Hot Start Leads Duke Past St. John’s, Into Quarterfinals

Sunday, November 21

Duke University

16-3-1, 7-2-1

St. John's

13-7-3, 6-3-1

St. John's (NY)

Duke

Hot Start Leads Duke Past St. John’s, Into Quarterfinals

11/21/2021 10:53:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)MICHELLE COOPER POSTGAME

DURHAM – No. 1-seeded Duke scored three goals in the opening 30 minutes and did not let up offensively the rest of the way, rolling to a 7-1 win over St. John's in the NCAA Championship Round of 16 on Sunday night at Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils (16-3-1) advance to the Quarterfinal round for the eighth time in the last 11 seasons and will face defending national champion Santa Clara at Koskinen on Friday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. Duke is seeking its fifth trip to the NCAA College Cup and first since 2017.

After scoring one goal in each of their previous six matches, the Blue Devils erupted for a season-high seven tallies. It marked the most goals in any match for Duke since a 7-0 victory over Oklahoma State on Nov. 17, 2017, in the second round of the NCAA Championship.

"I thought we were really good tonight," said head coach Robbie Church. "I thought we had a lot of energy, we ran off the ball. Our movement off the ball was great. I thought we had a great mentality. We attacked from the opening minute and obviously scored an early goal."

Freshman Michelle Cooper came out of the gates with three shots on goal in the first four minutes of regulation, with her third finding the back of the net to put Duke ahead, 1-0. The Blue Devils moved the ball around the top of the 18-yard box but could not penetrate the Red Storm's back line, but a deflected ball landed at Cooper's feet and the Clarkston, Mich., native drilled her shot into the lower left corner past goalkeeper Naya Lipkens.

Cooper recorded three more shots before the 14-minute mark and ended the night with a career-high nine attempts.

Graduate student Tess Boade doubled the lead in the 26th minute with her eighth goal of the season. Yet another try at goal from Cooper was blocked by a St. John's defender, but the ball rolled through her legs to Boade, who was in alone with only Lipkens to beat. The first-team All-ACC midfielder calmly dribbled around Lipkens and buried it to make it a decisive early advantage for the Blue Devils.

Two minutes later, Cooper once again found herself with open space near the top of the box and sent a beautiful right-footed strike into the upper corner for her 12th goal of the year, surpassing Kelly Cobb (2011) for the most goals by a freshman in program history. Junior Sophie Jones picked up her first point of the season with a primary assist, while senior Mackenzie Pluck was credited with a secondary helper to increase her team-leading assist total to eight.

The three goals were the second-most Duke has scored in an opening half this season. The Blue Devils also held St. John's to no shot attempts in the first period.

The Red Storm (13-7-3) came out with a sense of desperation in the early stages of the second half and took little time trimming their deficit to two goals. A corner kick in the 47th minute was played in by Jessica Garziano, and Maia Cabrera worked herself free to head it past goalkeeper Ruthie Jones.

Duke responded with more pressure in the attacking third, and in the 62nd minute regained the three-goal lead on a Pluck one-timer to the upper right corner. Senior Delaney Graham gained possession to the left of the goal and fed a ball for Cooper, who intentionally let it roll through to an oncoming Pluck. Pluck's finish marked her fifth goal of the season and first since Sept. 9 versus East Carolina.

With the match in hand and many of Duke's starters subbed off, the Blue Devils netted three more over the final 25 minutes. Sophomore Olivia Migli recorded her third career brace with goals in the 69th and 81st minutes. Her first tally came on a penalty following a foul she drew in the box, while her second was scored via a pinpoint strike to the upper right corner from 20 yards out.

Fellow sophomore Grace Watkins scored just 15 seconds after Migli's second marker to put a bow on the 7-1 result. Watkins' goal came in similar fashion, as she dribbled the ball into the attacking third and sent a right-footed attempt over the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Meghan Groah.

Duke finished the night with 20 total players seeing action, including graduate student goalkeeper Maddie Nielsen, who came in for Jones in the 81st minute. The Blue Devils recorded 21 shot attempts with 13 on goal while limiting the Red Storm to just two attempts in the match.

NOTES

The 2021 season marks the 21st at Duke for head coach Robbie Church, where he is now 272-134-60.
Duke improved to 45-22-11 all-time in the NCAA Championship and 9-4-1 in the Round of 16.
The Blue Devils are 11-1-1 all-time when competing as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championship.
In NCAA Championship matches played in Durham, Duke is 25-2-1.
Duke's seven goals are tied for the program's most in an NCAA Championship match (11/17/2017 vs. Oklahoma State).
The six-goal margin of victory is the second-largest past the second round of the tournament by any team since 2001, when the bracket expanded to 64 teams.
Michelle Cooper scored two goals in the opening half, increasing her total on the year to 12. She now has the most goals by a freshman in program history, surpassing Kelly Cobb in 2011 (11 goals).
Senior Delaney Graham has points in back-to-back games after netting the game-winner versus Memphis on Friday, Nov. 19. Graham had previously gone 20 consecutive matches without recording a point.
Sophomore Olivia Migli posted the third multi-goal game of her career. Her other braces came on Nov. 1, 2020 at Miami and March 17, 2021 versus Coastal Carolina.
With her tally in the 26th minute, graduate student Tess Boade now has five goals in NCAA Championship matches in her career, tied for the fifth-most in program history. Her 13 points in tournament games are tied for sixth.
Senior Mackenzie Pluck recorded three points for the third time this season and eighth time in her career.