Duke came up empty-handed looking for revenge against the team that knocked it out of the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
The Blue Devils came into their match against the No. 2 Hokies averaging more than 20 shot attempts per game but were only able to manage 11 shots Sunday night at Thompson Field in Blacksburg, Va. None found the netting for Duke en route to a 2-0 loss against Virginia Tech. Senior Kelly Cobb and sophomore Rebecca Quinn added two shots apiece and fellow sophomore Christina Gibbons led the team in shots with three.
Duke (6-5-0, 2-1-0 in the ACC) had to play from behind early as they surrendered a penalty kick just 50 seconds into the game after a collision between Duke goalkeeper Ali Kershner and Virginia Tech midfielder Katie Yensen. The midfielder then stepped up to the dot to take the shot and sent it home to give the Hokies a quick lead.
“There was a collision with Ali and their player and the ball popped loose and they both went after it,” head coach Robbie Church said. “We just played from behind from the first minute of the game and that’s a tough way to play that early in the match.”
Virginia Tech (11-1-0, 2-1-0) controlled the rest of the first half as they outshot the Blue Devils seven to three in the opening stanza. Although Duke tried to match the pace that the Hokies were creating, it couldn’t get its timing right, getting called offside seven times in the first half. Two of those offside calls resulted in disallowed goals for Duke.
The Blue Devils did their best to make a comeback in the second half and took control of the scoring chances outshooting the Hokies 8-3 in the second stanza. Unfortunately for Duke, despite leading the shot count, it was Virginia Tech that was able to put one away. Sophomore forward and ACC co-leader in goals scored Murielle Tiernan gave the Hokies a 2-0 lead with about five minutes left to play, sealing the victory for the home squad.
The loss also marked the first time this season that the Blue Devils didn’t pick up a win in a true road contest. Prior to Sunday night, Duke was 3-0 when playing on its opponent’s home turf, including two straight wins on this three-game road trip. Of their seven remaining conference games, two are on the road against Clemson and Florida State.
“It was a hard trip,” Church said. “We had to go to Winston-Salem and spend the night because we couldn’t get up to Blacksburg because of the football weekend. There were no rooms available. So it was a hard trip, but the kids, I thought they responded and played well.”
The Hokies used a physical style of play to mitigate the Blue Devils offensive chances, committing 15 fouls to Duke’s nine during the course of the match. This physicality was apparent throughout the contest as Virginia Tech defenders kept in front of the speedy Duke attackers and bumped off the ball, not allowing the ball movement that had been so effective for the Blue Devils throughout the season.
Duke’s next match isn’t until Saturday when the Blue Devils play host to Louisville in their first ACC home game. Despite the setback on Sunday, Church is confident that this team will find itself before season’s end.
“We’re just a little ways off,” Church said. “We just have to get better. Bottom line, we have to get better and better and keep our heads up. It’s hard. We have a lot of really big games left. We’ve just got to get back to work Wednesday.”
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