PRINCETON, N.J.—Top-20 competition is nothing new to the Blue Devils, and coming off its worst loss of the season, Duke dug deep to earn its eighth top-20 win of the year.
The No. 2 Blue Devils bounced back from a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of No. 4 Syracuse Friday with a 2-1 overtime victory against No. 12 Princeton Sunday afternoon at Bedford Field. Although Duke struggled offensively for the second straight game, the Blue Devils got two timely goals from junior defender Alyssa Chillano to knock off the Tigers on the road.
After graduate student Aisling Naughton was tripped while attempting a shot eight minutes into overtime, Chillano stepped up on the ensuing penalty stroke with a shot into the top left corner of the net to deliver a win even though Duke only generated nine shots in the game, only a little more than half of its season average. The winning tally was Chillano's 10th of the year.
“We’ve been really priding ourselves on an attacking defensive mindset, really being aggressive in our defensive lines, aggressive in taking space, aggressive in putting pressure on the ball,” Blue Devil head coach Pam Bustin said. “We haven’t been doing that consistently in the last few games and that was something we wanted to bring today. Overall, it was better today, but it can still improve.”
The Blue Devils (11-2) ranked eighth nationally in scoring entering the weekend with 3.7 goals per game, but for the second straight game struggled to generate scoring opportunities in the first half.
After Duke fell behind 4-0 in the first 27 minutes against the Orange, Princeton (7-5) controlled possession for much of the opening period Sunday, holding a 3-2 edge in shots entering the locker room.
But the Tigers were unable to convert on their chances early in the game, and it cost them when the Blue Devils took advantage of their only penalty corner of the first half by going ahead in the 32nd minute. Freshman star Margaux Paolino sent the ball into junior Ashley Kristen, who found Chillano for a long-distance shot that sailed past Princeton goalkeeper Grace Baylis.
Despite Duke's go-ahead score, the Tigers continued controlling play, earning the first two penalty corner opportunities of the second half. Lackluster penalty corner defense has hurt the Blue Devils in their two losses this year, and an unlucky bounce hurt Duke again Sunday.
In the 54th minute, Princeton's Sophia Tornetta sent the ball in play only to have a deflected shot come right back to her. The sophomore capitalized on the chance, beating Blue Devil goalkeeper Sammi Steele for her fifth goal of the year.
With the game tied, Duke's offense finally started clicking, generating four shots in the final 15 minutes of regulation. Chillano and senior forward Heather Morris, the Blue Devils' leading goal-scorer, pushed shots just to the left of the cage off two penalty corners. Although Duke was unable to come up with the game-winner in regulation, the flurry gave the Blue Devils momentum heading into the extra session.
“Today we wanted to try and put in a full 70 minutes," Bustin said. "Princeton played a great game today, and we did a great job maintaining our structure and our style of play even through some tough moments."
Duke continued attacking early in overtime, and after Steele recorded her only save of the day to stymie a Princeton penalty corner, the Blue Devils finally broke through for Chillano's game-winner.
The win prevented Duke's first losing streak of the year and will likely keep the Blue Devils near the top of the rankings and RPI, which have a major impact on NCAA tournament seeding. Duke will have more chances to notch top-20 wins in the coming weeks, with tilts against No. 17 Wake Forest and No. 13 Old Dominion before an Oct. 22 ACC showdown against No. 3 North Carolina.
The Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils when the teams met for a nonconference meeting, meaning Duke knows it has to pick up its offensive urgency like it did toward the end of Sunday's game moving forward.
"When we play an aggressive defensive game, it gives us the front foot to push forward on the attack, and if we don’t have that defensive game, then we are going to miss our numbers up and speed with the ball going forward,” Bustin said. “As soon as we get that back on track, our attack will pick up.”
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