Duke had no shortage of scoring opportunities against its first top-10 foe, but the Blue Devils needed a penalty to salvage the tie.
Senior Mollie Pathman calmly buried a penalty kick in the 76th minute to even the score in a game of close calls that No. 12 Duke tied against No. 9 West Virginia 1-1 Friday night at Koskinen Stadium.
“The kids want to score goals so bad right now,” Blue Devil head coach Robbie Church said. “They’re pressing a little bit. They feel like they’re snake-bit. We’re knocking them off posts, crossbars whatever. But they’re not dropping their heads. They’re attacking.”
Duke’s attack came out strong from the start. Maintaining the majority of possession, the Blue Devils (3-1-1) had several chances in the box but were stifled by several saving tackles from the Mountaineers (3-0-2).
In the 28th minute, Duke senior forward Laura Weinberg nearly scored, firing from just outside the 18-yard box only to be denied by a diving save from West Virginia goalkeeper Sara Keane.
Two minutes later, the Mountaineers broke the scoreless draw as forward Frances Silva scored her third goal of the season off a free-kick feed from defender Jess Crowder. The Blue Devils wasted no time regrouping though as Duke forward Kelly Cobb took the ball off the kickoff and fired from the top of the 18-yard box—hitting the crossbar in the upper left corner.
“We’re right on the edge,” Pathman said. “Our forwards just need to get the confidence. One goal goes in and then the rest will just come.”
The Blue Devils’ starting three forwards—Cobb, Weinberg, and redshirt senior Kim DeCesare—each got a break to close out the first period. Upon returning to the field though, they attacked relentlessly and created chance after chance to score.
Just minutes into the second half, Weinberg found DeCesare with a pass to the far-post, but DeCesare could not bring the ball back to the front of goal. Then, in the 60th minute, DeCesare found the back of the net, but had her goal disallowed due to an offsides call.
Weinberg forced Keane to make another leaping stop less than five minutes later, and Cobb had a rebound opportunity just behind the 6-yard box but skied it over the crossbar.
“We’re incredibly dangerous, and I think [the goals] will come,” Pathman said. “We were creating great opportunities, maybe better than we have all season.”
Pathman, a forward who played outside back against West Virginia due to several injuries to Duke’s back line last weekend, got her own opportunity in the 75th minute when Mountaineer defender Kadeisha Buchanan was called for a handball in her own 18-yard box.
The Durham native, who studied penalty kicks as part of an independent study focusing on performance under pressure last fall, put the ball just inside the crossbar to the center-right as the goalie dove left.
“I saw the goalie go a little early, so it gave me confidence to get it on my side,” Pathman said.
Duke continued racking up shots as DeCesare, Cobb, Weinberg and senior midfielder Kaitlyn Kerr combined for 18 shots by the end of regulation—eight more than West Virginia as a team.
Knotted at 1-1 after 90 minutes, Weinberg nearly put the Blue Devils ahead just 30 seconds into overtime as she fired from the left side of the 18-yard box and rattled the right post.
“You just have to blame that all on luck I guess,” she said. “Some will go in and some won’t, and it’s only a matter of time before it will bounce our way. So hopefully it’ll come soon.”
Duke closed the contest having outshot the Mountaineers 25-12 but could not break through to pull out the win.
“We played them off the field,” Church said. “We didn’t get the result with it, but we played them off the field. We’re playing good soccer.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.