Heather Morris game-winner lifts Duke field hockey to seventh top-20 win of season against Boston University

<p>Heather Morris scored with less than 90 seconds left in regulation to score her team-leading 11th goal of the season.&nbsp;</p>

Heather Morris scored with less than 90 seconds left in regulation to score her team-leading 11th goal of the season. 

Although scoring came easily for Duke in a 6-2 romp of a top-15 opponent Friday, the Blue Devils found themselves in a very different game less than 48 hours later.

But after a harrowing 70 minutes of near misses and close calls, Duke managed to avoid an upset bid by Boston University and pick up its 10th win of the season.

Coming off of Friday’s rout of No. 15 Boston College, the No. 3 Blue Devils used a late Heather Morris goal with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation to eke out a hard-fought 2-1 win against the 13th-ranked Terriers at Jack Katz Stadium Sunday afternoon. Duke recorded a season-high 27 shots and 15 penalty corners, but struggled to find the back of the net and let Boston University hang around after the teams exchanged quick goals in the opening half.

Luckily for the Blue Devils, their senior captain delivered in the clutch to clinch a victory in regulation.

“I’m real proud of the tenacity of the team,” Duke head coach Pam Bustin said. “Every weekend is a battle and every weekend is a mental and physical challenge.”

The Terriers (7-4) opened the scoring in the 19th minute on a penalty corner when Taylor Blood and Ally Hammel set up forward Hester Van Der Laan at the top of the circle. The senior split the Duke defense then beat sophomore Blue Devil goalkeeper Sammi Steele—who finished the game with one save—to give Boston University early momentum.

But the advantage for Duke’s Patriot League opponent did not last long.

The Blue Devils (10-1) responded about a minute and a half later on a penalty corner of their own. Margaux Paolino took the corner and passed the ball to junior Alyssa Chillano, who immediately sent it back to the freshman near the corner of the goal. Paolino then sent the quick return pass into the upper corner of the goal off the stick of a Terrier defender to knot the score at one apiece.

Paolino’s goal was the first of her career, as the decorated freshman has been an assist specialist. The Villanova, Pa., native entered the weekend tied for second nationally with 1.0 assists per game  —no other Duke player has more than four—but showed her versatility Sunday.

After Paolino’s goal, the two teams settled into a defensive struggle, as neither team scored again for the rest of the half despite the Blue Devils’ eight shots and five corners in the period. Duke’s struggle to score continued into the second half, with Boston University goalkeeper Cammy Jensen finishing with nine saves. 

“It’s hard when a team packs the circle to get clean shots off. It was really scrappy,” Morris said. “You just got to keep grinding it out.”

Each side had several close calls as they sought a go-ahead tally. 

Toward the end of the first half, Terrier sophomore Kara Enoch had a breakaway, but Steele charged out of the circle and slid to disrupt the opportunity. In a three-minute stretch early in the second half, the Blue Devils had a series of three corners and were unable to find the go-ahead goal on any of them.

“There are moments when you can get frustrated or you can panic a little bit, but we just continued to put the pressure on,” Bustin said. “We were able to continue to put the pressure on and earn some corners, a lot of corners, and finally execute on two of them for the win.”

With the offense struggling, Duke’s defense stood tall, limiting Boston University to seven shots and two shots on goal. The Blue Devils dominated possession for much of the afternoon, but even when the Terriers controlled the ball, the Duke defense avoided the lapses that allowed then-No. 5 North Carolina to score three second-half goals Sept. 25.

The Blue Devils’ patience was rewarded in the 69th minute. 

After a shot fake, senior Robin Blazing passed to Morris near the left side of the goal, and the Pottstown, Pa., native buried her seventh shot of the game for her team-leading 11th goal of the season.

“We called a two slip left, which is the corner I’ve been practicing, and Robin gave me a great slip, and I just aimed for the goal and tried to shoot it as hard as I could,” Morris said. 

Now with seven top-20 wins this season, Morris and company will prepare for another challenging weekend. Duke will travel north to take on No. 4 Syracuse in its second top-five matchup in two weeks before facing No. 11 Princeton Sunday. 

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