After being shutout in the last three games of a travel-heavy end to the ACC season, the Blue Devils showed they were thrilled to be back home this weekend.
And the return to their winning ways couldn't have come at a better time.
Within the friendly confines of Koskinen Stadium, third-seeded Duke knocked off Radford 5-1 Friday night and advanced to the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 with a 1-0 win over William & Mary Sunday.
"We're confident on this field like most teams are when they play at home," head coach Robbie Church said. "And it's a great reward for what we did early in the year. It's well-deserved and I was very happy. The girls really stepped up their play."
The Blue Devils benefited greatly from knowing their home turf because of poor conditions Friday night. In a steady downpour, Duke (14-5-3) outshot the Highlanders (14-2-6) 33-4 on its way to a 5-1 victory, with five different players scoring goals and three others registering assists.
Conditions were much better Sunday, as the Blue Devils encountered a closer contest with the Tribe (15-7-1). Just more than seven minutes into the game, junior forward KayAnne Gummersall collected a pass from Marybeth Kreger with her back to the goal, turned on her defender and slid a low shot into the back of the net.
The goal was Gummersall's second of the weekend, as she also scored the second goal against Radford. Gummersall now leads the team with 13 goals for the season, and her tallies this weekend were both game-winners.
"She's a great target player," Church said. "She holds balls, she lays balls off to players and twice on Friday and Sunday, she was able to receive a ball and turn. It was great to see her turn, and then smack it and score off of it. It was something that we've talked about and something that she has to continue to do."
The lone goal was enough as a staunch defensive effort for the rest of the game held up the score. William & Mary showed some desperation in the final 15 minutes, gaining a huge momentum swing off some of Duke's ball-handling errors, but the Tribe could not find the back of the net. Senior goalkeeper Cassidy Powers came up with a crucial one-on-one save with 14 minutes to play, and senior defender Christie McDonald broke up a corner kick just two minutes later. The shutout was Powers' eighth of the season.
"I think the NCAA tournament just brings out a whole different animal in everyone," Gummersall said. "This is just a whole different season for us, and so every game, everyone just gives it their all, and going into every game, we know that it could be our last."
The Blue Devils should have no trouble maintaining that intensity for their next matchup against ACC foe Virginia (15-4-3) next weekend. The trip to Charlottesville, Va. will be the second for Duke in the past month. The Blue Devils fought the second-seeded Cavaliers to a 0-0 tie Oct. 30.
"They're a very good team," Church said. "Offensively, defensively, well-coached. We have to create some more opportunities against them this time that we didn't have last time. We have to go back and look at the tape and make a little bit of an adjustment in other areas. What's nice about it is you only have one game for the weekend-you don't have the two, so you can kind of rest and put all the energy into that one game."
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