Fast Start Leads No. 5 Blue Devils Past Coastal Carolina, 6-0

Wednesday, March 17

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

9-4-2, 4-4-2

Coastal Carolina

7-7-0, 6-4-0

Coastal Carolina

Duke

Fast Start Leads No. 5 Blue Devils Past Coastal Carolina, 6-0

3/17/2021 10:14:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – Freshman Olivia Migli scored two goals while junior Mackenzie Pluck added a goal and two assists as No. 5 Duke picked up a 6-0 win over Coastal Carolina in its return to Koskinen Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Blue Devils (9-4-2) netted five goals in the first half, including three in the opening 12 minutes, to put the contest out of reach early on. Sophomore goalkeeper Ruthie Jones recorded one save and earned her seventh shutout of the season to improve her record to 8-4-2 in 2020-21. Jones, along with the rest of Duke's starting lineup, sat out the second half, giving numerous Blue Devils their first action of the year.

Migli got things rolling just 5:08 into the match, as she took a feed from sophomore Sophie Jones and sent a left-footed shot to the right corner of the net to make it 1-0 Duke. It marked the earliest goal in a game this season for the Blue Devils. The offense struck again only a minute later, as senior Tess Boade fired a shot from the top of the penalty box that was stopped by Coastal Carolina goalkeeper Ky Hudson, and Pluck ran to the rebound and buried it to double the Duke lead.

It marked the first goal of the season for Pluck, who scored eight in her sophomore campaign.

"It felt really good," Pluck said. "It's been a while since that's happened and I was really excited that it came now. I'm hoping I continue scoring in the future and hopefully this was the one to open up the floodgates. I want the rest of the team to continue to shoot. We did a really good job getting in their half and keeping it there. Everyone was really confident and our team did really well as a unit."

The Blue Devils made it 3-0 just past the 12-minute mark, when junior Delaney Graham sprinted up the right sideline and sent in a cross that was converted by Migli for her second of the night. The freshman from Haymarket, Va., has two multi-goal games in her last five appearances, and now leads the team with six tallies this season.

Sophie Jones increased the advantage to four with her first career goal 12 minutes later. Jones fed a through ball towards the end line that was tracked down by Pluck, who dished a nifty pass back to Jones that was one-timed into the upper right corner. A preseason addition to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, Jones recorded her first career three-point game and her first multi-point performance since she had two assists in the season opener at Wake Forest on Sept. 10.

With the clock winding down, the Blue Devils had one final push up the field looking to net another before halftime. A strategic passing attack began with Graham streaking down the sideline again and found Pluck heading towards the right goalpost. Pluck sent a pass across the box that Boade drove home with 10 seconds remaining to make it a 5-0 Duke lead going into the break.

The second half began with a full change for the home team, as 12 new Blue Devils took the pitch to close out the win. Less than nine minutes into the frame, junior Marykate McGuire scored her third goal of the year, capitalizing on a rebound off a shot from freshman Grace Watkins. McGuire's tally moved her up to 12 points on the season, tied for the team lead with Boade and Migli.

Junior Holly Stam played the final 45 minutes in goal, marking her first appearance for the Blue Devils since Sept. 16, 2018. Also earning their first minutes of the season were sophomore Sarah Piper, who played 19 matches as a freshman but sat out the entirety of the fall slate with an injury, and Julia Hannon, who appeared in nine games in 2019. Freshman Julia Burnell made her collegiate debut, playing 30 minutes in the second half.

Sophomore Emmy Duerr made her presence felt offensively throughout the second half, firing six shots in 38 minutes of action.

Hudson made nine saves in the effort for the Chanticleers (7-7-0). Duke's 32 shots and 15 shots on goal each marked a season high.

"What we wanted to do was not have talent win the game," said head coach Robbie Church. "We wanted us to play better, and I thought we played really well. We kind of split into two teams tonight – one in both halves of the game. I thought we never dropped our standards, and that was really important. We didn't get in bad habits, we didn't try to do things that we haven't been doing in training, so I thought overall it was a really good performance here."

The fifth-ranked Blue Devils face a top-10 road test on Saturday, March 27, when they travel to No. 7 West Virginia. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET.

NOTES

Head coach Robbie Church is in his 20th season at Duke and 35th year as a head coach. His record is now 253-130-57 with the Blue Devils and 436-244-71 overall.
With junior Mackenzie Pluck sophomore Sophie Jones' tallies in the first half, 10 different Blue Devils have now scored at least one goal this season.
The last time Duke scored six goals in a game was Sept. 15, 2019 -- a 6-0 win over James Madison in Durham.
Twenty-five Blue Devils, including both goalkeepers, played at least 28 minutes in the match.
Senior Tess Boade's four shots on goal marked a career high. Boade has five points in her last two games.
Duke improved to 70-7-1 all-time against non-conference opponents from the Carolinas.