No. 8 Duke Falls to No. 6 Iowa, 3-2, in NCAA 1st Round

Friday, November 15

Chapel Hill, NC

2:30 PM

Duke University

(13-8)

Iowa

(17-4)

Iowa

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 8 Duke Falls to No. 6 Iowa, 3-2, in NCAA 1st Round

11/15/2019 5:23:00 PM | Field Hockey

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Blue Devils Comeback Falls Short

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Eighth-ranked Duke scored a pair of second-half goals, but couldn't complete the comeback in a 3-2 loss to No. 6 Iowa in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Field Hockey Championships. The Blue Devils fell behind 3-0 in the first half before rallying back within one in the second.

It was a tale of two halves for the Blue Devils at Karen Shelton Field. Duke (13-8) got off to a slow start, but rebounded in the final 30 minutes and dominated the action offensively. However, much like in recent games, the Blue Devils were unable to connect and eventually simply running out of time.

"[The two halves] were night and day," said head coach Pam Bustin. "It's kind of a mystery. We came out and maybe we were really excited and maybe we felt that we were going to get right on the attacking foot like we wanted to, but we did that with disregard to the gameplan and that got us in trouble."

Duke outshot Iowa 11-9 for the game and had five penalty corners to the Hawkeyes'' three.

The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute as Ellie Holley sent a ball into the circle. Ciara Smith put her stick on the pass, tipping it to Leah Zellner on the right post. Zellner shot it back across the cage, beating Sammi Steele.

Iowa (17-4) added two more goals in the 11th and 26th minutes with Smith tallying both. Maddy Murphy provided the assist on the first as Smith turned on her Blue Devil defender and sent it past Steele. Smith hit home a rebound on a penalty corner to make the score 3-0 at halftime.

The Blue Devils had their chances, firing three shots on frame and earning one penalty corner. Iowa goaltender Leslie Speight stopped all three, while the Iowa backfield did well to keep Duke from getting clean looks at the cage.

"We didn't move the ball with patient possession the way we knew we could and the way we play and the way we have our game," said Bustin. "We weren't sharp on the counter and that led to two of the corners. And we didn't execute tactically what we were supposed to do on defense corners."

Duke got an emotional lift and a point on the scoreboard in the 38th minute, drawing a stroke. Hannah Miller had the initial hit into the circle that made its way across the face of the goal. Kelsey Reznick was right on the doorstep, forcing the Iowa goalie to foul her to get the ball, resulting in the penalty stroke. Haley Schleicher stepped up and fired it just hard enough to beat an outstretched Speight to make it 3-1 midway through the third quarter.

With momentum shifting in their favor, the Blue Devils picked up the pressure and had the better of possession. Duke won consecutive penalty corners, only to be denied by Speight twice.

Duke, controlling play throughout the fourth quarter, finally capitalized on its fourth corner of the day to pull within one with 5:58 remaining in regulation. Jillian Wolgemuth fired a shot towards a crowd in front of the cage and as the ball bounced out to the left side, Lily Posternak tapped it across the line for her fourth marker of the season.

The Blue Devils continued to stay on the attack and earned a corner with time starting to wind down, but the Hawkeyes were up to the task and closed out the game to advance to the quarterfinals.

"The second half we made some adjustments and maybe woke them up a little bit," Bustin said. "I thought we had a great second half. To come away with two goals and an opportunity to have more, that's what you want. But we ran out of time."

Steele finished the afternoon with three saves, while Speight had five for the Hawkeyes.

Duke finishes the year with a 13-8 overall record, advancing to its 18th NCAA Tournament.

#GoDuke