No. 6 Blue Devils Fall to No. 2 North Carolina

Friday, November 1

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

(11-5, 6-2)

North Carolina

(15-0, 8-0)

North Carolina

Duke University

Duke field hockey seniors and grads group photo after a game

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 6 Blue Devils Fall to No. 2 North Carolina

11/1/2024 9:11:00 PM | Field Hockey

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DURHAM, N.C. — Second-ranked North Carolina scored twice in the opening 10 minutes and held off the No. 6 Blue Devils for a 5-2 victory in ACC Field Hockey action Friday evening on Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium.

The two squads combined to score four goals in the first quarter as the Tar Heels captured the ACC regular season title and No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC Championship. Duke (11-5, 6-2) earned the No. 2 seed and will play Wake Forest in the quarterfinals Nov. 5 at 3:30 p.m. Josephine Palde and Alaina McVeigh registered goals for the Blue Devils.

How it Happened

North Carolina got on the board just 44 seconds into the game as Sanne Hak took a pass from Ryleigh Heck and lifted over the shoulder of Duke goalkeeper Frederique Wollaert.
Avery Donahue made it 2-0 Tar Heels 10 minutes later. Wollaert made a stop on a Heck shot, but the rebound fell right to the stick of Donahue who put it away high into the right corner.
The Blue Devils responded two minutes later to make it a 2-1 game. Charlie van Oirschot dribbled through a couple of UNC defenders and slipped the ball to Palde who calmly collected the pass and slid it past Tar Heel keeper Abigail Taylor.
The momentum shifted right back to North Carolina 40 seconds later from an unassisted goal by Heck, putting the Tar Heels up 3-1 after 15 minutes.
The second quarter was an even affair with both teams taking three shots apiece. The Blue Devils maintained good possession and had dangerous attacks in the final seven minutes but were unable to cut into the two-goal deficit and headed into halftime down, 3-1.
Duke continued to stay on the front foot in the third quarter and outshot the Tar Heels, 3-1. The Blue Devils earned a pair of penalty corners, but once again could not solve the North Carolina defense.
The offensive firepower returned in the fourth quarter when Charly Bruder connected on a penalty corner with 5:11 remaining to make it a 4-1 game.
McVeigh answered two minutes later, redirecting a sweep from Macy Szukics on a penalty corner.
North Carolina iced the victory with an empty net goal in the final three minutes. Katie Dixon capped the scoring for the Tar Heels.
Statistically, the game was even with North Carolina holding a narrow 10-9 edge in shots and Duke winning the penalty corner battle, 4-3. Wollaert made four saves for the Blue Devils while Taylor had three stops for UNC.

Notes

Duke recognized its 13 graduate students and seniors – Bronwyn Bird, Barb Civitella, Hannah Maxwell, Charlie van Oirschot, Fred Wollaert, Shelby Bumgarner, Issy Carey, Logan Clouser, Kira Curland, Megan Maransky, Grace Norair, Josephine Palde and Taryn Ringer – following the game.
Alaina McVeigh scored her 11th goal this season and the 28th of her career. She now has 28 goals and four assists for 61 points. McVeigh is the 30th Blue Devil to reach 60 career points while her 28 goals rank tied for 21st in Duke career history. The 61 points are tied for 29th all-time in Duke lore.
Duke's shutout streak ended at 450:27 – a span of seven games between Sept. 29 and Oct. 25.
Frederique Wollaert's goals against average moves to 0.53, which would still stand as a Duke single-season record and rank tied for 22nd in NCAA single-season history.
Duke held North Carolina to just 10 shots, matching a season-low for the Tar Heels and well below their 20.8 average. The three penalty corners for North Carolina are the fewest they've had in a game this year.
The Blue Devils are the first team this season to score more than one goal against North Carolina. The Tar Heels entered the game after having given up just five goals all season.

Up Next

The Blue Devils head to the ACC Championship as the No. 2 seed. Duke takes on No. 7 seed Wake Forest, Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 3:30 p.m. The winner advances to the semifinals Nov. 6 at 3:30 p.m. The ACC Network will televise all ACC Championship games.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils field hockey, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeFH".
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