Duke’s sputtering offense, having scored just two goals in its last four games, faced a challenge in the staunch back line of Wake Forest Thursday night. But a newly energized attack put the fears of an offensive slump to rest.
In a matchup of two of the top defenses in the nation, No. 6 Duke (14-2-1, 6-1-1) pulled off a 2-0 upset of the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem. After 72 minutes of scoreless play, sophomore forward Laura Weinberg notched two goals in eight minutes to give No. 3 Wake Forest (11-2-3, 4-1-3) its first ACC loss of the season.
From the opening whistle, the Blue Devils controlled the game and sought to score early. With the Demon Deacons missing the ACC’s leading scorer, striker Katie Stengel, due to a left knee injury, Duke outshot its opponent eight to zero in the first half. After posting their two lowest shot totals of the season against Boston College and North Carolina, the Blue Devils had made it a priority to improve their offensive output against Wake Forest.
“The entire week, we worked on having an attacking mentality,” sophomore Natasha Anasi said. “I think our team fed into that.”
Attacking the Demon Deacons was certainly no easy task, though. Like Duke, Wake Forest had allowed only six goals for the entire season entering the match. The Demon Deacons’ 0.38 goals against average ranked sixth nationally, and their back line had let up just 46 shots on goal all year. Characterized by a compact formation, the Wake Forest defense provided a major challenge to the Blue Devils, who had scored just two goals in their last four games. Nevertheless, Duke came in with a strategy keyed to its conservative style.
“We knew if our wide forwards played wide, we could isolate and just have a lot of space,” Weinberg said.
Approaching the game with this mindset, the Blue Devils controlled the tempo for the entire first half. For multiple stretches, Duke maintained possession in its opponent’s final third, nearly eliminating all offensive opportunities for the Demon Deacons.
“They were playing kind of a low-pressure defense,” Anasi said, “So we really made sure that we were attacking and we took pressure to them and had them defend us rather than us having to do a lot of defending.”
Despite recording eight shots, the Blue Devils had yet to put any on goal, and both teams went into the half scoreless. Still, their dominance of play left them confident going into the break.
“The first half we were unbelievable,” head coach Robbie Church said. “[It was] probably the best half of the year, coming over here playing a top-five team on their home field. Unfortunately, after all that work, it was still 0-0 at half time.”
Although Wake Forest adjusted its lineup and began pressuring Duke’s back line more, the Blue Devils never slowed the aggressive play that Weinberg said was a paramount aspect of their gameplan.
Upon re-entering the game in the 68th minute after a three-minute rest, Weinberg’s play embodied this mentality as she launched a barrage of shots in the next 15 minutes. Just seconds after having her first shot of the game blocked, she received a pass at the top left corner of the 18-yard box from senior forward Chelsea Canepa. Weinberg then proceeded to pick apart the Demon Deacon back line, defender by defender. She cut back and forth past two backs, then bent a shot around two more defenders. The ball snuck just inside the far post, giving Duke a 1-0 lead in the 72nd minute.
Just eight minutes later, Weinberg notched another goal, her seventh of the season, off an assist from sophomore forward Mollie Pathman. From there, the steadfast Blue Devil defense maintained the two-goal lead and allowed Wake Forest just one shot on goal the rest of the game. With a re-energized offensive attack, Duke managed to secure a dominant victory.
“We were all but certain that we were not going to leave here [with] anything but a win,” Church said.
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