This time, there was no letdown.
Earlier in the season, Duke (10-1, 2-0 in the ACC) had followed up its momentous victory over then-No. 1 Notre Dame with a disappointing loss at unranked Auburn. Coming off their second win this season over a top-five opponent, the No. 4 Blue Devils maintained the intensity that has characterized their five-game winning streak and blanked Miami 3-0 Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium.
The Blue Devils, looking to avoid complacency after their win over then-No. 3 Florida State, made it apparent that they did not want to allow the Hurricanes even a whiff of victory. Duke continued its hottest start in team history and notched its tenth win of the season to complete a 5-0 homestand.
From the first whistle, the Blue Devil strikers came out eager to score. Having outscored its past five opponents 17-3, Duke tallied five shots within the first fourteen minutes of play.
In the 19th minute, the forwards finally broke through as sophomore Mollie Pathman scored off a crisp give-and-go with freshman Kelly Cobb at the top of the box. The opening goal marked the fifth time this season that Pathman and Cobb have teamed up to score.
“They just play so well together, don’t they?” head coach Robbie Church said. “They’re a lot of fun to watch.... They’ve got another sense of each other.”
Cobb and Pathman have developed their great chemistry through previous experience as teammates. The duo have played together for years, and this past summer they suited up for the United States U-20 women’s national team.
“Coming into here, we work well together, and I think it is just a natural fit,” Cobb said. “She’ll beat her players and cross it into me, and I just like to return the favor and assist her too.”
Cobb took her own chance to score less than ninety seconds later, notching her team-leading eighth goal of the season. Off a precise feed from junior Nicole Lipp, sophomore Kaitlyn Kerr found Cobb at the top of the box. After beating her defender, Cobb coolly placed the ball just inside the right post, giving the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
Through aggressive play, Duke continued to create opportunities throughout the first half, outshooting Miami 11-0 at the break.
“We had it in warm-ups,” Church said. “We were really focused.... This was a tough game for us last year. We had lost a heartbreaker down in Miami. And so I think that was on the back of our minds.”
Memories of last year’s defeat also sparked staunch defensive play from the entire team, starting with the forwards. Throughout the game, both sophomore Laura Weinberg and Cobb broke up numerous Miami runs.
“That has been one of our focus points throughout the year...just defending as a whole, and that starts with the forwards,” Weinberg said. “Our mission is to stop their defenders from getting out. And we’ve been doing a real good job of that as a team, collective defending. So I think that has been a huge difference from last year.”
While pressure from the front led the defensive effort and created many chances to score, solid play from the back line gave Duke goalkeeper Tara Campbell a relatively easy sixth shutout of the season.
“Libby Jandl and Natasha [Anasi] were fantastic in the center backs,” Church said. “They worked off of each other. They covered when one stepped up…. I felt early in the match we did a fantastic job of pressing and giving them very little looks to serve balls.”
The Blue Devils, however, came out of the half lacking the intensity displayed earlier. For the first 35 minutes of the second half, Miami gained some control of possession and mounted several attacks.
Meanwhile, Duke’s play grew sloppy as the midfield gave up the ball often during the middle of the period.
“There’s a big chem test tomorrow that a lot of them have I think,” Church said. “Once we got a lead, I think that came on some of their minds a little bit, but that’s a part of being here at Duke.”
After putting in some reserves for a short stretch, Church brought his three starting forwards—Cobb, Weinberg and Pathman—back into the game in the 79th and 80th minutes. The three quickly heated up the stalled Blue Devil attack in an effort to put the game entirely out of reach.
With seven minutes remaining, Cobb led the strikers, creating opportunity after opportunity for Duke to score through her tireless defending and clever footwork. In the 86th minute, the Blue Devils finally found the net as Cobb assisted Weinberg down the middle of the box. Weinberg’s third shot in just three minutes produced her fourth goal of the season.
“They switched their formation to a more attacking formation,” Weinberg said. “So there was only three in the back, so naturally that gave the forwards more of a chance to attack. We had more space and I was able to get through.”
After a lackluster showing for the majority of the second half, the Blue Devils persevered and found a way to reassert the control that has defined their fast start to the season. Duke’s offensive burst in the final minutes epitomized the team’s refusal to give any opponent breathing room.
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