CARY, N.C. — From the opening whistle, the tactical chess match between Duke and Florida State began.

As they have in previous tournament games, the Blue Devils dropped deep, looking to limit scoring chances for the Seminoles. FSU came out and played its possession game, passing and probing, searching and sifting for openings.

In the end, the opportunities never really materialized.

Duke held strong, executed its game plan to near perfection, and two superb counter-attacking efforts sent the defending champions home. Kayla McCoy bagged a massive goal in the 32nd minute, and Toni Payne put the game to bed, scoring with one second left in regulation to secure Duke’s spot in Sunday’s final.

After the game, Head Coach Robbie Church was asked about how close to perfect his team executed the game plan.

“Pretty close,” he replied. “It worked very, very well.”

Through the game’s first 15 minutes, it looked like Florida State would run riot, despite Duke's defensive efforts. In the second minute, Duke goalkeeper EJ Proctor made a point blank save on Cheyna Williams, when an opportunity fell to the senior striker in the goalmouth. Only a split-second reaction save kept Williams from netting the opener. Fifteen minutes later, Duke midfielder Ashton Miller saved Natalia Kuikka’s shot off the line when Kaycie Tillman’s cut back found her in front of goal.

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“We struggled a little bit early in the game,” Duke head coach Robbie Church said. “Florida State came out and played very, very well. Put us on our back foot some.”

Surviving the jittery start became a turning point for the Blue Devils. Once Duke settled into the game the young but talented team looked more and more comfortable, knowing when to sit back and when to strike. The runs of Toni Payne, Casey Martinez and Imani Dorsey started to stretch and pull Florida State’s defense in ways few teams had managed throughout the season.

One of Payne’s mazy runs opened up space for McCoy’s strike in the 32nd minute. Taking possession on the right flank, the attacker cut back into the middle of the field, dragging four FSU defenders with her. Payne slipped in a ball into the path of McCoy, who was making a run towards the near post. With her back to defender Kirsten Crowley, the freshman took a touch, turned Crowley and fired a low shot that beat goalkeeper Cassie Miller.

“In a game like this, the first goal is so, so big,” Church said. “Great little build up, and the turn in the box and finish. Kayla’s done that all year. Given us big goals.”

Florida State Head Coach Mark Krikorian knew that Duke’s first goal changed the complexion of the matchup.

“Certainly had we scored the first, maybe they have to step a little bit higher, play a bit higher and bring a little more to the game in that regard,” he said. “That being said, even though they did score the first goal, it was reasonably early in the game, we had a lot of time to come back. It seemed though as the game was going, I don’t know if we had played another hour whether we would have scored or not.”

Little changed for either side after the goal. The Seminoles continued to search, to pass and possess the ball. Isabella Schmid had a half chance that she skewed wide of Proctor’s goal. Plenty of time was left.

The Blue Devils maintained their defensive approach in the second half, with a little pep in their step. They also shifted into a 4-5-1 formation to try and continue and clog up space for FSU’s central attackers. Megan Connolly and Cheyna Williams had little joy as they searched for scoring opportunities, while Schmid and Connolly both had efforts shots blocked early in the second half.

At the other end, Duke’s counter attack remained menacing. Payne produced another dangerous moment in the 51st minute. After pouncing on a failed clearance by Megan Campbell, Payne managed to create separation with Carson Pickett running at her into the penalty area, but her blast struck the crossbar.

“Once Toni gets the ball, and she’s facing up, she’s running at you, oh wow,” Church said. “I don’t want to be a defender on the end of that.”

Despite enjoying the majority of the possession, as the second half progressed, Florida State failed to carve out the same dangerous opportunities they did earlier in the game. The best chance of an equalizer came in the 73rd minute. A rare mistake saw Kaycie Tillman get in behind the Duke back line. But she dwelled a bit too long on the ball, allowing center back Lizzy Raben to poke the ball away from Tillman with a sliding challenge, and the danger was cleared.

As the minutes ticked off the clock, and Florida State threw numbers forward, Duke added a fifth defender to the mix. As they battled, lunged and did whatever they could to protect the 1-0 lead, space continued to open on the counter. With ten minutes left, Ashton Miller blasted a shot high of the goal from a break.

Eventually, Payne finished off the final counter of the game, a fitting end to a tremendous individual and team performance – as Duke put to bed FSU’s hopes of a second straight national title.

“I thought for much of the game we played quite well,” Krikorian said. “But today we lost to a team that played better than we did.”