Naughton, Chillano lead Duke field hockey to Sunday rout of Old Dominion, 10th top-20 win

<p>Senior Robin Blazing scored the game-winning goal Friday in the 68th minute at Wake Forest.&nbsp;</p>

Senior Robin Blazing scored the game-winning goal Friday in the 68th minute at Wake Forest. 

With a rematch against No. 3 North Carolina looming next week, Duke had to take care of business before focusing on its ACC rival.

And after notching their ninth and 10th top-20 wins of the season, now the Blue Devils can do just that.

No. 4 Duke came back to beat No. 17 Wake Forest 2-1 in ACC play Friday evening before dominating in a 5-1 win against No. 19 Old Dominion Sunday. Senior Robin Blazing completed the Blue Devils’ comeback against the Demon Deacons with the game-winner in the 68th minute, before graduate student Aisling Naughton fueled Duke’s rout Sunday with two scores.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Sammi Steele and the Blue Devil back line were consistent throughout the entire weekend, yielding only two goals despite facing 15 combined penalty corner opportunities in the two games.

“In the beginning, we really came out and played our game, kept the ball moving and created opportunities that we’ve been focusing on building,” Duke head coach Pam Bustin told GoDuke.com after Sunday’s win. “I’m really happy with the execution today but also the buildup and sustaining that throughout the game.”

The Blue Devils (13-2, 4-1 in the ACC) weathered an intense challenge from Wake Forest (6-6, 0-5) after falling behind 1-0 in the first half, though they controlled possession with a 9-3 advantage in shots. But none of Duke’s attempts found the back of the net, and Demon Deacon sophomore Emily Adamson opened the scoring in the 34th minute, firing a rebound off her own shot past Steele to give Wake Forest the lead just before the end of the half.

The Demon Deacons continued to apply the pressure early in the second half, peppering shots off three corners in the first 15 minutes of the period. However, the Blue Devil defense held strong as Steele made two of her four saves on the day to keep Duke in the game.

“They pulled through and they kept it simple—they didn’t panic,” Bustin said. “They just did their job and gave us enough time and kept the score the way it was so that our offensive side could finish it and take care of what they had to take care of.”

About five minutes later, Duke finally broke through on a sensational diving goal in the 56th minute by sophomore Rose Tynan, who put in a feed from junior Ashley Kristen to knot the score at one.

A reserve, Tynan is now third on the team with seven goals this season.

“It was a beautiful goal,” Bustin said. “Not only just needing a goal to tie it up and get us at even, that was important, but I think it was a really exciting goal. Those guys worked really hard to get that ball down there and Rose just found a way to put it in.”

After Tynan’s goal, the momentum swung in Duke’s favor, and the Blue Devils capitalized in the 68th minute.

Naughton set up the goal with a penalty corner, and despite mishandling the ball at the top of the circle, Blazing beat Wake Forest goalkeeper Cat O’Connor to put Duke on top.

“That happens at practice too, Robin scored on one of those as well, so in a way we practiced it,” Bustin said. “No panic, just stayed in it, got the ball on cage and everybody just improvised off the corner, and fortunately it was a goal for us.”

The Demon Deacons tried to bring the pressure in the last two minutes of the game, pulling O’Connor to add to their attack, but were unable to even the score as the Blue Devil defense held firm.

After a close game Friday, Duke made sure Sunday’s tilt with Old Dominion (6-8) would not be as dramatic. The Blue Devils dominated from start to finish against the Lady Monarchs, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead in the 27nd minute led by Naughton.

Duke outshot Old Dominion 8-3 in the first half, with Naughton opening the scoring on a feed from captain Heather Morris in the 12th minute before junior Ainsley Gill put away an Alyssa Chillano pass in the 20th minute to double the Blue Devils’ advantage.

Naughton added to the lead two minutes later with her sixth goal of the season before assisting Ashley Kristen in the 27th minute to extend the lead to four.

Although Alexa Ostoich scored the lone goal for Old Dominion in the 32nd minute, Duke snuffed out the Lady Monarchs’ nine penalty corners to take a three-game winning streak into next week’s showdown against the Tar Heels.

“It was a tough road going left and going right of Durham but I thought the team handled it well,” Bustin said. “It’s a big deal to come away with some wins on any road trip, but going to two different destinations and coming away with two wins is important for us moving forward.”

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