The Blue Devils contained the Tar Heels’ most potent offensive threats for more than 90 minutes, but the nation’s top-ranked team snuck away with a win thanks to a pair of timely rebounds.
No. 1 North Carolina (8-0-1, 1-0 in the ACC) defeated Duke (4-4-2, 0-1) in its ACC opener 2-1 in overtime Thursday night at Fetzer Field behind two second-effort goals—one coming after a header deflected off the crossbar and the other resulting from a shot that the Blue Devil keeper could not corral.
Duke, however, found a way to turn back an aggressive Tar Heel offense again and again for 83 minutes of play, even though the team could barely get the ball across midfield for the majority of the second half.
The back four held North Carolina’s leading scorer Jessica McDonald without a shot on goal for the entire game and kept Casey Nogueira—the reigning National Player of the Year—off the scoreboard as well.
“We couldn’t ask anything else of our group,” head coach Robbie Church said. “Coming on their home field is a very difficult assignment, but we asked [the team] all week to make sure that we did one thing—to make sure that we all showed, we all wanted the ball. Nobody hid, nobody was in awe of them, nobody didn’t want to make plays and they all did it today.”
But the defending national champions’ offensive onslaught finally proved too much for the Blue Devils in the 84th minute. Ali Hawkins sent a high, curving cross off a corner kick and found midfielder Maria Lubrano open in the box. Lubrano headed the ball against the crossbar and then picked up her first career goal when the shot bounced right back to her foot and she buried the rebound.
Before the go-ahead goal, Duke’s defense had seemed unbreakable, clearing away ten Tar Heel corners in the second half. North Carolina went on a particulary threatening stretch that began in the 56th minute, launching five corner kicks and three shots over the next seven minutes of play.
Junior center back Gretchen Miller said the back line turned in its best performance of the season because it was mentally prepared to take the game to the Tar Heels.
“We talked about [the game] a lot before with our sports psychologist Greg Dale, and just saying, ‘We shouldn’t respect this team too much because they’re beatable, they tied Auburn last weekend,’” Miller said. “Each [corner kick] that we would get out, I think we got a little more confident and our marking got a little bit stronger and a little bit better.”
After North Carolina took the lead, a victory seemed out of reach for the Blue Devils, as the Tar Heels kept Duke boxed into its own side of the field by bringing their defenders all the way up to the half line.
Church said making seven substitutions in the first half enabled North Carolina to stay fresh after halftime and apply heavy pressure on the Blue Devils’ goal. Indeed, the Tar Heels tallied 13 shots in the second half and held onto the ball for long stretches, keeping Duke from launching an effective counterattack through the midfield, something Church said his team usually does when it is playing well.
But the Blue Devils did not throw in the towel and finally broke through the Tar Heels’ packed defense when senior midfielder Jane Alukonis played a diagonal ball to sophomore winger Cody Newman on the left side of the field. With just over a minute remaining in regulation, Newman got by two defenders and blasted a cross to the six-yard box that found the head of senior forward KayAnne Gummersall, who nudged the ball toward the inside post and past the goalkeeper for her team-leading sixth score of the season.
Duke looked to build on the equalizing goal as it entered its third straight overtime game, but the Tar Heels’ most experienced players stepped up when it mattered most. Nogueira sent a rocket straight at Campbell with three minutes left in the period. The goalie did her best to wrap up the shot, but she could not bring it in and let the ball glance off her chest. Alyssa Rich managed to get behind the Blue Devil defense and easily slotted the rebound into the right side of the netting, bringing Duke’s upset bid to a grinding halt.
Duke’s loss was perhaps most frustrating because the team seems to continue to fall short of its potential on the pitch.
“It’s just a shame,” Church said. “The only thing we’re not doing is getting results. We’re doing a lot of really good things on the field, and I’m a little baffled. Why aren’t we getting the results? But we still have to keep working at it.”
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