After getting back on track in the ACC with two consecutive shutout wins, the Blue Devils ran into a pothole when they faced conference bottom-dweller Virginia Thursday night.
The Cavaliers (7-5-3, 2-4-1 in the ACC) defeated Duke 1-0 at Koskinen Stadium, potentially derailing the Blue Devils’ late-season push for an NCAA tournament berth.
“In this league you must play 90 minutes, and we didn’t play the first half,” head coach Robbie Church said. “It was very disappointing. It starts with me. I have to prepare, and I don’t feel like I prepared them. I don’t feel like we executed things here.”
Virginia ran all over Duke (6-6-4, 2-3-2) in the first half, moving freely up the heart of the midfield and creating shots with relative ease. Fortunately for the Blue Devils, most of the shots were directed at freshman goalie Tara Campell. However, two of her six saves in the opening period were impressive dives that kept the Cavaliers off the scoreboard.
Senior forward KayAnne Gummersall said the team knew that Virginia planned to attack up the wings, and freshmen outside backs Erin Koballa and Maddy Haller were able to close down most of the sideline attacks. But it was what Duke failed to do on the offensive side of the ball that ultimately cost the Blue Devils the game.
“I don’t think we ever found our rhythm,” midfielder Jane Alukonis said. “I think the whole game we kind of just saw the ball going up and down the field, but we never really broke into our style of play.”
After scoring six goals in their last two games, the Blue Devils did not display the same attacking mindset against the Cavaliers. Through balls were often played too far ahead of their intended targets and any attempts to dribble by defenders were ineffective as well.
One of Duke’s best attempts on goal in the first half fittingly came as the result not of a legitimate offensive sequence on the part of the Blue Devils, but because of a careless mistake by the Virginia goalkeeper with ten minutes left before halftime. Chantel Jones was preparing to clear the ball off her line when senior Elisabeth Redmond charged her and caused a deflection that went wide left of the net.
With the exception of Redmond’s impressive hustle play, Duke looked lethargic at times throughout the game.
“I felt like they wanted the game more than us, and especially in the first half,” Church said. “They won every head ball, they won every second ball, they won every ball.... It shows their heart. They were more desperate than we were.”
The Cavaliers’ hard work finally paid off in the 40th minute when midfielder Sinead Farrelly sent a ball in front of the Duke goal from the right side of the box. Jess Rostedt proceeded to one-time the cross into the back of the net from five yards out.
The Blue Devils showed a little more life in the second half, creating an excellent scoring opportunity in the 43rd minute. Freshman midfielder Nicole Lipp sent a long ball to junior winger Marybeth Kreger on the right sideline. Kreger then sent a low cross to Redmond in front of Virginia’s goalie. Redmond could not get control of the ball, but she tipped it behind her to a wide-open Gummersall at the back post. But Gummersall squandered what looked like a sure goal by rocketing the ball over the crossbar.
Duke’s struggles to maintain possession for more than a few minutes finally took a toll on Church’s patience with 22 minutes remaining in the game, when he threw his jacket off to the side of the team’s bench in frustration.
“We battled ourselves back the last couple of weeks, put ourselves right back in the middle of everything, and this is a really, really big blow to us,” Church said.
The Blue Devils now find themselves in seventh place in the ACC, holding the second-to-last berth to the conference tournament by a single point in the standings.
Church, however, praised his team’s ability to bounce back from disappointing losses, and Duke will need to display this resilience in its last three conference games if it hopes to have a chance to make the NCAA tournament.
“We’ve been through a lot, and we’ve bounced back and bounced back,” Church said. “I just hope we still have something left in us.... I bet we do, I can guarantee it—we do and we will have something in us.”
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