With the first half winding toward a close and Duke and Arkansas mired in a scoreless draw, Robbie Church had a decision to make. Opting to shake things up, he made a massive line change, pulling starters Toni Payne, Rebecca Quinn, Kelly Cobb and Imani Dorsey.
When that cluster re-entered the game together in the 57th minute, everything clicked for the Blue Devils.
Payne found Cobb for a pair of scores in the second half before adding a goal of her own as No. 22 Duke exploded after intermission to down the 18th-ranked Razorbacks 3-0 in its opening game of the Duke Nike Classic Friday night at Koskinen Stadium.
"We ended up going to the bench later in the match and I thought our bench did a fantastic job," Church said. "We came back with those players because they worked hard and I thought they deserved to start, to get the opportunity. You hope that group wears them down a little bit, works hard.... I was happy because the girls who didn't start who normally start, you have a choice. You can complain and mope and groan on the bench over there that 'I didn't come back to start' or you can go score three goals. Obviously I thought they responded very well for not being back on the field, because everybody wants to get back on the field."
Two of Duke's most potent weapons on the attacking front line, Payne and Cobb, have spurred the Blue Devils (3-2) to three straight wins after a pair of shutout losses to open the season. Payne, a sophomore with blistering speed and quickness, has scored a goal in each of the three Duke wins, matching her total from her entire freshman campaign.
Four minutes after being reinserted into the game, the starters gave the Blue Devils a major spark. Pushing on the counterattack, Dorsey rifled a shot that Razorback goalkeeper Cameron Carter came out of the net to block with her body. The ball eventually came to rest with Payne, who dribbled to her left and crossed the ball from left to right. A charging Cobb turned on the ball and sent it sailing over the reach of Carter, drilling the bottom of the crossbar before ricocheting into the goal.
Last season, the shot would've bounced off the top of the crossbar for Cobb. But, playing at full strength for the first time in several years, the senior appears to have rediscovered the finishing touch that landed her on All-American teams as a freshman. Cobb has tallied three goals in Duke's past two matches, and is finally seeing her aggressive runs come to fruition.
"She's kind of added that last piece of the puzzle. She's made good runs, put herself in scoring positions," Church said. "[The first goal] was important, because I thought we were getting a lot of the play but we weren't getting anything out of it. Those goals kind of energize you."
Starting four freshmen all over the pitch, Church's Blue Devils are talented but very young, and have needed time to grow familiar with one another. With the slow start behind them, the goals have begun to come in bunches for the Duke offense.
"Our connection with each other has gotten a lot better over the season," Payne said. "We're just in practice and working on our shot, working on playing together, on our run through the box."
On the other end of the pitch, Arkansas (3-1-1) earned nine corner kicks—eight of them in the second half—but could not solve the Duke defense. Sophomore Lizzy Raben and the rest of the Blue Devil back line kept close tabs on Razorback forward Ashleigh Ellenwood, the team's point leader. Although Ellenwood had five shots Friday night, none provided a dangerous test for Ali Kershner between the pipes for the Blue Devils.
16 minutes after their first connection, Payne and Cobb teamed up again to double Duke's lead on a near-identical play. As Payne sent a cross from left to right, Quinn darted in front of the ball, drawing Arkansas defenders with her and away from Cobb. The brief opening was all the Chugiak, Alaska, native needed, poking a shot to the right of Carter for a 2-0 Blue Devil advantage.
"[She's] been incredible," Cobb said of Payne's role in facilitating the offense. "On that goal that I had, she beat three players and set me up on a silver platter. That was basically her goal right there. She can both pass and finish, two skills you need as a forward."
Not content with a two-goal edge, Payne bent a shot around Carter from 20 yards out along the left sideline in the 90th minute, collecting her third goal in as many games and finishing the night with four points.
"Don't turn back, just go all out," Payne said of her mentality heading into a one-on-one battle with a defender. "If I lose it, that's fine, try to get it back, but just to go at them as much as possible."
The Blue Devils will now turn their attention to No. 7 Penn State, who they will meet Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The Nittany Lions fell 1-0 to No. 14 North Carolina in extra time in the opener of the Duke Nike Classic earlier Friday evening. The quick turnaround is concerning for Church, but he noted the importance of Sunday's match and the good preparation it will provide for the team's ultimate goals when postseason play rolls around.
"We want to win championships here," Church said. "We're playing for a championship in our tournament. It's not an ACC championship, not the NCAA championship, but it's the only championship in front of us. Sunday's a big day. You win a lot of championships on Sundays: you win ACC championships on Sundays, you win NCAA championships on Sundays. You have to be good on Sundays."
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