Duke Nabs Road Victory at No. 13 Princeton

Saturday, September 11

Princeton, NJ. / Bedford Field

12 P.M.

Duke University

(2-3)

Princeton

(0-3)

Duke

Princeton

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Nabs Road Victory at No. 13 Princeton

9/11/2021 3:12:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score

PRINCETON, N.J.—Three different Blue Devils scored and sophomore goalkeeper Piper Hampsch made nine saves to lead the 18th-ranked Duke field hockey team to a 3-1 road victory at No. 13 Princeton Saturday afternoon.

Duke improves to 2-3 on the season, while the Tigers fall to 0-3. Leah Crouse, Lexi Davidson and Eva Nunnink all found the back of the cage, while Hannah Miller assisted on a pair of the tallies. The goals were the first for each this season as Duke ended its two-game scoreless drought en route to victory.

"I am extremely proud of the way our team approached last week's training and prepared for today's match and executed the gameplan with an unwavering level of composed competition," said head coach Pam Bustin. Today was a great battle and this group absolutely earned the W and their postgame celebration."

Princeton started the game on the front foot, generating scoring chances in the first quarter with three penalty corners. The Duke defense, as it had in all four previous outings defended well, and kept the
Tigers off the board. Hampsch provided saves on all three, finishing the first period with three stops.

The Blue Devils got into the game in the second quarter getting its first shot two minutes into the stanza. Duke's best chance of the game at the time came off the stick of Crouse, whose shot slid wide right of the cage to send the teams into halftime scoreless.

A fantastic individual dribbling effort by Miller down the right sideline put the Blue Devils in around the circle as the Tigers tapped the ball across the endline. Miller got the ball back on her stick and found a slight opening to slip a pass across the face of the cage where Crouse positioned herself perfectly to slide the ball past Princeton goalie Robyn Thompson.

Princeton evened the score just two minutes before the end of the third quarter as Lilly Webb was credited with redirecting a pass from Hannah Davey for the equalizer.

A resilient Duke squad answered 54 seconds later as Kelsey Reznick drew a penalty stroke. Davidson stepped up to the dot and roofed her shot to give the Blue Devils the 2-1 lead. The Tigers stepped up its pressure and intensity in the fourth quarter, but the Duke backline remained steady and withstood the Tigers' seven shots and six penalty corners in the final frame. Hampsch registered four saves in the last quarter to earn her second victory of the year.

Nunnink iced the victory with 37 seconds remaining, finishing a penalty corner on an empty Princeton net.

The Tigers held a 20-11 advantage in shots and won 10 penalty corners to Duke's four. Hampsch's nine saves are a season-high and are the second most in her career. Thompson made three saves.

The Blue Devils return home to open ACC play, Friday, Sept. 17 against Wake Forest. First it is slated for 4 p.m., and will be televised on RSN (Regional Sports Network).

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