CARY, N.C.—For the second straight year, No. 12 Duke could not find a decisive goal against North Carolina despite pushing forward and threatening relentlessly in the second half.
This time, the sixth-ranked Tar Heels capitalized after weathering the storm to steal a win in overtime.
Redshirt senior Joanna Boyles sent to a cross to North Carolina forward Jessie Scarpa, who headed the ball past Blue Devil goalkeeper E.J. Proctor just 3:12 into the extra period to give the Tar Heels a 2-1 victory at Koka Booth Mini Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park. The nonconference UNC Nike Classic matchup to open the year marked the season’s only regular-season meeting between the two teams.
Duke did not dominate play quite as much as it did when it outshot the Tar Heels 30-6 in a scoreless draw last September, but it was a still a bitter ending for a team that held a 15-10 advantage in shots.
“We were better than they were overall for the full night, but give them props. They got the goal when it counted,” Blue Devil head coach Robbie Church said. “With spurts in the second half, the last 10 minutes, we got back to playing really well and had our chances. You can’t ask for much better. We’ve got to be able to stick those when they come.”
Duke (0-1) struck first in the 24th minute with a highlight-reel goal, the first scored by either team against each other in nearly 200 minutes of play since 2015.
Sophomore Ella Stevens served a long ball into the box from close to midfield, and midfielder Taylor Racioppi lunged spectacularly with her right foot and volleyed it past North Carolina goalkeeper Samantha Leshnak.
“I’m going to be honest, I don’t even know [how I did it]. I asked someone at halftime what happened,” Racioppi said. “I can’t really talk much on that except that it was a phenomenal ball and it was placed perfectly by Ella.”
But it did not take long for the Tar Heels (1-0) to equalize.
The referee whistled Duke for what Church called a “questionable” foul when Emily Fox fell to the ground just outside the box between two Blue Devil defenders, giving Boyles a free kick from close range.
Boyles struck a rocket over the Blue Devil wall that hit the bottom of the crossbar and dropped into the net, giving Proctor—who played with Boyles in club leagues growing up in North Carolina—no chance to reach it.
“If she gets a couple of free kicks, there’s going to be one that’s going to be very well-placed, and she hit it on the side where the wall is, which is the hardest side to cover for a keeper,” said Proctor, who got the start ahead of highly touted redshirt freshman Brooke Heinsohn. “I followed her ACL tears the last few years.... It’s great to see her coming back. Hate that it was against us.”
After the break, Duke earned six corner kicks and took 10 shots, but none could find the back of the next. Its biggest threats came in the final minute of regulation, when Racioppi and Kayla McCoy both had breakaways on right side of the next, only to be denied by Leshnak.
McCoy’s shot with about 15 seconds left was nearly a game-winner, but Leshnak dropped to the ground for an impressive kick save.
“We were throwing the kitchen sink at them. We were knocking on the door the whole second half,” Racioppi said. “It’s frustrating. It doesn’t always fall your way.”
North Carolina then earned its sixth corner kick of the match and scored on the first serious chance of the golden goal extra period for either team, eliciting a roar from the primarily pro-Tar Heel crowd.
On the back line, the Blue Devils were without redshirt senior Rebecca Quinn, who was injured for all but four games last year after helping Canada to a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Church did not reveal what injury kept her out Friday, but said she is hoping to be back in practice by the middle of next week.
That means Quinn will miss one more game, with Duke preparing for a quick turnaround to face Xavier in its home opener Sunday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium.
“Everyone’s legs are dead after this game, so I think it’s good to figure out how to dig in a little bit and get through that and also just use it to be a little bit mad for the rest of the season,” Proctor said. “We want to get back at Carolina and anyone else that we see.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.