ACC Champions! Duke Knocks Off No. 2 Wake Forest, 2-0, to Win Title

Sunday, October 27

Winston-Salem, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

13-1-1, 8-0-1

Wake Forest

11-3-2, 6-2-1

Duke

Wake Forest

Photo by: Duke Athletics

ACC Champions! Duke Knocks Off No. 2 Wake Forest, 2-0, to Win Title

10/27/2024 9:59:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Oliaro Interview Photo Gallery Church Interview Photo Gallery

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – For the fourth time in program history, the Duke women's soccer team are ACC Regular Season Champions as the No. 1 ranked Blue Devils went on the road Sunday evening and knocked off No. 2 ranked Wake Forest, 2-0, in front of a record crowd of 3,761 fans at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem.

The Blue Devils received a brace from sophomore Mia Oliaro in the second half, while the Duke defense was stellar collecting its eighth shutout of the season. With the win, Duke moved to 13-1-1 overall and 8-0-1 in the ACC. The Blue Devils' 25 points secured the regular season title with one match remaining. Wake Forest fell to 11-3-2, 6-2-1 in the league.

Other Duke ACC regular season titles occurred in 1994, 2011 and 2017. Three of the four have come under the direction of head coach Robbie Church.

How It Happened

The first half featured only seven shots combined with Duke leading the way with a 4-3 advantage.The halftime score was knotted 0-0.Mia Oliaro, Carina Lageyre, Hannah Bebar and Farrah Walters each had a shot.
Wake Forest had the first chance of the second half as a handball was called on Duke just outside the top of the box, but Emily Colton's attempt sailed high at the 48:15 mark.
The Blue Devils came back and put a goal on the board at the 51:40 ledger.Bebar sent a corner kick from the right side to Cameron Roller, who fed a streaking Katie Groff.Groff, who hails from Raleigh, N.C., drove to the end line and sent a cross in front of the goal where Mia Minestrella flicked it to Oliaro, who finished in the back of the net.
Duke made it 2-0 for the Blue Devils in the 70th minute as Oliaro notched her second brace over the last three matches.Bebar fed Oliaro down the right flank and she drove towards the top right corner of the box. Oliaro faked right and went left and blasted a 19-yard attempt with her left foot over the head of Wake Forest keeper Valentina Amaral in the top left corner of the net.
The Demon Deacons never had any dangerous scoring opportunities following the free kick early in the second half.
For the match, Duke held an 11-7 shot advantage with Oliaro pacing the Blue Devils with four.

Notes

Duke scored two or more goals for the 11th-straight contest.
The Blue Devils totaled eight ACC wins for the fourth time in program history and the first time since 2017.
Leah Freeman played the entire 90 minutes in goal and finished with one save. She totaled her fourth shutout this season and 27th over her career.
For only the third time this season, Duke was held without a goal in the first half (Ohio State, California).
Mia Oliaro totaled a goal or assist for the eighth straight match, which ties a season high for Duke and the second-best streak in Blue Devil history. It is also the longest current streak in the ACC.
Oliaro totaled her third game-winning goal, all of which have come against ACC foes (SMU and Virginia).
Oliaro's 20 points in ACC play tied a Duke single-season record.
Sophomore Sam Bodensteiner made her first collegiate start on defense in place of graduate student Nicky Chico, who had to sit out due to receiving a red card in the last match. Bodensteiner played the entire 90 minutes in the win.
Sophomore Mia Minestrella made her first start of the season and third of her short career.
Minestrella totaled a goal or assist for the fourth straight match.
The two goals allowed by Wake Forest matched a season high (California).

Quotes

"It's honestly surreal. This team - we just came out and fought so hard, we've been fighting so hard all season.We really just played as a unit and we played with so much passion and it really showed out there on the field. Coming out in the second half -- being able to get up and just maintain that momentum, everybody played their role and it was so awesome to see it all come together.I am so happy for us."-- Duke sophomore Mia Oliaro
"It is awesome!An awesome feeling.I am just so proud of this team.First of all, I really want [to thank] my coaching staff, with Kieran [Hall], Carla [Overbeck] and Jason [Lowe] have done an unbelievable job this year.How you see us play and what we're doing, it [the credit] goes to that group, they've just been fantastic. And the players, you know since day one, we've talked about it a number of times. They wanted to be great. They wanted to win trophies, they wanted to win championships, and for us to come out here in front of the biggest crowd they've ever had at this stadium, and after playing Thursday night against Notre Dame in a game like that.To come out and really dominate the game was unbelievable.We have the heart of champions. So, I'm just very, very happy for the players, a lot of them, this is their first trophy that we've had in a while. So they're all experiencing the first and they see hard work that goes into it. Last year, we weren't sitting here holding trophies at this time of year, but this year, it's a completely different year with them.Really the commitment that they've made in every area and every facet of their game, and to you know this is a proper reward for them is to get this championship."-- Duke head coach Robbie Church

Next Match

Duke closes the regular season Thursday, Oct. 31 with a road contest at fourth-ranked North Carolina at 7 p.m., in Chapel Hill.The match will be aired live on ACC Network Extra.

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

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