It wasn't quite a hurricane in Miami Thursday, but it did cause some damage for Duke on multiple fronts.
No. 11 Duke battled Miami to a 0-0 tie Thursday in Cobb Stadium in a physical game played in a rainstorm.
The draw with Miami (8-6-3, 1-4-2 in the ACC) did not help Duke in its quest to move up in the ACC standings, but the most damaging event in the game came from an injury to leading scorer Elisabeth Redmond in the game's 30th minute. Redmond suffered a leg injury from a Hurricane foul in the midfield and did not return. Redmond, who leads Duke with 10 goals and 24 points, will be evaluated further Friday, but head coach Robbie Church said he was hopeful she would be back by next week.
"[Losing Redmond] made us shift positions and made people play positions they haven't had to play all year long," head coach Robbie Church said. "We played really hard and controlled most of the game, but we broke down in the final third. We really missed Elisabeth, our most dynamic scorer."
The Blue Devils (13-3-2, 3-2-2) dominated the Hurricanes in the first half of the game, outshooting the Hurricanes 8-6. After losing Redmond, though, Duke started to struggle and was outshot 6-3 in the second half.
The loss of Redmond, combined with playing conditions on an abnormally sized pitch, prevented Duke from lighting up the scoreboard.
"We were not able to overcome the wet weather and the rain all day," Church said. "The ball was hard to control. It was skipping. Miami's field is a very short and narrow field, and they were able to really use that to their advantage."
Duke did manage to outshoot Miami 6-2 in the overtime periods, but did not manage to score despite sending quality shots at Miami goalkeeper Vikki Alonzo, who finished with five saves. Duke goalkeeper Cassidy Powers notched her sixth shutout, tallying four saves in the process.
Injuries seem to be dominating Duke's season of late.
Freshman defender Ashley Rape did not play in the game after enduring an ACL injury in practice this week.
Losing her and Redmond had the Blue Devils struggling to find players to take their spots.
"We're kind of in a tough stretch," Church said. "Things have been fairly easy and we stayed away from injuries and scored a lot of goals, but right now, injuries are really starting to pile up and we got a lot of people playing hurt.
Like the aftermath of any storm, though, there are silver linings for the Blue Devils to examine before they take on Clemson on senior day Sunday at 2 p.m. and eventually round out their ACC slate.
Powers rebounded from surrendering five goals in Duke's 5-2 loss to Florida State Sunday, and Church still expects Redmond to return soon-just in time to provide Duke with the offense it sorely lacked.
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