said. "They created chances, we created some chances. There are not a lot of shots in the ACC games-we just finished better. We just finished our chances and I thought we were aggressive on the attack today for a longer period of time."
The Blue Devils' ability to capitalize on their offensive opportunities was the key to a much-needed victory, as they finished their six-game homestand with a 4-1-1 record and now embark on a three-game road trip.
With the win, the Blue Devils moved into a tie for fourth place in the ACC and only have two days before their next game against Maryland, a squad Church said is always difficult to face on the road. Yet Duke will be riding a new wave of confidence into College Park Sunday.
"We're really glad we got this win, and we're going to go at Maryland really hard," Redmond said. "I think we're back."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.