No. 7 Blue Devils Take Down Hokies, 2-0, to Conclude Homestand

Friday, October 9

Durham, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

3-1-2, 1-1-2

Virginia Tech

1-6-0, 0-3-0

Virginia Tech

Duke

Photo by: Dakota Moyer

No. 7 Blue Devils Take Down Hokies, 2-0, to Conclude Homestand

10/9/2020 10:21:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Duke-VT Final Box Photo Gallery Church Interview

DURHAM, N.C.— The seventh-ranked Duke women's soccer team registered two second half goals en route to taking down Virginia Tech, 2-0, Friday evening in a non-conference match at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

Duke won its second straight contest to improve to 3-1-2 overall, while remaining 1-1-2 in ACC action. The Hokies dropped to 1-6-0 on the year. The Blue Devils closed a five-match homestand and will now travel for five consecutive road matches to close the regular season.

"It was a great win," said Duke head coach Robbie Church. "It just felt good to be in control of the game. Last week against Clemson, second half, we kind of chased the game a little bit. Virginia second half, a couple of weeks ago, we chased the game. So, it really felt good to be in control of the game. We couldn't find that second goal until really late, but it was great to find that. That was really, really important."

From the very beginning of the match, Duke controlled most of the possession Friday evening.

The Blue Devils featured the first attempt of the contest from the leg of redshirt senior defender Mia Gyau. A product of Colesville, Md., Gyau had the ball come to her feet at the top of the box off a corner kick from junior Sydney Simmons, but the attempt sailed high over the crossbar.

Close to 20 minutes into the match, the Blue Devils had two great chances as Gyau sent a perfect cross in front of the goal and junior Delaney Graham just missed getting her foot on it. Then, less than a minute later, freshman Olivia Migli passed to sophomore Sophie Jones, who sent a shot just wide right of the post.

At the 39:18 mark, senior Taylor Mitchell drove up the pitch and found freshman Grace Watkins. A native of Manhattan Beach, Calif., Watkins took the ball into the 10-yard mark and fired a shot that nearly grazed the left post and went out.

Duke dominated play in the first half outshooting the Hokies, 6-1, but the Blue Devils featured many more opportunities that didn't finish in shot attempts.

Watkins started the second half and featured three shots over the first nine minutes, two of which were saved and one blocked. Entering the match, the 5-3 forward had taken only three shots all season. Watkins would finish the match with four attempts.

At the 65:33 mark, the Blue Devils were finally able to get on the board as Migli made a run into the box and was fouled by a Hokie defender giving Duke its first penalty kick opportunity of the season. Senior defender Caitlin Cosme calmly stepped up and finished her team-leading third goal of the season to put the Blue Devils ahead, 1-0.

"We have history with Virginia Tech," said Cosme. "Last year was not a pretty game and the one thing that I tried to emphasize before the game was that we are not going home without a fight and we are going to do whatever we can. If we have to be aggressive, we're going to do it."

Cosme, who hails from New Hyde Park, N.Y., entered the season with one career goal, but now owns three on the early season.

Duke added a little cushion to the lead late in the match as sophomore Emmy Duerr blasted a shot at Hokie goalkeeper Alia Skinner, who made a diving stop to her right. Skinner was not able to hang onto the ball and junior Marykate McGuire crossed a perfect pass off the line to a waiting Delaney Graham, who finished to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 advantage with just under seven minutes remaining.

Graham, who is from Atlanta, Ga., was making her third straight start at forward and collected her first goal of the season and second of her Blue Devil career. The All-ACC defender is showing she can be a force up front for Duke as well.

"We ask a lot of our forwards defending, probably more than most teams in the country ask their forwards to defend," added Church. "The last two games have shown me what a strong defensive commitment we have. Our forwards do a great job of pressing and counter-pressing up high. Our mid-fielders work hard to step in, and then our backs have been really solid. We've got an older group except for Emily Royson out there, and I thought she was very good today."

Duke outshot Virginia Tech, 16-1, in the second half and held a 22-2 advantage for the match. Ten different Blue Devils collected at least one shot on the night led by McGuire with six, Watkins with four and in her first collegiate start freshman Maggie Graham added a career-high three.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ruthie Jones registered her second straight shutout over 90 minutes and third of her collegiate career in the net for the Blue Devils.

"I will do anything to keep that ball out of the back of our net and get it into the opposite teams net," added Cosme. "I try to help out wherever I can, honestly."

Duke will hit the road for the next five contests, which will kick off Thursday, Oct. 15 at Boston College with a 4 p.m., start live on RSN-TV.

#GoDuke

Notes:
• The two goals by Duke at home is a season-high for the Blue Devils. Since scoring four goals in the season opener on the road, the Blue Devils had only scored two goals over the next four matches until tonight.
• Duke has scored 100 goals at home over the last four seasons, while allowing only 22.