The Blue Devils held North Carolina to just four goals, but they could not muster up enough of their own offense to pull off the upset.
Playing in slippery conditions, No. 7 Duke (8-5, 2-2 in the ACC) shut down the nation’s leading scorer, Tar Heel sophomore Abbey Friend, but dropped the contest to fifth-ranked North Carolina (11-1, 3-0) 4-2 at Fetzer Field Friday.
The Tar Heels came into the contest averaging 14.27 goals per game. After giving up a goal in the first minute, however, the Blue Devils held North Carolina to just one score in the first half.
“Our defense was a huge positive,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “Our Virginia loss [Mar. 24] was really motivating for us. I felt like it was an embarrassing loss…. We got beat all over the field, and that is not how we play. And I felt like that motivated us.”
With four 20-goal scorers to mark, the Blue Devil defenders faced a tough challenge. Despite poor playing conditions, they managed to stifle their opponents for much of the game.
In her first career start, Duke freshman Gabby Moise took on the assignment of guarding Friend—who has scored 37 goals this season—and held her to just one assist in the game.
For a freshman who has not played much this season, Moise did an awesome job defending against Friend, Kimel said.
Despite all of its success on the defensive end, Duke struggled to find a goal of its own.
The Blue Devils had just four shots in the first half—all coming off of free-position opportunities—and did not convert one until the 4:00 mark, when junior Makenzie Hommel tied the game.
“We prepared all week a certain way to play them and I thought that would have worked, but I think the footing clearly was a major issue for both teams tonight, and it was not going to allow us to stop,” Kimel said. “We had practiced all week with the way they play defense one-on-one to kind of stop and restart our dodge. And there was no way we were going to be able to do that.”
The two squads ended the half tied at one. And over six minutes into the second period, it seemed that Duke had notched a second goal to take its first lead.
Freshman Kerrin Maurer, the Blue Devils’ points leader, appeared to have scored on a crease roll. The goal, however, was disallowed following a stick check.
The bad luck continued for Duke on the other end, as goalie Mollie Mackler intercepted a pass from Friend but lost control of the ball, letting it trickle over the line for an own goal.
Down 2-1, the Blue Devils won the draw but failed to create any threatening opportunities.
“We tried to change things up—probably a little too late—to more of a feeding offense and we got some looks, like we got some free positions and that kind of thing, and we didn’t capitalize enough of them,” Kimel said. “When things didn’t go the way we planned all week for them to go, from an offensive standpoint, we had to switch gears, and I don’t think we did a great job adjusting to that.”
Duke’s offensive woes continued through the rest of the game. Although the Blue Devils outshot their opponents 6-3 in the second half, North Carolina scored on each of its shots, taking a 4-1 lead with 6:10 to go.
Duke got one back on redshirt senior Emma Hamm’s free-position tally at the 1:45 mark and drew a yellow card on Friend just seven seconds later, but a Blue Devil turnover following the restart sunk any chances of a comeback.
“We had opportunities to control the ball offensively,” Kimel said. “We just didn’t do a particularly good job of taking care of the ball in the first 15 minutes of the game and then, again, I just don’t think we executed as well as we could have.”
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