Duke Blanks App. State, 6-0
September 17, 2015
DURHAM, N.C. – After scoring only six goals over the last six matches, the 21st-ranked Duke women’s soccer team erupted for six tallies in a 6-0 blanking of Appalachian State Thursday evening at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.
The Blue Devils improved to 6-2-1 on the season and concluded non-conference action. Duke will next host second-ranked Florida State Sunday, Sept. 20 at 1:00 p.m., in the ACC opener.
“We played really well, really, really well,” said Duke head coach Robbie Church. “That is a good team. They had a great start to the year, have two quality wins on their schedule and only given up five goals coming into this match. It wasn’t them, we just played really well. I knew it was coming. We played together, we shared the ball and brought our scoring shoes today. That was great. We have been looking for those scoring shoes to for a while and they finally came. I was very, very happy with us. I thought we were excellent tonight.”
As soon as the first whistle blew, the Blue Devils started on the attack. In the first two minutes freshman Taylor Racioppi found herself with the ball in front of the goal, but her attempt went high over the crossbar.
After continuing to maintain possession, Duke was finally able to get a goal on the board in the 21st minute. Junior Toni Payne was fouled approximately 25 yards out, which led to a free kick by Ashton Miller. Miller, who hails from Okemos, Mich., sent a pass across to junior Rebecca Quinn, who blasted a shot from 30 yards out that hit the top left corner. A product of Toronto, Canada, Quinn notched her first goal of the season and third of her career.
With the goal, Duke snapped a streak of three straight matches of allowing the first goal.
Just before the end of the first half, freshman Chelsea Burns sent a pass into the box to sophomore Imani Dorsey. Dorsey went towards the left post and tapped the ball behind her to junior Christina Gibbons, who placed in her first goal of the season to put Duke ahead, 2-0.
At the end of the first half, Duke held a 12-2 shot advantage led by two each from Quinn, Cassie Pecht and Kayla McCoy.
Duke kicked off the second half in impressive fashion posting a goal just 33 seconds into the stanza. Freshman Kat McDonald fed a through ball in-between Mountaineer defenders and Pecht used her left foot to put the ball into the right corner past ASU keeper Megan Roberson.
Less than three minutes later McDonald sent a pass to the outside of the 18 to Dorsey, who crossed in a perfect ball in front of the goal to a sliding Pecht. A product of Mechanicsburg, Pa., Pecht used her toe to push in her third goal of the season just inside the left post.
The Blue Devils led 4-0 just 48:13 into the match.
Pecht’s goal just 33 seconds into the second half is the second-quickest tally in the second half in Duke history. It was six seconds later than Kasey Truman’s goal Oct. 30, 1998, which was only 27 seconds into the stanza.
After a throw-in from sophomore Morgan Reid, McCoy sent in a shot that deflected off an ASU defender and inside the right post to give Duke a 5-0 advantage through 58 minutes.
Duke added a late goal in the 82nd minute as Miller rocketed a 25-yard free kick, which marked her second goal of the season.
With the 6-0 advantage, Duke matched the most goals scored at home since Oct. 27, 2013 against Pittsburgh.
“The past couple of games we have really struggled getting the ball into the back of the net so I think this was a great game for us,” said Pecht. “For us to put six in the back is amazing. We played awesome and I think it showed.”
For the match, the Blue Devils outshot Appalachian State, 27-5, as McCoy finished with a game-high four attempts, while Pecht added four. McDonald, who is a product of Raleigh, N.C., totaled her first two career assists on the night.
Sophomore EJ Proctor and redshirt freshman Abby Pyne combined to post the sixth shutout of the season for Duke as both netminders added one save each.
Duke will remain home this weekend as the Blue Devils will welcome reigning NCAA Champion Florida State at 1 p.m. The match will be aired live on Blue Devil Network+ via www.GoDuke.com.
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