Blue Devils Cruise Past Miami, 3-1, Earn No. 5 Seed in ACC Championship

Sunday, November 1

Coral Gables, Fla.

3:30 P.M.

Duke University

6-3-2, 4-2-2

Miami

0-9-0, 0-8-0

Duke

Miami (FL)

Photo by: Tessa Mortensen

Blue Devils Cruise Past Miami, 3-1, Earn No. 5 Seed in ACC Championship

11/1/2020 9:03:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Duke-Miami Box

CORAL GABLES Fla. – In the fall regular season finale, the fifth-ranked Duke women's soccer team earned a 3-1 victory against Miami Sunday at Cobb Stadium in Coral Gables, Fla., to secure a bid in the ACC Championship in Cary, N.C.

With the victory, the Blue Devils improved to 6-3-2 overall and 4-2-2 in the ACC, while the Hurricanes fell to 0-9-0, 0-8-0 in the ACC. Duke's 14 points were enough to secure the No. 5 seed in the ACC Championship, which will open Nov. 10. The Blue Devils will face No. 4 seed Clemson on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m., at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Duke's win also gave Blue Devil head coach Robbie Church his 250th win with the Blue Devils over the last 20 years in Durham.

"It's great, said Church. "Every win is great; every win is fun. I know I'm a very lucky person to be at Duke for 20 years. I've had an unbelievable staff over the years to work with and a lot of really good players. So, we're happy, because it's a big win and puts us in the ACC Tournament, puts us in a good seed. So, we're happy for it. Looking for some more. {We're on} 251 next Tuesday."

From the very beginning of the match, Duke controlled most of the possession Sunday afternoon.
Early goals from rookie Olivia Migli and senior Tess Boade proved to be the difference in the first half as the Blue Devils went into the intermission with a 2-0 lead, while outshooting Miami by a 5-4 ledger.

The first shot attempt of the match came in the ninth minute as Sophie Jones found Mackenzie Pluck, who sent a shot over the crossbar.

Less than a minute later, the first goal of the game was scored as Marykate McGuire found Migli running down the pitch. Migli, who hails from Haymarket, Va., then split Miami defenders and sent a shot from about six yards into the bottom left corner of the net to notch her third goal of the year.

Prior to the goal, Duke was held scoreless for 198:20 dating back to the second half against Syracuse on Oct. 18.

Around the 14-minute mark of the match, Duke found the net again as Boade attempted a shot that was punched away by Miami goalkeeper Tyler Speaks, only to end up back in Boade's possession. She then sent another shot to the top corner of the far post, scoring Duke's second goal of the match and logging her third tally of the season.

Duke continued to control possession in the second half as the Blue Devils outshot Miami by a 7-2 ledger.

Two minutes into the second half, Miami was able to manufacture offense as Jackie Koerwitz found the net on a header from Michelle Giamportone to log the Hurricane's only goal of the match, making the score 2-1.

Duke responded less than a minute later as Pluck crossed a pass to McGuire, who sent a shot from about 10 yards out that was saved by the Hurricane's; however, the ball ended up in the possession of a wide-open Migli, who finished off the goal for her second of the match to put the Blue Devils ahead, 3-1.

With two goals in the match, Migli now owns a team-high four tallies on the season. McGuire, who is from Portsmouth, R.I., finished the day with two assists and now owns a team-high six dishes on the season.

Duke sophomore goalkeeper Ruthie Jones played all 90 minutes in goal for the Blue Devils, finishing with one save.

"[Scoring three goals] gave us great confidence that we can find the back of the net," added Church. "We've been creating opportunities against [North] Carolina and creating opportunities against Florida State, we haven't finished them, so it's always good to see the ball hit the back of the net for us. And I think that's always really, really important. Olivia [Migli] scoring her goals, Tess [Boade] scoring — they were really big goals for us and knowing that 'hey, we can still score goals.' And we're going to need to. That's going to be important for us in the ACC Tournament."

#GoDuke

Notes:
•    Prior to Olivia Migli's goal in the first half, Duke was held scoreless for 198:20 minutes
•    With the win, Duke snaps a two-match losing streak
•    Junior Delaney Graham missed her second match of the season