Blue Devils Beat Panthers, 5-0, for Church's 100th ACC Win

Sunday, October 10

Durham, N.C.

2 p.m.

Duke University

9-2-1, 3-2-1

Pittsburgh

8-6-0, 1-5-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Pittsburgh	0	0	0
Duke	2	3	5

Blue Devils Beat Panthers, 5-0, for Church's 100th ACC Win

10/10/2021 6:39:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)KATIE GROFF POSTGAME SYDNEY SIMMONS POSTGAME

DURHAM – Sophomore Katie Groff scored her first two career goals in the first half and the Duke defense limited Pittsburgh to one shot on goal as the No. 4 Blue Devils earned a 5-0 win on Sunday at Koskinen Stadium.

The win marks head coach Robbie Church's 100th ACC regular-season victory, with all coming in his 21 years at Duke. The Blue Devils improved to 9-2-1 on the season and 3-2-1 in conference action while bouncing back from a double-overtime loss to NC State on Thursday night.

Groff got Duke rolling in the ninth minute with her first career goal. Senior Mackenzie Pluck sent a corner kick into the 18-yard box that bounced through multiple players before making its way to the back post, where Groff headed it past Pittsburgh goalkeeper Katherine Robinson to make it 1-0.

The Raleigh, N.C., native found the back of the net again just three minutes later, when the Blue Devils earned a free kick from 25 yards out. Graduate students Tess Boade and Caitlin Cosme lined up over the ball but played a soft pass to Groff, and the sophomore drilled a left-footed one-timer into the bottom right corner of the goal to double the Duke lead.

Duke maintained possession through nearly the entire first half, finishing the period with seven shot attempts. The Blue Devils also made six substitutions in the opening 45 minutes as the two teams headed into the break with Duke holding a 2-0 advantage.

Boade made it a commanding 3-0 game in the 51st minute with her fifth goal of the season. Senior Sydney Simmons recorded her first career assist on the play, slipping a feed to Boade inside the box that the graduate student buried into the lower left corner.

Freshman Michelle Cooper got in on the action shortly after when she accepted a pass from Simmons 30 yards from goal, dribbled it to just outside the box and fired a left-footed strike past Robinson. Cooper netted her seventh goal of the season on the play, the most by a Duke freshman since Ella Stevens had 10 in 2016.

With the match in hand, the Blue Devils made 13 more substitutions and ended the afternoon with 24 players seeing the field. Among those were each of the three goalkeepers – Ruthie Jones (70 minutes), Maddie Nielsen (14 minutes) and Holly Stam (six minutes).

Senior Marykate McGuire tallied Duke's fifth goal with 15 seconds remaining in the match. A Blue Devil corner was cleared out to junior Bria Schrotenboer, who played it right back into the box and found McGuire in between two Panther defenders. The Portsmouth, R.I., native got her right foot on the ball and chipped it past goalkeeper Caitlyn Lazzarini for her fourth goal of the season.

Duke finished the match with 17 shot attempts, 12 of which were on goal. Jones made one save in the 47th minute, stopping a one-on-one chance for Mackenzie Evers. The Blue Devil defense picked up its sixth shutout of the season and held an opponent to just one shot on goal for the first time since April 2, 2021.

Duke hits the road for a matchup at Wake Forest on Friday, October 15 at 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

NOTES

The 2021 season marks the 21st at Duke for head coach Robbie Church, where he is now 265-133-60.
Church picked up his 100th ACC regular-season win. He owns a 100-62-33 record in conference matches since arriving at Duke in 2001.
Duke's five goals on the day were its most against an ACC opponent since Sept. 17, 2016 – a 6-0 win over No. 16 Boston College.
Sophomore Katie Groff netted her first two career goals in the opening 12 minutes. The last Duke player to score their first two career goals in the same game was Maggie Graham, who did so at Syracuse on Oct. 18, 2020.
Senior Sydney Simmons' two assists marked her first two career points in her 52nd match for the Blue Devils.
Graduate student Tess Boade played in her 85th career game and scored her 19th career goal. Each of Boade's five goals this season have been scored within the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Senior Marykate McGuire scored her 19th career goal at the 89:45 mark and tied her career high with five shots on goal.
Junior Bria Schrotenboer recorded her first assist as a member of the Blue Devils on McGuire's tally. The transfer from Michigan State made her third appearance for Duke, logging 18 minutes.
Freshman Dieynaba Ndaw played a season-high 17 minutes.