Duke loses overtime thriller to ODU Sunday

A team with just five upperclassmen on its 17-player roster always spends the beginning of its season learning, and the lesson this weekend proved bitter: controlling a game and winning that game are two entirely different things.  

After Saturday’s contest against Longwood (2-5) resulted in a 7-0 victory, Duke’s prospects for a successful weekend looked promising.  But the No. 15 Lady Monarchs gave the Blue Devils (4-3) a frustrating test they weren’t quite ready for.

In spite of outshooting their opponent 27-11 and possessing the ball for most of the game, the No. 10 Blue Devils managed only two goals and watched Old Dominion midfielder Katie Ueberroth score a game-winning hat trick Sunday at Williams Field.

“You dominate the game, outshoot your opponents [by] three times, have so many more corners and we just didn’t capitalize,” head coach Beth Bozman said.

The Lady Monarchs (3-5) came out firing, applied early offensive pressure and kept the ball in Duke’s half of the field.  Just over two minutes into the game, after a defensive giveaway by the Blue Devils, Old Dominion midfielder Kathleen Shea played a cross to Ueberroth, who put the ball in the net for the first of her three goals on the day.

 The visitors’ offensive control did not last long, however, and Duke soon began an offensive surge that lasted the rest of the day. Senior forward Amie Survilla, the team’s leading scorer, was frustrated on her first several shots after quality saves from Old Dominion goalie Kelly Driscoll, but with 11:22 on the clock in the first half, Survilla buried a shot in the far corner of the goal to pull Duke into a 1-1 tie.

After repelling a Lady Monarch penalty corner early in the second half, Duke went on a strong offensive counterattack of its own that led to four consecutive penalty corners on Old Dominion’s goal.  

Frustratingly, though, two shots by Survilla were deflected, and the Blue Devils came away from a fantastic scoring opportunity without points.  

Just a minute later, Old Dominion once again took advantage of a chance on Duke’s cage, as Ueberroth scored her second goal by cleaning up after a kick save by Duke goalie Samantha Nelson trickled in front.  

The Blue Devils were stymied by an inability to convert chances into goals, with the lone second-half score coming on a wide-open look from sophomore midfielder Megan Deakins.  That effort tied the game at two, but continued offensive pressure—the Blue Devils outshot their opponents 24-10 in regulation—did not break the tie.

“It doesn’t matter how many shots or how many corners you have,” Survilla said.  “We have to hold each other accountable to make sure these shots go in.”

Duke still appeared to carry all the momentum as the overtime period began, getting two penalty corners that resulted in good shots and good saves, including one that deflected off Lady Monarch goalie Driscoll’s facemask.

But Old Dominion also maintained its ability to capitalize on its few chances.  A Duke defensive giveaway behind midfield led to a breakaway that was initially thwarted by Duke defenders, but Ueberroth received the ball off a restart and lifted it over a diving Nelson to give Old Dominion the heartbreaking 3-2 overtime victory.

Bozman emphasized that her team cannot continue to miss so many of its shots.

“You’re not going to get 30 shot opportunities in games, especially in the ACC, and we need to start taking advantage of the few opportunites that we get,” she said. “We have to do a little bit of a gut check here.”

 With undefeated North Carolina looming Saturday, the young Blue Devils will have to prove themselves quick studies.

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