The Blue Devil defense proved impenetrable once again Thursday, extending its opponents’ scoreless streak to 470 minutes despite missing one of its key members.
No. 4 Duke (13-1-1, 4-0-1 in the ACC) defeated No. 7 Boston College (9-1-2, 4-1-0) in Chestnut Hill 1-0, handing the Eagles their first loss of the season behind a goal from Kaitlyn Kerr in the 68th minute.
Entering the week with the knowledge that sophomore Mollie Pathman would miss the game in order to train with the United States U-23 national team, the Blue Devils suffered an additional loss Tuesday when junior defender Erin Koballa was injured in practice and was unable to recover in time for the match. The absence of two valuable starters, however, did not stop Duke from earning its first-ever victory at Boston College, as their replacements stepped up to make up the difference.
“Alex Straton had to step in, and she had a phenomenal game,” Blue Devil goalkeeper Tara Campbell said.
Duke’s defending kept the Eagles’ attack, which arrived averaging 2.2 goals per game, at bay. Campbell made seven saves to hold Boston College scoreless, notching her single-season team record tenth shutout of the season, though she was not faced with too many threatening chances.
“My back line was unbelievable,” Campbell said. “When [the ball] came to me, I was just there to do my job.... [The defenders] did all the work tonight.”
The Eagles’ defense, which had given up just three goals all season before Thursday, was equally effective against the Duke attack in the first half. The Blue Devils only managed one shot on goal, taken by defender Natasha Anasi, and the two teams entered halftime tied at zero.
At the start of the second half, the Duke forwards began to challenge Boston College goalkeeper Jillian Mastroianni. The Blue Devils capitalized on one of their few chances when sophomore Gilda Doria found Kerr in the 18-yard box, who proceeded to put away her second consecutive game-winning goal.
“Honestly, Gilda was the playmaker in the entire situation,” Kerr said. “I was just there to do my job and finish it. But, we didn’t get that many shots off this game.... That’s going to happen in big games, and you just have to finish what you can get.”
Duke recorded its lowest shot count of the season—only attempting 11 on the night—but managed to take advantage of their best look of the game.
“In these types of games, somebody’s got to make a play, and that’s exactly what we did,” head coach Robbie Church said.
All that remained for the Blue Devils to do was to let their defense stifle the Boston College offense as it mounted attack after attack, earning corners and playing in crosses. By the waning minutes of the match, all but two Eagles had pushed forward in an attempt to score an equalizer.
“Especially to play on the road...they’re going to be pressing,” Church said. ‘They started changing their formation. They started playing more people forward.”
Boston College’s attempts to crack Duke’s defense, however, amounted to nothing. Although the Eagles attempted three shots on goal following Kerr’s go-ahead score, none of them presented too much of a challenge for Campbell. The Blue Devils once again showed their defensive prowess, holding a lead against a top-10 opponent.
“Our defense has been keeping us together this entire season,” Kerr said. “Libby [Jandl], Natasha [Anasi], Alex [Straton] came up absolutely amazing today, and Maddy [Haller was] solid as usual. [Boston College] had a really good front line and we were able to stop it. Just an incredible team effort.”
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