Behind a season-high 18 saves from Mollie Mackler, the Blue Devils limited a high-octane Hoya offense to just seven goals to extend their win streak to four games.
Although No. 15 Georgetown (2-2) had entered Saturday afternoon’s contest averaging over 14 goals per game, No. 4 Duke (7-2) and its defense stepped up to the challenge, winning 14-7 at Koskinen Stadium.
“Georgetown has a lot of different weapons, and they have a lot of different things they like to run, and I just thought our defense did a really great job today” Blue Devil head coach Kerstin Kimel said.
The Hoyas held nothing back on the offensive end, outshooting Duke 31 to 23 for the game and putting 25 of those shots on goal. Mackler, who ranked second in the ACC with seven saves per game entering the match, proved difficult to beat, though.
“[Mackler] did a really good job today of holding and making sure she saw the ball,” said Kimel.
The Hoyas also owned a large advantage in free-position shots, earning 15 in contrast to the Blue Devils’ four.
Nevertheless, Duke converted on three of those opportunities while keeping Georgetown from finding the back of the net on all but two shots. While Mackler made 10 saves on those free-position shots, the Hoyas struggled to get high-percentage opportunities due to the Blue Devils’ staunch defending.
“Our kids were aggressive off the mark,” Kimel said. “Georgetown wasn’t getting completely wide open looks off the free position…. By being aggressive both on and off the ball, we were able to disrupt their rhythm which was our game plan.”
Although Georgetown did keep up with the Blue Devils on the scoreboard through the first 23 minutes, Amanda Jones scored her sixth goal of the season with 6:58 left in the first period to break the 4-4 tie. Jones’ goal sparked a 3-0 run for Duke to end the half up 7-4, and that momentum carried over as the Blue Devils went on a 5-1 run to open the second half.
“Looking at that stretch, we had a great goal from Amanda [Jones],” Kimel said. “[Kim] Wenger had a great take to goal. Her challenge to cage was spot on and it was right after Amanda had scored, which was great…. Kerrin [Maurer] had a great goal. That’s an offense we have, and Georgetown really read it, and slid to her really well. She threw a nice fake and stuck the ball, so it was awesome.”
With a 12-5 lead and just over 11 minutes to play, Duke’s defense again held strong. Despite giving up a number of free-position shots due to three-second calls, the Blue Devils held the Hoyas to just two more goals.
“I thought [today] was one of the best defensive games we’ve had so far in terms of just being ready and sliding to body,” said Mackler. “We’ve really been focusing on being ready and today we executed better than we have been.”
Holding on to win 14-7, Duke capped off its third victory of the week after taking down No. 8 Princeton 12-9 last Saturday and escaping with a 9-8 victory over Stony Brook on Monday.
“I’m so happy with the outcome of today’s game,” Kimel said. “I told the girls that this is as close to a complete game as we’ve played all season long.”
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