McVeigh Pushes No. 5 Duke Past No. 15 Harvard in 2OT

Sunday, September 24

Cambridge, Mass.

12 p.m.

Duke University

(8-1)

Harvard

(5-3)

Duke University

Harvard

Alaina McVeigh dribbles past a Longwood defender

Photo by: Duke Athletics

McVeigh Pushes No. 5 Duke Past No. 15 Harvard in 2OT

9/24/2023 4:11:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Duke sophomore Alaina McVeigh deked her defender and lifted a shot to the far post to lift the fifth-ranked Blue Devils to a 2-1 double overtime victory at No. 15 Harvard in non-conference field hockey action Sunday afternoon.

The overtime winner was the second this season for McVeigh as the talented forward notched her 10th goal in nine games. The Blue Devils extend their win streak to six games, improving to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in true road contests. The Crimson fall to 5-3 on the season.

How it Happened

The Blue Devils and Crimson headed into overtime after the two squads traded goals throughout the 60 minutes of regulation. Neither team scored in the first extra session, setting up the winner for McVeigh.
Duke got into the circle right away in the second overtime, earning three consecutive penalty corners in the first minute of action. The third proved to be the charm as sophomore Macy Szukics pushed the ball to Charlie van Oirschot. Kira Curland took the stick-stop and the ball to the right where McVeigh deftly beat the Harvard defender and lifted a shot over the shoulder of the Crimson goalie for the win.
Piper Hampsch made three saves in the game to record her eighth win of the year.
Duke scored first in the game, needing just 51 seconds to get on the board. Junior Logan Clouser was credited with the goal as her shot off the penalty deflected off the stick of a Harvard defender and into the cage. Hannah Miller provided the insert van Oirschot had the stop and pass to Clouser for the assists.
Hampsch came up with a big save two minutes later, kicking away a Bronte-May Brough shot through traffic.
After about an hour delay due to an injury to a referee the game resumed with the Blue Devils holding a 1-0 lead with 7:11 left to play.
Brough capitalized in the second quarter on a penalty corner, putting her shot past Hampsch to tie the game 1-1.
Harvard had much of the possession in the first half of the second period and stifled the Blue Devil offense for much of the quarter while holding them without a shot and a without a penalty corner. Duke nearly took the lead in the final seconds, but the whistle went against the Blue Devils and the teams headed into halftime knotted at 1-1.
The Blue Devils came out on the front foot in the third quarter and took a 2-1 lead 3:34 into the stanza. Kira Curland had the goal for Duke, hitting in a rebound from a save from Harvard goalie Tessa Shahbo. Alaina McVeigh had the initial shot the rebounded out to Curland for her third goal of the season.
Hampsch came up with another good save in the final 40 seconds of the third quarter, sending Duke into the final 15 minutes with the 2-1 advantage.
Similar to the second quarter, Harvard tied the game once again in the 54th minute when Lucy Leel got loose on a breakaway and pushed the ball through Hampsch's legs.
All even at two apiece, Duke withstood pressure from the Crimson and nearly took the lead on a counterattack late in regulation. The ball bounced around in the circle, but Duke couldn't find the back of the cage.
Duke earned a penalty corner with six seconds left. Miller received a pass back off the insert, but had her shot blocked as the Blue Devils headed to overtime for the second consecutive game.
The Blue Devils outshot Harvard, 12-9, and held a slight 9-8 edge in penalty corners. Shahbo finished with four saves for Harvard in the cage.

Notes

The Blue Devils moved to 3-0 in overtime games this season, 57-58-7 all-time in overtime games and 11-17-1 in double overtime. Duke is 1-0 against the Crimson.
Duke has won six straight, the longest win streak since starting the 2019 season 7-0.
Alaina McVeigh notched her third game-winning goal of the season and second in overtime. She has at least one goal in eight of nine games this season.
Duke improves to 5-1 against ranked opponents this season. The Blue Devils had 10 top-25 wins in 2019.
Hannah Miller registered an assist to give her 26 for her career, tying her for 15th on the Duke list. She now has 86 career points to pull within one point of tying Ashley Kristen for 16th all-time at Duke.
Piper Hampsch's three saves give her 237 for her career, one shy of moving into the eighth spot on Duke's career chart.