Duke Falls, 3-1, to No. 4 Virginia in ACC Action

 

October 23, 2014

 

DURHAM, N.C. – For the second straight year, the Duke women’s soccer team took a lead against nationally ranked Virginia into the second half, but allowed three unanswered goals on its way to falling, 3-1, to the fourth-ranked Cavaliers at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

 

With the loss, the Blue Devils drop to 7-8-1 overall and 3-4-1 in ACC action, while the Cavaliers improved to 15-1, 7-1. 

 

Virginia opened the match on the attack with the first two shots of the contest, but freshman EJ Proctor saved both.  Proctor, a product of Wilson, N.C., was making her first collegiate start after coming off the bench in her previous 10 matches. 

 

Duke came back to take the next two shots by senior Kelly Cobb and Toni Payne.  Shortly after Payne attempted her first shot, she had some great hustle to take the ball away from two Virginia defenders just at the edge of the box.  Payne, who is from Birmingham, Ala., drove towards the goal and placed a right-footed shot perfectly into the top right corner of the net where Cavalier keeper Morgan Stearns had no chance to save it. 

 

“Toni had a great little turn in the box, kind of split two people, won the tackle and finished it really, really well,” said Church.  “I thought we had some build-up because we had some great combinations before that.  I thought we played really, really well in the first half.”

 

The goal for Duke was only the third over the last six matches, but it was Payne’s team-leading sixth tally. 

 

Less than five minutes later Cobb made a quick turn outside the box and blasted a left-footed shot, but it slipped just outside the left post. 

 

In the 38^th minute, senior Gilda Doria fired a corner kick to the head of junior defender Kara Wilson.  A native of Potomac, Md., Wilson headed the ball into the ground and after taking a high bounce a Cavalier keeper deflected it onto the crossbar and went outside the box.  Senior Katy Colas added another shot wide shortly after as well.

 

At the end of the first half, Virginia pressed hard and nearly got a goal but Proctor made her fourth first half save as she somehow got her leg on an attempt. 

 

Duke led 1-0 at the break and held a 7-6 shot advantage.  In the meeting last season in Durham, the Blue Devils held a 2-0 halftime advantage against the top-ranked Cavaliers. 

 

After a header shot by Doria just 2:40 into the second half that was saved, Virginia took control of the match. 

 

Kaili Torres sent a long pass down the middle of the field towards Makenzy Doniak.  Proctor came out of the box to try to get the ball, but Doniak beat her to it and was able to make a move around Proctor and finish off her 11^th goal of the season into an open net.

 

“Unfortunately, we gave up an early goal in the second half,” said Church.  “The momentum, with a young team like we are, started to shift and our focus dropped a little bit.  We are having a really hard time sustaining at this level of play.”

 

With the match tied, 1-1, it took less than 10 minutes for the high-scoring Cavaliers took the lead.  Danielle Colaprico sent a corner kick to the head of Tina Iordanou at the 57:04 mark and she finished it off into the top left corner to take a 2-1 advantage.

 

As Duke tried to push forward and even the match late, Morgan Reuther added in a goal at the 87:27 mark to move the ledger to 3-1. 

 

Proctor finished the night with six saves over 90 minutes, while Stevens added two saves for Virginia. 

 

Virginia outshot Duke 6-3 in the second half and finished with a 12-10 advantage for the match.  Cobb led the Blue Devils with three attempts, while Payne added two.   

Duke will next host Boston College Sunday, Oct. 26 at 1:00 p.m.  The match will mark senior day for seven Blue Devils. 

 

#GoDuke