No. 10 Duke Posts 4-0 Win Over Louisville on Senior Day

Sunday, October 23

Durham, N.C.

1 P.M.

Duke University

11-4-1, 6-2-1

Louisville

6-7-2, 3-6-0

Louisville

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 10 Duke Posts 4-0 Win Over Louisville on Senior Day

10/23/2022 6:08:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)CHURCH INTERVIEW JONES INTERVIEW COOPER INTERVIEW SENIOR DAY GALLERY PHOTO GALLERY

DURHAM – On Sunday at Koskinen Stadium, the 10th-ranked Duke women's soccer team celebrated senior day with a 4-0 victory over Louisville. Both Michelle Cooper and Kat Rader collected two goals each, while the Blue Devil defense registered their eighth clean sheet of the year.

With the victory, Duke improved to 11-4-1, 6-2-1 in the ACC, while Louisville fell to 6-7-2, 3-6-0. The Blue Devils also clinched a bid in the ACC Tournament with the win.

How It Happened
•   Prior to the contest, the Blue Devils recognized six seniors playing in their final regular season home match at Koskinen Stadium – Julia Burnell, Julia Hannon, Sarah Piper, Emmy Duerr, Ruthie Jones and Sophie Jones. The class now owns 48 career wins since arriving in Durham.
•   Duke took eight of the first nine shots of the match, before getting on the board in the first half.
•   At the 40:05 mark, Sophie Jones got the play started at the top of the box. She passed to Maggie Graham, who found her sister, Delaney, on the right side of the box who had got behind two Cardinal defenders. Delaney Graham streaked towards the goal and crossed a perfect ball to Michelle Cooper, who scored her 10th goal of the season. Louisville keeper Erynn Floyd tried to keep the ball from crossing the line, but Cooper was too much for her.
•   At the half, Duke led 1-0 and held an 11-1 advantage in shots.
•   Cooper was able to make it 2-0 at 49:46 on the clock. Emily Royson passed to freshman Devin Lynch, who flicked a perfect ball to Cooper in the middle of the field. Cooper got in-between the Louisville defenders and beat them to the box, where she finished into the right corner.
•   Freshman Kat Rader got into the action at the 65:37 mark as she blasted a right-footed shot from 20-yards off assists from Olivia Migli and Cooper.
•   The Blue Devils capped the scoring in the 71st minute as Delaney Graham sent a high, long pass down the middle of the field. Cooper caught up to the ball and one-timed a cross into the box with her left foot, where Rader was waiting to head in her second goal of the match.
•   Duke finished the match with a season-high 25 shots, while limiting Louisville to only three.

Notes
•   Kat Rader collected two goals in a match for the second time this season, while Michelle Cooper had two goals for the sixth time over her career and fourth time this year.
•   Cooper had a season-high eight shots in the match.
•   Cooper's six points tied a career high on the afternoon. She owns 23 goals as a Blue Devil and needs one more to match Caitlin Connolly (24) for the Duke record for most goals through a sophomore season.
•   Delaney Graham tied a career high with two assists.
•   Olivia Migli notched her fourth assist this season and has tallied a goal or assist in five out of the last eight matches.
•   Grace Watkins posted her first start of the season and second of her career.
•   Mackenzie Pluck played in her 100th career match.
•   Duke featured its 10th different starting lineup this season.

Quotes
"What a great senior day. It started early yesterday with our senior banquet. We had a wonderful meal honoring our seniors, great speeches and you could feel the love in that room for our seniors. You could feel the love and impact that all of our seniors have had on this program. I couldn't be more happy. This is a really big-time win for us. I am really proud of our performance from start to finish. It's time that we make a statement, make the stand that you have to come through Duke."    – Duke head coach Robbie Church

"This was fantastic. I am so happy right now. The six seniors mean so much to me, obviously. To come out here, of course first to get the three points was super important for us here at the end of the season was huge, but even more so doing it with all of us on the field and just having fun with it. It was a great way to have a last home game Koskinen together."    – Duke senior Ruthie Jones

"I think it was huge for us. For us to come out and really put a statement today, after just tying Clemson is massive. Especially, for the seniors. That is all we wanted to do. Work hard for them and put our best out today, which was great."    – Duke sophomore Michelle Cooper

"I don't know what our team would be without them. They are great people, fun to hang out with, work their butts off on the field and in the classroom - they are always there to help you. Without them, it is definitely going to be rough, but is nice to celebrate for now." – Duke sophomore Michelle Cooper

Next Match
Duke will close the regular season on Thursday, Oct. 27 at fifth-ranked Notre Dame. The game is slated to be aired live on ACC Network at 8 p.m.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWSOC".

#GoDuke