Sunday afternoon’s game against Florida State was the first time all year that a Blue Devil failed to score a goal.
And it took them 18 shots to do it.
Failing to convert once on a myriad of scoring chances, Duke lost 3-1 to the Seminoles. According to head coach Robbie Church, the Blue Devils showed promise in the game, but could never find that extra spark.
“We were spotty to say the least,” he said. “We were really good, but never got anything out of it.”
Florida State (9-2, 3-0 in the ACC) scored an own goal in the game’s fifth minute, giving the No. 16 Blue Devils (6-3-3, 0-2-1) an early lead. The No. 10 Seminoles responded in the 17th minute after Tori Huster hit Janice Cayman, who found Rachel Lim for the score. 20 minutes of game time later, Amanda DaCosta scored her third goal of the year from a pass by Breezy Hupp, giving her team a 2-1 advantage.
Although Florida State went into the locker room with the lead, Duke held an 8-7 shot advantage in the first half. Freshman Laura Weinberg attempted four, while fellow freshman Mollie Pathman had two.
In the second half, the Blue Devils tallied three quick shots, but saw all of them stopped by Kelsey Wys. The Seminoles capitalized on the offensive inefficiency from Duke, and Hupp scored in the game’s 69th minute to give Florida State an insurmountable lead, as well as the most goals scored on the Blue Devils all season.
Although the Seminoles did take the victory, they had an uncharacteristic amount of fouls, collecting 15 total over the course of the game.
Duke’s offense had several opportunities to score, supplying 18 shots, but was shut down by Florida State’s Kelsey Wys, who had 15 saves total. This was the first game of the season where no Blue Devil player scored, as the only score came off an own goal. The Seminoles’ stout defense slowed down any kind of momentum the Blue Devils could muster throughout the game.
“We really controlled the second half, but we were still down a goal,” Church said. “The same thing happened at Maryland. Right now we’re just lacking that knock-out punch.”
Although Church had a positive outlook about the past few games, he also realizes that the team needs to start winning games. He said there was a sense of “urgency” in the locker room, but also said things are not as bad as they appear.
“We’re really playing well as a group and are creating opportunities,” he said. “We could be 3-0 in the ACC with a few goals here and few saves there.”
The Blue Devils will return to ACC action Thursday at Miami.
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