DURHAM, N.C. – Following a sluggish start on Sunday afternoon on senior day, the sixth-ranked Duke women’s soccer team registered three second half goals to take down 14th-ranked Maryland, 3-1, at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

The Blue Devils moved to 15-2-1 overall and 7-1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), while the Terrapins dropped to 9-4-4, 3-4-2 in the league.  With a North Carolina loss on Sunday at Virginia Tech, 1-0, Duke is now one victory away from claiming its second ACC regular season title in school history (1994).  With the win against Maryland, the Blue Devils set a new school record with seven ACC victories.

On Thursday, Oct. 27, Duke will close the regular season at N.C. State at 7:00 p.m., followed by the first round of the ACC Tournament on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 2:00 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.

Duke started the match with goalkeeper Emily Nahas, forward Chelsea Canepa and forward Molly Mack receiving their first start of the season on senior day.  Maryland began on the attack as the Terrapins took the first shot of the match in the second minute that was saved by Nahas.  After a Duke foul just outside the box, Maryland’s Olivia Wagner fired a shot that failed to be cleared and ended up at the feet of Lydia Hastings, who punched it just inside the right post at the 5:30 mark.

“The seniors have worked extremely hard for us the last four years,” said Duke head coach Robbie Church.  “If they are not starters, they have made the players on the field better by their hard work in training.  We are always going to reward them - we have a banquet the night before, we start our seniors - it is like a weekend for them.  They deserved that and it was the right thing to do.”  

The Blue Devils trailed, 1-0, marking only the fourth time this season Duke has been down in a match.  The goal was only the seventh allowed this season and was the earliest an opponent has scored on the Blue Devils this year.  

Following four substitutions by Duke in the 17th minute with a new trio of forwards -- Mollie Pathman, Kelly Cobb and Laura Weinberg --  along with regular goalkeeper Tara Campbell, the Blue Devils started to get more of the run of play.  

Cobb fired a shot in the 19th minute, sophomore Kaitlyn Kerr attempted a shot that was blocked and then Pathman blasted an attempt that hit off the crossbar.  Then, Weinberg added a shot for the Blue Devils in the 33rd minute, but Terrapin goalkeeper Yewande Balogun made a nice diving stop to her left.  Duke held off a late rally by Maryland in the final two minutes as the Blue Devils blocked both shots by Hayley Brock and Cory Ryan, respectively.  

At the end of the first half, Duke and Maryland were even with seven shots each, while the match was very physical as the Terrapins held a 9-7 foul advantage.  

“We were a bit fortunate to come out of the first half down 1-0, but I have to give credit to the girls for their effort in the second half,” said Church.  “We definitely have to start better and play the whole time.”

As the Blue Devils were huddling on the field prior to starting the second half, the public address announcer read off the final score of the North Carolina and Virginia Tech match with the Tar Heels falling, 1-0.  This gave Duke a little extra incentive knowing with two more wins the Blue Devils would claim the ACC regular season title.

“It was probably a great timing of it as I thought the mentality of it [the game] was shifting,” said Church on the announcing of the UNC result.  “If we needed anything else to push it over that was would have pushed it over.  I am sure they heard it on the field as they were already breaking from our huddle.  I think that did help as it probably took it to another level, but we were ready to play.  You could see it in their eyes when they came out.”

Duke wasted no time getting the equalizer as the Terrapins fouled just over the midfield mark.  Kerr, who is out of Bensalem, Pa., made a great play to quickly restart the action and feed a streaking Cobb.  A native of Chugiak, Alaska, Cobb made a great play to beat a Maryland defender and then reached out to tap the ball just past a charging Balogun.  

“We heard it right when we were in our huddle to start the second half,” commented Pathman on the final score of the North Carolina match being announced.  “I think that was somewhat of an encouragement.  I think we have always known we stood a chance, but we would have kicked ourselves if we would have lost this game and lost a chance to be No. 1 in the ACC.”

The goal for Cobb is her team-best ninth of the season and the first since the Miami match on Sept. 22.  The 5-9 forward is one shy of matching the Duke single-season record for goals by a freshman that is held by Weinberg (10).

Just over four minutes later, Duke netted the go-ahead goal at the 53:48 mark as sophomore Alex Straton made a great run down the left side and sent a pass to Pathman.  A product of Durham, N.C., Pathman used her left leg to send a high cross to the back post where redshirt sophomore Kim DeCesare headed in her second goal of the season.

“All season all I wanted was a header goals,” said DeCesare.  “So it felt pretty good.”

Duke added four more shots before notching its third goal of the second half as sophomore defender Natasha Anasi served a long pass down the field to Cobb, who made a run into the box.  Cobb fed a perfect ball to a charging Pathman, who finished her fourth goal of the season.  The Pathman-Cobb duo connected on their sixth goal of the season.

For the match, the Blue Devils outshot the Terrapins, 19-7.  Cobb and Weinberg each led Duke with three shots on the day.  

“To outshoot them 12-0 in the second half and get three goals is just an outstanding effort by our girls,” commented Church.  

Picking up her 15th win in goal was Campbell, who played the final 72:55 of the match without netting any saves or allowing a goal.  Nahas played 17 minutes and registered one save.  Balogun collected six saves for Maryland.

Duke will next travel to Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7:00 p.m., to close the regular season.

Blue Devil Notes:

•  Duke’s 15 wins on the season is tied for the third-most in school history and is two shy of matching a school record.

•  Kelly Cobb broke a six-match streak without scoring a goal.

•  Kaitlyn Kerr and Ashley Rape sang the national anthem together prior to the match.

•  Duke matched a season high with three goals in the season half (Notre Dame, Texas A&M).

•  Over the last two matches, Duke has scored five goals in the second half.

•  Kelly Cobb now owns seven assists on the season, which is tied for the third-most by a Duke freshman in school history.  Cobb’s nine goals is tied for the third-most by a Duke freshman.  She now owns 25 points on the year, which is two shy of the Duke freshman record held by Andi Melde (1994).

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