After two games last weekend, Duke only had only one full day of practice to prepare for a huge rivalry game against North Carolina.
“We did not have the kind of week practice- or preparation-wise that we would normally have with such a big game,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said.
In spite of the tough schedule, though, the No. 4 Blue Devils (13-2, 4-1 in the ACC) defeated their Tobacco Road rivals 11-10 in Koskinen Stadium Friday to clinch the No. 2 seed in next weekend’s ACC tournament. On Sunday, they unloaded on St. Mary’s (2-11) with a 23-2 outburst.
The second game of the weekend was a confidence builder before the conference tournament, as 14 different players scored and Duke won by its largest margin of victory since 2006.
Friday’s game nearly tripped them up, though. Kimel’s team got off to a slow start against the Tar Heels, as No. 6 North Carolina (10-4, 3-2) scored two early goals within a minute of each other.
The Blue Devils wasted little time answering, as junior Kat Thomas made an excellent spin move in the crease less than 25 seconds later to net the first of her two goals on the day. At the 20-minute mark, Duke took a 3-2 lead when Christie Kaestner passed from behind the goal to a cutting Emma Hamm, who redirected it past Tar Heel goalie Lauren Maksym.
Although North Carolina did its best to apply pressure to the stout Duke defense, the Blue Devils outlasted Tar Heel scoring flurries to extend their lead to 6-3 and then 9-6. Duke’s ninth goal was another great individual effort from Thomas that broke a sustained period of attack by North Carolina, giving Duke back a three-goal margin with 19:22 to play.
That lead was far from safe, though. The Blue Devils moved into a stall offense to protect their lead, something they haven’t had the opportunity to do much this season. It wasn’t long before their inexperience began to show.
“You have to spread out, you have to keep the ball moving, you have to be able to move the ball before a double team comes to you,” Kimel said. “Carolina did a good job of shutting off adjacent passes.”
On the ensuing possession, Duke won the draw but attempted a backward pass to the defense. The ball bounced before reaching its target, and got past the Blue Devil defender. Tar Heel attacker Kara Cannizzaro streaked out of the midfield to scoop up the loose ball, and made an open run on the Duke goal.
North Carolina came within one when Cannizzaro scored the third of her four goals off a pass from Corey Donohue, and a free-position shot two minutes later gave the Tar Heels a 9-9 tie.
With her team clearly on the defensive, Kimel called timeout to rally her troops.
“That was a clutch timeout,” junior Kim Wenger said. “Great call on her part. We needed that.”
Wenger answered the need for a goal, nailing a shot that put Duke back on top.
“I don’t usually do that dodge but I did it a few times in practice yesterday, and it worked for me today,” Wenger said.
Virginia Crotty gave the Blue Devils a two-goal cushion five minutes later, but just a minute after that, Cannizzaro buried a free-position shot to bring the Tar Heels back within one.
The game remained a stalemate for the next several minutes. Mollie Mackler made a critical save—one of eight on the day—on a free-position shot with 2:34 left, and with just over one minute remaining, the Tar Heel midfielders intercepted a pass in transition and made a nearly uncontested run on the Duke goal.
The Blue Devils recovered, though, and made a strong defensive stand to keep North Carolina off the scoreboard and secure the victory.
The keys for Duke were strong defensive face-guarding against North Carolina’s Corey Donohoe and strong performance on draws. Donohoe, whose 36 goals rank fourth in the ACC, was held to just one goal and one assist in the contest. The Blue Devils secured possession often by winning 15 of 22 draws.
“Maybe we didn’t always finish on our possessions, but we had the ball quite a bit, which was huge for our offense,” Kimel said. “I think you play this game ten times, there’s probably going to be ten one-goal outcomes one way or the other.”
Duke plays again in the ACC tournament this weekend.
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