Blue Devils & Irish Tie, 2-2, to Conclude Regular Season

Thursday, October 27

Notre Dame, Ind.

8 P.M.

Duke University

11-4-2, 6-2-2

Notre Dame

14-2-1, 7-2-1

Duke

Notre Dame

Photo by: Notre Dame Athletics

Blue Devils & Irish Tie, 2-2, to Conclude Regular Season

10/27/2022 10:56:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)CHURCH INTERVIEW

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – In a battle of two top-11 ranked teams on Thursday in Notre Dame, Ind., the No. 11 Duke women's soccer team tied No. 4 Notre Dame, 2-2, to conclude the regular season at Alumni Stadium.

With the draw, the Blue Devils concluded the regular season with an 11-4-2 overall and 6-2-2 ACC ledger, while the Irish moved to 14-2-1, 7-2-1. Duke finished the season in a tie for fourth place in the ACC with 20 points and earned the No. 5 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils will travel to Charlottesville, Va., for a quarterfinal match against Virginia on Sunday, Oct. 30.

How It Happened
•   Notre Dame attempted the first five shots of the match, before Duke junior Katie Groff headed in a ball from Sophie Jones that was saved by the Irish in the 29th minute.
•   The Blue Devils featured their first scoring chance in the box as graduate student Delaney Graham crossed a ball inside the box, but it went just past three Blue Devils and Duke was not able to get a shot off.
•   At the 37:20 mark, graduate student Jenna Royson sent a high pass towards the Notre Dame goal box where sophomore Michelle Cooper used a touch and then blasted a right-footed shot that hit the far post and went in the goal to give Duke a 1-0 lead.
•   Notre Dame held a 6-2 advantage in shots at the end of the first half.
•   At the 49:43 mark, the Irish were awarded a penalty kick as Maddie Mercado was taken down in the box and Korbin Albert delivered the goal to even the match, 1-1.
•   Duke regained the lead, 2-1, at the 70:51 as freshman Devin Lynch pushed the ball up past midfield to junior Maggie Graham. Graham squeezed a feed up the middle of the pitch towards the goal to freshman Kat Rader, who cut back and used her left foot to fire a shot into the far corner of the goal off the hands of the Irish keeper and into the net.
•   Less than two minutes later, Notre Dame evened the score, 2-2, again as Albert registered her second goal of the contest.
•   With four minutes remaining, Cooper fed graduate student Mackenzie Pluck inside the box, but Notre Dame keeper Mackenzie Wood came out to make the stop on the shot.
•   For the match, Notre Dame held an 18-7 advantage in shots.

Notes
•   Jenna Royson collected her first assist as a Blue Devil and sixth of her career.
•   Michelle Cooper has now scored or assisted in 25 of her 34 matches played as a Blue Devil.
•   With Cooper's first-half goal, she now owns 24 through her sophomore season, which is tied for the Duke record for most goals through a sophomore campaign along with Caitlin Connelly (24).
•   The first-half goal for the Blue Devils was the first allowed by Notre Dame since Sept. 25 versus Pittsburgh. It snapped a streak of 699:19 minutes without allowing a goal.
•   Devin Lynch collected an assist for the second straight match and third on the season.
•   Maggie Graham notched her fifth assist of the season and eighth of her career. She has assisted on goals in four out of the last six contests.
•   Kat Rader totaled her 10th goal of the season, which ranks tied for third on the Duke freshman season record charts. Cooper owns the record with 12.
•   Rader owns 22 points on the year, which ranks tied for seventh in the Blue Devil freshman record books.
•   Blue Devil goalkeeper Ruthie Jones finished with a season-high eight saves.
•   Duke allowed a season-high 18 shots.

Quotes
"I am really, really proud of our ladies. We did a great job and scored two really nice goals. It was a fun college match to watch. We have some areas that we have to clear up as we go to Virginia, but we are excited about going to Virginia. We are excited about a chance to win a trophy for the ACC Championship and that is our goal for the next week. That was a great college game and I think you have both teams trajectory is really high and both teams can go deep in the NCAA Tournament."    – Duke head coach Robbie Church

Next Match
Duke will play at Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday, Oct. 30. It will be at either 6 p.m., or 8 p.m., live on ACC Network.

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