Jones' Goal in Double-Overtime Sends Duke to Round of 16

Saturday, May 1

Greenville, N.C. (Second Round)

12 p.m.

Duke University

11-5-3, 7-4-2

Arizona State

9-6-2, 4-4-2

Arizona St.

Duke

Jones' Goal in Double-Overtime Sends Duke to Round of 16

5/1/2021 5:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score ROBBIE CHURCH POSTGAME SOPHIE JONES POSTGAME

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Sophomore Sophie Jones scored three minutes into the second overtime period to lift ninth-seeded Duke to a 2-1 victory over Arizona State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Johnson Stadium in Greenville, N.C.

After sophomore goalkeeper Ruthie Jones shut down a corner kick opportunity for the Sun Devils in the 102nd minute, the Blue Devils worked the ball up to senior Tess Boade, who created space for herself in the corner to the right of ASU's net. Boade passed it back to freshman Maggie Graham at the top of the box, who sent in a perfect cross that found Jones in stride at the far-left post. Jones one-timed the winning goal into the bottom corner of the net, sending Duke to the round of 16.

"When Tess passed it back to Maggie, that's something we've been working on, so I knew when Maggie had the ball that she was going to try and play it back post," said Jones. "She played a great ball and I just got my foot on it."

The Blue Devils (11-5-3) will face Ole Miss (10-5-2) at 12 p.m. Wednesday at WakeMed Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C. Duke looks to earn a spot in the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2017.

The 13 minutes of overtime featured end-to-end action, with each team finding prime scoring opportunities. With 30 seconds left in the first frame, Arizona State sent a high-arching corner kick towards the Duke goal, and the Sun Devils' Olive Jones saw the ball bounce towards her in the six-yard box. Jones got her head on what looked to be a sure-goal, but Ruthie Jones extended her right arm to make a season-saving stop.

Duke opened the scoring in the 29th minute with Boade's sixth goal of the season. In what proved to be a similar play to the game-winner, junior Delaney Graham received a pass near the top of the box and floated a cross towards the left post, where Boade ran under it and fired a shot under the crossbar to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 advantage.

The Sun Devils had a chance to tie it just three minutes later, when Jazmine Wilkinson took a cross in the box with no defenders in front of her. Wilkinson tried to beat Jones at the bottom right post, but Jones came up with a left-footed save to preserve the Duke lead going into halftime.

The Blue Devils possessed the ball for the majority of the second half, and junior Marykate McGuire had an opportunity to increase the lead when she took a through ball from Delaney Graham and found herself alone with ASU goalkeeper Giulia Cascapera in the 77th minute. Cascapera came out to challenge the shot and deflected it enough to roll past the right post.

Arizona State found the equalizer with three minutes remaining in regulation. The Sun Devils were able to sustain pressure and broke through when Eva Van Deursen fired a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced on the goal line. Nicole Douglas beat the nearest Duke defenders and headed it into the empty cage.

"We were upset when we came off at the end of the game," said head coach Robbie Church. "We had to get our composure back. I told them that we have to drop it, we have to think about the next play. It's 1-1 – the next goal wins this match, and we couldn't spend energy thinking about what we just gave up. We had to go forward, and I thought they did a really good job of that and came out in both overtime periods and created opportunities."

Both sides went back and forth over the next 15 minutes of play. Duke earned a corner kick in the seventh minute of overtime, and junior Mackenzie Pluck sent in a ball past the far post where freshman Olivia Migli was alone. Migli's header was corralled by Cascapera, though, ending the opportunity.

Cascapera finished with five saves for the Sun Devils. Jones collected three stops for Duke and improved to 10-5-3 this season.

NOTES

Duke improves to 41-22-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Devils are 35-16-9 under head coach Robbie Church in the tournament.
Church is in his 20th season at Duke and 35th year as a head coach. His record is now 255-131-58 with the Blue Devils and 438-245-72 overall.
Duke is 14-9-0 all-time in NCAA second round matches, and 15-4-2 in its last 21 tournament contests.
Sophomore Sophie Jones' game-winning goal in the 103rd minute was her third tally of the season. Each of her three career goals have been scored in the last five games, after she did not register a goal in her first 24 collegiate matches.
Senior Tess Boade scored her sixth goal of the season and 14th career marker in the first half. Her six goals are tied with freshman Olivia Migli for the team lead.
Freshman Maggie Graham recorded her first career assist on the game-winning goal.
The last time Duke won a match in double-overtime was Sept. 29, 2017 – a 3-2 victory at Louisville.