Top-ranked Duke field hockey trounces Richmond 6-0 in regular season finale

<p>Senior Robin Blazing opened the scoring Saturday afternoon in the 12th minute as the Blue Devils opened up a 5-0 first-half lead.</p>

Senior Robin Blazing opened the scoring Saturday afternoon in the 12th minute as the Blue Devils opened up a 5-0 first-half lead.

In their first ever game ever as the No. 1 team in the country, the Blue Devils did not disappoint.

With an ACC tournament semifinal matchup against either No. 4 North Carolina or No. 8 Louisville on the horizon, Duke flexed its muscles, controlling time of possession, forcing the Spiders’ goalie to make 10 saves and not allowing a single penalty corner.

The ACC regular season champion Blue Devils did not score in the first 10 minutes, then erupted for five tallies in the next 25 on their way to an easy 6-0 win on Senior Day against overmatched Richmond. Duke missed two opportunities on wide-open backdoor shots early on, but senior Robin Blazing found the back of the net in the 12th minute to open the floodgates. The Blue Devils were able to rest their starters late in the game with the outcome already decided in their regular season finale.

“It’s just important for us to stay consistent and finish out our regular season the way we’ve been preparing for and playing each game,” Duke head coach Pam Bustin said. “We got off to kind of a slow start, but about 15 minutes in we started picking up our pace and playing our game, so I was really pleased with that.”

Perhaps the most impressive play of the day came when Blazing opened the scoring with a diving goal to redirect a wild pass into the cage to continue her late-season resurgence. Less than 10 minutes later, Blazing found classmate Hunter Bracale for a close-range tally to double the home team’s lead.

Junior Ashley Kristen, sophomore Erin Scherrer and graduate student Aisling Naughton then also added first-half goals to put the game out of reach.

“Finally getting on the board was a really good feeling,” Blazing said. “We knew it was coming and sometimes we have to build up to it, but that just gets us going. After those sorts of goals, we just hope we can keep up the pressure.”

The Blue Devils’ offensive explosion should come as no surprise—Duke (15-2) ranks among the top 10 teams in the country in goals per game with an average of 3.3.

On the other end of the field, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Sammi Steele and the Blue Devils’ defensive line enjoyed their second straight shutout and fifth overall with Duke dominating possession. The Blue Devils outshot Richmond (7-10) 24-1.

Given the defense’s stellar play, Steele was pulled from the match with about 11:30 left in the game to allow senior goalie Kelsey Wagner to enter and finish out her final home game on the field.

“It meant so much, especially being able to play on senior day,” Wagner said. “It’s such an honor to even be a part of this team.”

The game also held extra value for Blazing, who was one of two seniors to score in the game along with Bracale.

“It’s a pretty good feeling scoring during Senior Day,” Blazing said. “When we play the game, our first goal is to win, but the second goal is to honor the seniors and have a good time.”

Coming off a historic win against North Carolina last week, Duke stayed sharp Saturday.

The Blue Devils will look to remain hot and knock off either the Tar Heels or Cardinals Friday evening in Winston-Salem, N.C., to advance to the ACC championship. Duke went 1-1 against North Carolina during the regular season and knocked off Louisville on the road in the teams’ only matchup.

“Our goal is to every day get a little bit better. Every day that’s our focus,” Bustin said. “Sometimes you have to revisit things—and that’s normal—but we’re where we want to be as we get into a strong and challenging ACC tournament.”

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