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Kayla McCoy's big night allows Duke women's soccer to hand Boston College first loss of 2016

<p>Sophomore Taylor Racioppi was inconsistent offensively in nonconference play but had a big game Saturday with one goal and one assist.</p>

Sophomore Taylor Racioppi was inconsistent offensively in nonconference play but had a big game Saturday with one goal and one assist.

Facing an undefeated opponent in their first game of ACC play, the Blue Devils wanted to make a statement at home Saturday. 

In a wild game filled with offense and controversial calls, they did just that.

Sophomore Kayla McCoy paced Duke by scoring two goals—including the game winner in the 77th minute—to propel the No. 9 Blue Devils past Boston College 3-2 Saturday night at Koskinen Stadium.

McCoy’s game-winner came after senior Rebecca Quinn glided past several Boston College defenders and slipped a pass into the box to Taylor Racioppi. The sophomore then laid it off to McCoy, who eluded a defender and sent a shot into the corner of the net for her fourth goal of the season.

“It felt really good,” McCoy said. “I’ve had trouble scoring so to score two goals in one game and just to help the team win is huge.”

The Blue Devils (6-2-1, 1-0 in the ACC) would have kicked themselves for dropping Friday’s contest after going a player up in the 11th minute of the game. Eagle goalkeeper Alexis Bryant was given a red card after Duke’s Morgan Reid lofted a pass over the Boston College defense. McCoy won the ball and was one-on-one with Bryant when the  sophomore netminder tripped McCoy in an attempt to grab the ball.

On the ensuing penalty kick, McCoy slotted home the shot past freshman goalkeeper Erin Seppi. Seppi guessed the right direction of the shot, but was unable to keep the shot out of the corner of the net.

“They had a tough break early in the match with the penalty kick and the direct red card.” Duke head coach Robbie Church said.

Despite the rough start on the road, the Eagles (8-1-1, 0-1) showed why they entered the day unbeaten.

In the 24th minute, forward Lauren Berman beat several defenders and dribbled across the penalty area, where Blue Devil junior Schuyler DeBree attempted a slide tackle. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, awarding Boston College its own penalty kick, which redshirt senior forward McKenzie Meehan calmly placed into the left side of the net past goalkeeper E.J. Proctor.

Despite playing with 10 players, the Eagles struck again just after halftime in the 49th minute. Senior Hayley Dowd intercepted an errant pass at midfield and ran through the defense to the top of the box, where she stopped and curled a beautiful shot into the right corner.

“They are an incredible finishing team,” Church said. “They didn’t get a lot of chances in the second half, but when they did they moved incredibly quickly.”

Church’s team struck quickly to even the game just seven minutes later.

Junior Imani Dorsey drove at the heart of the Eagles backline, drawing them out of position before laying a through ball to the feet of freshman Ella Stevens in the box, forcing the goalie to charge. From there, Stevens had a simple pass to Racioppi, who tapped the ball into a wide open net to tie the game at two.

The rest of the game was wide open, with Duke applying more pressure and taking advantage of its extra player. The Blue Devils outshot Boston College 17-8, and finally broke through again when McCoy notched the game-winner and Racioppi tallied her team-leading 11th point of the year.

McCoy injured her leg while scoring the winning goal, the one negative aspect of the sophomore’s memorable night.

“Kayla was phenomenal with two goals. She’s a warrior for us,” Church said. “If she’s lost to us for any amount of time, it’s a huge loss for us.”

Luckily for Church’s team, Quinn played the full 90 minutes Saturday after missing the Blue Devils’ previous two games due to injury.

Duke will now look toward another home contest against Louisville Thursday evening. After a strong offensive performance, the Blue Devils will look to continue their momentum and navigate a challenging ACC schedule.

“We got the three points tonight. We have a long way to go, we have a lot of things to work on and we will,” Church said.

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