With freshman E.J. Proctor making her first career start in goal, Duke held the nation’s second-highest scoring offense off the board—and took a 1-0 lead into the half on its home field.
But the Blue Devils could not hold off ACC points leader Makenzy Doniak and No. 4 Virginia as they allowed three second-half goals and dropped their second straight game to a top-10 opponent Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium by a score of 3-1.
“When you’re playing these teams that are top-five in the country, when you make a mistake, they just capitalize on it, so we’re learning a lot as we go forward,” head coach Robbie Church said.
Coming off a 3-0 loss at home to rival and then-No. 6 North Carolina, Duke (7-8-1, 3-4-1 in the ACC) matched the Cavaliers’ aggressiveness from the opening whistle.
Through the first 20 minutes, each squad saw a few opportunities in its final third. The Blue Devils could not find the breakthrough ball in their attack, and on the other end, right back Morgan Reid neutralized two great Virginia opportunities in the 18-yard box by shielding the ball and drawing fouls on the Cavaliers each time.
Reid’s big plays by the six-yard box were mirrored throughout the field as Duke kept Virginia (15-1-0, 7-1-0) on its heels with high pressure and kept Doniak from even attempting a shot in the first half.
“In the first half, we did really well with focus and just overall defending all over the field,” forward Toni Payne said. “Our overall team defending was incredible.”
The defense paid off around the 20th minute when Blue Devil defender Christina Gibbons stole the ball from Cavalier defender Tina Iordanou and streaked down the right sideline.
Nearing the corner, the Duke sophomore launched a cross toward teammate Kelly Cobb at the near post but found Virginia defenders instead, who deflected the ball away from the goal. Picking up the short clearance in the box, Payne looked to make a move on goal with three Cavaliers to beat.
“Toni fought like hell to just get that ball from the three people around her,” Reid said. “That was just guts and aggression.”
The forward was quickly double-teamed but found a touch to sneak through the trap and fired the ball into the top right corner, putting the Blue Devils up 1-0.
Reid, Gibbons, Cobb and Payne combined for a few more opportunities up the right side but did not put another shot on goal in the first half. Duke came closest to adding to the lead off a corner in the 38th minute, when defender Kara Wilson won a header in the 18-yard box and the ball deflected off a Virginia defender and then the crossbar.
Moments later, however, the Blue Devils' momentum dissipated as Gibbons went down with an injury and had to come off the field.
With about three minutes until the break, Cavalier midfielder Alexis Shaffer broke free in the 18-yard box for a one-on-one with Proctor at close range, but the rookie goalkeeper preserved the shutout with a kick-save, and Duke survived four more attacks from Virginia to close the half.
“It was a crazy kick-save,” Reid said. “Being very agile back there definitely saves us some goals, and it was very impressive. That last minute or two they probably had three or four opportunities that could have all been goals.”
After barely escaping the first half with a 1-0 lead, the Blue Devils found themselves in a position similar to the teams' regular-season meeting last year, when Duke raced out to a 2-0 lead at home against the Cavaliers before falling 3-2.
Gibbons rejoined her teammates for the start of the second period and helped her squad earn a corner kick in the first three minutes, but Virginia made the most of the counter that followed, getting out on the break down the left sideline.
Cavalier defender Kaili Torres played a ball to space for Doniak near the edge of the 18-yard box. Proctor charged to try to cut her off but was too late as the junior forward touched the ball outside and finished on an empty net.
“They’re the type of team that knows how to capitalize on a lot of mistakes,” Payne said. “Any sort of non-focus from any part of the field, they could just capitalize on.”
The injured Gibbons came off again immediately after the goal and did not return, and after the sudden equalizer, the Blue Devils struggled to find the same intensity they displayed in the first 45 minutes.
“Unfortunately, we gave up an early goal in the second half, and as young a team as we are, the momentum starts to shift,” Church said. “Our focus dropped a little bit. We just had a really, really hard time sustaining this level of play.”
Virginia, which had only trailed at the half twice this season, did not take advantage of the sudden swing immediately. For 10 minutes, neither team had great opportunities.
Then, on a corner kick, ACC assist leader Danielle Colaprico played a ball to the far post, and Iordanou got her revenge, netting the go-ahead goal in the 58th minute.
With their confidence restored, the Cavaliers took control of the game.
“They were a lot more composed in that second half,” Reid said. “They moved the ball from side to side a lot better and when they calmed down and started connecting passes like they did, it was a lot harder for us to adjust, and we had to drop our outside [midfielders] back, and that takes away from our offense.”
Sitting on the lead, Virginia held Duke off until the last 10 minutes, when the Blue Devils mounted a few final challenges.
As the Cavaliers sought to bury the ball in the corner to run down the final minutes, Duke’s double- and triple-teams freed up space in the middle of the pitch and, rotating the ball through Colaprico, Virginia set up forward Morgan Reuther for a chip-shot to ice the game and leave the Blue Devils under .500 with two regular-season contests to go.
“[North] Carolina didn’t get a lot of looks [Sunday], Virginia didn’t get a lot of looks—two really good teams—but the looks that they got they end up finishing which is a really good sign of a great team," Church said. "We’re learning from this, but we’ve got to learn a little bit more."
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