Duke Offense Erupts in 5-1 Victory Over No. 17 Old Dominion

Sunday, October 10

Durham, N.C.

12 P.M.

Duke University

(5-8)

Old Dominion

(9-3)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
ODU	1	0	0	0	1
Duke	1	0	3	1	5

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Offense Erupts in 5-1 Victory Over No. 17 Old Dominion

10/10/2021 3:15:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score BOX SCORE

DURHAM, N.C.—The 22nd-ranked Duke field hockey team scored three third-quarter goals to cruise to a 5-1 victory over No. 17 Old Dominion Sunday afternoon at Jack Katz Stadium. Junior Hannah Miller led the charge with a pair of goals, while MaryKate Neff had two assists.

The Blue Devils improve to 5-8 on the year, while the five goals are the most since Duke scored seven Sept. 22, 2019. Old Dominion suffered just its third loss of the year, falling to 9-3 overall. The win also gave head coach Pam Bustin her 298th career victory and 136th at Duke.

"I'm really proud and happy for the team that everything that they've been fighting through, everything that's been frustrating for them and everything they've kept on training to change came together today," said Bustin. "We played against a very talented and very strong Old Dominion team and I'm proud they brought the energy that we had on Friday. It was the first time we've really brought the collective energy from a very tough Friday night to a Sunday game."

Graduate student Grace Brightbill earned her first career start in the cage as a Blue Devil and made a career-high eight saves. Junior Charlotte Johnson came in late in the fourth quarter to help Duke hold the Monarchs without a goal for the 52:45.

"All three of our goalkeepers work their tails off," Bustin said. "They train and they put the time in and they're all very talented and I thought today was a great opportunity for Grace. Piper [Hampsch] has been working really hard in there. I think to give Grace that run and let her do her thing with our defense…she was fantastic."

Notching their first career goals were sophomore forward Barb Civitella and junior back Mary Harkins, while rookie Logan Clouser registered an assist to give her a point in four of the past five games.

Duke struck early in the game when junior midfielder Josie Varney sent the ball inside the circle. Clouser was in perfect position on the right post to redirect it into cage past Old Dominion goalie Cam MacGillivray.

The Monarchs evened the score less than four minutes later as Rina Tsioles saw a small opening and sent a shot through traffic into the left corner of the goal.

The final 23 minutes of the first half was played evenly with neither team being able to get on the board again. Old Dominion held an 11-6 lead in shots in the first half and had six penalty corners, but Duke did well defensively to keep the game all square at the break.

The third quarter featured a flurry of three Duke goals in a span of 3:49. Miller had two of the scores in 45 seconds as she tipped in a shot from Eva Nunnink on a penalty corner less than six minutes into the period. Less than a minute later, Neff intercepted a pass in the Old Dominion defensive third and made her way into the circle where she passed to Miller. The native of Malvern, Pa., with a deft touch of the ball, beat the Old Dominion keeper as she came off her line to give Duke the 3-1 advantage.

Civitella got herself on the scoresheet three minutes later, capitalizing on a rebound from a Leah Crouse shot for her first career goal. Harkins rounded out the scoring in the fourth quarter when she was able to tip Neff's penalty corner shot into the goal.

"Barb as a striker has been…I don't think there is a harder working forward on our team in terms of putting extra time in, watching video and coming out here and staying positive and getting the work in," Bustin said. "For her I'm just so thrilled she got that because she's been working so hard for that. For Mary, she's one of our best tippers, but she plays in the backfield so working with her on the attack penalty corners has been really positive. I was glad she and [MaryKate Neff] were able to connect."

Old Dominion held a narrow 15-13 advantage in shots and won 10 penalty corners to Duke's four. The Blue Devils scored goals of two of their four corners on the afternoon. MacGillivray finished with two saves for Old Dominion in goal.

The Blue Devils close out their home slate Saturday, Oct. 16 against No. 7 Syracuse. First hit is set for 12 p.m., and Duke will honor its graduate students and seniors following the game.

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