Trailing 2-0 midway through the second half, Hurricane midfielder Kristina Fisher stepped to the penalty spot. The hosts had been threatening for a few minutes and with one swing of her right leg, Fisher could cut the Blue Devil advantage in half.
Brooke Heinsohn was having none of it.
The redshirt sophomore goalkeeper made her third save of the night at the most critical of moments in the 67th minute, helping Duke preserve yet another shutout Thursday night. The 12th-ranked Blue Devils needed just six shots to earn a 2-0 win against Miami at Cobb Stadium in Coral Gables, Fla., as they extended their winning streak to seven with a top-15 tussle on tap Sunday.
"We needed her to keep that margin, and she came through," Duke head coach Robbie Church said of Heinsohn. "It was bad defending before the penalty.... They were desperate at that point, they were pushing numbers forward, but for the most part, we didn't do a good job."
As has been the case much of the season, it took a while for the Blue Devils (8-1-1, 2-0-0 in the ACC) to find their offensive rhythm. Duke had only a few chances in the opening 45 minutes, the closest coming on a headed shot that actually bounced off Blue Devil forward Kayla McCoy as the senior tried to screen the Hurricane keeper.
But Duke jumped on the counterattack with less than two minutes until halftime, carrying a Miami turnover past midfield before freshman Mackenzie Pluck threaded the needle to sophomore Tess Boade, putting the through ball right between a pair of defenders and into the Hurricanes' 18-yard box.
Boade only needed to clean things up from there, flicking the ball past Miami's Phallon Tullis-Joyce and into the goal at the far post for a 1-0 lead.
"[Tess] made great movement up top," Church said. "She was playing as a forward and made a nice little move, kind of bent in behind them.... The timing of the goal was great."
The Blue Devils, playing their second road game in a five-day span with more than 1,400 miles between the two sites, weren't at their sharpest in South Florida. The Hurricanes outshot Duke 11-6 and the Blue Devils committed seven fouls to just four for the hosts.
Yet Duke was the team to make the most of its opportunities.
After a couple of Miami shots out of the break, Blue Devil defender Karlie Paschall sent a long, looping cross from around midfield toward the corner that senior Taylor Racioppi tracked down. The winger then turned inside and fired a tight-angle shot to the far post, beating Tullis-Joyce—who had come out just a step too far—and putting Duke up 2-0.
"It was a great service from Karlie and a great little touch from Taylor to get by the defender," Church said.
A few minutes later, Heinsohn made the most crucial of her four saves on the night, ensuring that the Hurricanes (3-5-2, 0-2-0) would get no closer. Even though the Blue Devils couldn't find any more goals, their defense proved more than enough to secure victory.
The shutout was Heinsohn's sixth of the season, putting her in the top 10 in the nation among keepers in clean sheets.
"I want [Brooke] to continue to grow and there are some areas she's got to get better in," Church said. "She's been solid, she's growing, she's going through the ACC for the first time."
Next up in ACC play is the conference's highest-ranked team, No. 4 Virginia. The Cavaliers' perfect start to the 2018 season came a close Thursday night when they fell 1-0 at Clemson, but Virginia will bring plenty of offensive firepower to Durham—it has scored three or more goals in four of its seven victories.
"Now we move into the meat of our schedule," Church said. "It's time that we go out and play some of those highly-ranked national teams."
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."