Again, Duke got its shots off against its opponent. And, again, it found difficulty converting the attempts into goals.
This time, though, the Blue Devils’ failure to convert cost them. In its first ACC match of the season, No. 14 Duke fell to Wake Forest 2-1 at Koskinen Stadium Thursday night.
Although Duke (6-2-2, 0-1-0 in the ACC) controlled much of the possession early in the game, it was the Demon Deacons (7-3-0, 1-0-0) who struck first, with forward Rachel Nuzzolese putting away a 20-yard free kick from just outside the box in the 25th minute. The kick was from an unusual position—right outside the box nearly adjacent to the goal line—and in their confusion, the Duke defenders failed to make a wall, leaving an easy line to the goal.
“We set up like a corner and it’s not a corner,” head coach Robbie Church said in frustration. “It’s a mistake. When you make a mistake in this league, it’s going to cost you a goal.”
The Demon Deacons had another free kick opportunity just outside the box with under a minute left in the first half after freshman defender Ashley Rape was called for a foul, but were unable to convert.
The Blue Devils came out with a renewed sense of purpose in the second half, which culminated in freshman Laura Weinberg’s breakaway goal in the 62nd minute. Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Kerr weaved a perfect through-ball between two Demon Deacon defenders, and Weinberg was able to put it past freshman Wake Forest goalie Aubrey Bledsoe into the bottom right corner of the net.
Weinberg now leads Duke with five goals on the season, while Kerr is tied with freshman forward Gilda Doria for the assists lead at three.
The Blue Devils were only able to remain even for a short while, however, as Nuzzolese put away her second free kick of the game in the 68th minute, this time from 23 yards away. The foul was on a controversial call that drew the ire of Duke fans, when freshman midfielder Natasha Anasi got her feet tangled with the Wake Forest forward.
“It’s not like I can get mad at my team for working hard and getting stuck in a tackle,” sophomore goalie Tara Campbell said of the penalties leading up to the free kicks. “[But] it’s frustrating that [Wake Forest was] able to convert two of them.”
The Blue Devils had plenty of opportunities throughout the rest of the second half—with 15 shots overall—but ultimately they were unable to convert when they needed to. The Demon Deacons on the other hand only had five shots, but were able to execute on two of them.
“You have to be able to throw out passes and finish chances because they’re not going to be plentiful,” Weinberg said.
Overall, the game was very physical, with 11 fouls on Wake Forest and eight on Duke. A player on both teams received a yellow card, with senior midfielder Bianca D’Agostino receiving one in the 66th minute for the Demon Deacons while Anasi received hers in the 71st minute.
With more ACC competition on the horizon, notably No. 8 Maryland on Sunday, the team knows what it needs to focus on.
“We did some really nice things, but we didn’t execute the final ball,” Church said. “And then we gave up two really soft goals, and you can’t do that in ACC play.”
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