No. 4 Blue Devils Fall on the Road at No. 1 UNC, 1-0

Friday, October 23

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

5-2-2, 3-1-2

North Carolina

7-0-0, 6-0-0

Duke

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

No. 4 Blue Devils Fall on the Road at No. 1 UNC, 1-0

10/23/2020 10:41:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – In a very tight battle between two top-four ranked teams, the fourth-ranked Duke women's soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision on the road Friday evening at top-ranked North Carolina at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.

With the loss, the Blue Devils dropped to 5-2-2 overall, while the Tar Heels improved to 7-0-0. The contest did not count as an ACC match.

"I am really disappointed in how we played in the first half," said Duke head coach Robbie Church. "I am really, really proud of us in the second half. We came out, changed some lineups, and put people in different places. I thought we really competed in the second half. In the first 25 minutes, we were all over them. We had great chances, great opportunities."

In the first half, the Blue Devils struggled to get any offense going, but the defense was solid.

Duke had a good opportunity early in the match as sophomore Sophie Jones and senior Tess Boade featured a great give-and-go, but Boade was not able to get a shot off.

North Carolina held a 7-1 advantage in shots with the lone attempt for the Blue Devils coming off the leg of rookie Maggie Graham, which went high.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ruthie Jones of the Blue Devils was strong in the net with two saves over the first 45 minutes.

Duke came out in the second half and doubled its shot attempts over the first five minutes as junior Marykate McGuire had an attempt that was saved. Senior Taylor Mitchell then did a great job of keeping the ball in along the line and sent a perfect cross to a leaping senior Caitlin Cosme, who headed the ball just left of the far post.

The Blue Devils took the first four shots of the second half as Karlie Paschall and Sophie Jones each added attempts.

For the second straight match against the Tar Heels, the first goal of the contest came for North Carolina as an own goal. The Tar Heels sent a great cross in the box where a Duke defender was trying to hold off two North Carolina players, but the ball went off the Blue Devils and into the corner of the goal to give UNC a 1-0 lead with 27 minutes remaining.

With just about 15 minutes left in the match, Blue Devil junior Delaney Graham found a streaking freshman Grace Watkins, who fired a shot from the right side of the six-yard box, but Tar Heel goalkeeper Claudia Dickey got a hand on it to keep it out of the net.

The Tar Heels were able to hold off the Blue Devils the rest of the way.

Duke and North Carolina were knotted in the second half with seven shots each, while the Tar Heels finished the contest with a 14-8 advantage. Seven different Blue Devils attempted a shot, while Paschall led Duke with two shots in 61 minutes off the bench.

Ruthie Jones, who hails from Charlotte, N.C., finished the night with four saves over 90 minutes in goal. She had her scoreless streak of 429:21 snapped in the second half, which ranked as the sixth-longest in school history (record kept from 2002 to present).

Duke will continue its five-match road swing as the Blue Devils will next head to the state of Florida to face second-ranked Florida State Thursday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m., in Tallahassee, Fla.

#GoDuke

Notes:
• Duke entered the match leading the ACC with 8.88 corner kicks attempted a match and finished with only three.
• The Blue Devils have two regular season matches remaining at FSU and at Miami (Nov. 1).