Duke's offensive woes continued Sunday afternoon, as the Blue Devils failed to find the back of the net against North Carolina.
The Tar Heels held Duke to just six shots, its lowest total of the season, shutting out the Blue Devils 3-0 at Koskinen Stadium.
"We created some opportunities, but unfortunately we didn't finish those opportunities," Duke head coach Robbie Church said. "We've got to be a little tougher. That's the thing I challenged them with at this time. We've got to have a mindset to play a full 90 minutes—not 45, not 50, but a full 90."
For the Blue Devils (7-7-1, 3-3-1 in the ACC), missed opportunities early spelled trouble against a disciplined North Carolina squad.
Duke's first scoring chance came in the ninth minute when freshman Ashton Miller sent a through ball to sophomore forward Toni Payne as part of a 3-on-3 break. Payne handled the pass inside the Tar Heels' 18-yard box and pushed past two North Carolina defenders but failed to capitalize with just the keeper left to beat.
"Those are important, when you get energy goals," Church said. "If we got a goal early, that would have provided energy for the whole team."
That missed opportunity would prove costly for the Blue Devils.
The No. 6 Tar Heels (10-2-1, 7-0-0) failed to capitalize on several scoring opportunities before finally breaking the scoreless tie in the 27th minute. A Duke foul set North Carolina up with a free kick just outside the 18-yard box. Junior Katie Bowen took the free kick and found the head of Emily Bruder for the game's first goal.
"Unfortunately, they didn't really have good looks in the first half and they scored on a set play," Church said. "That's discouraging because we work on set plays.... They ran it well, the service was good, the run was good, but we can't let that happen."
Payne would get another opportunity in the 31st minute, this time to tie the game, but again could not put the ball in the net with just the keeper to beat.
The Blue Devils could not find goal-scoring opportunities early in the second half to try and level the score, and Bruder continued to attack the Duke defense. The sophomore forward put three shots on goal in the first seven minutes of the second period, including one strike that required a diving one-handed save by Blue Devil keeper Ali Kershner to prevent Duke from falling into a 2-0 hole.
But Bruder would not be denied a fourth time, lifting a ball over Kershner from 15 yards out in the 57th minute to put the Tar Heels up by two goals.
North Carolina controlled the ball for the majority of the second half and tacked on another goal in the 75th minute to finish off the Blue Devils. Duke threatened just once in the second period, when senior Kelly Cobb beat the Tar Heel keeper but glanced her close-range shot off the post.
For the Blue Devils, the lack of offensive production was nothing new. Duke failed to score a goal for the sixth time this season. Four of those shutouts have come in the last five games.
"We had three really good opportunities. Unfortunately it's kind of been like that" Church said. "That's kind of the disappointing part is that we've created some opportunities against good teams at certain times, and you have to stick those."
For Duke, the loss to North Carolina poses a serious threat to its chances of making the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils will need at least a win and a draw in their last three games, which include match ups with No. 2 Florida State and No. 3 Virginia, if they hope to receive an NCAA tournament bid this year.
"I'm just worried about playing Virginia. We've got to be ready to play Virginia—we've got to play 90 minutes against Virginia," Church said. "We have to be mentally stronger playing Virginia, but [we] will. [We're] getting better."
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