Blue Devils Finish with 1-1 Draw at Boston College

 

September 24, 2015

 

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – After dominating the run of play for most of the match at Boston College, 19^th-ranked Duke finished with a 1-1 draw against the Eagles at The Newton Soccer Field Thursday evening.  It marked the second straight ACC match the Blue Devils have tied, after opening action Sunday versus Florida State. 

 

With the draw, Duke moved to 6-2-3 overall and 0-0-2 in ACC action, while Boston College is now 7-3-1, 1-0-1. 

 

“I am very proud of how we prepared ourselves and how we came out and executed tonight,” said Duke head coach Robbie Church.  “I thought we played really, really well.  Coming up here is a tough place for us to play.  I thought our team was terrific tonight.  I thought we moved the ball and we dominated the match.”

 

The Blue Devils opened the match on the attack and never let up on the cool evening in Massachusetts.  Duke featured five shots over the first 15:44, but couldn’t get anything to cross the line. 

 

Duke got on the board towards the end of the first half as junior Christina Gibbons streaked up the sideline.  After running from her defensive position down the middle of the field, junior Rebecca Quinn received the ball about 24 yards out and rocketed it to the left of the goal.  Boston College keeper Alexis Bryant almost grabbed the ball, but it trickled through her hands into the near post. 

 

Quinn, who is from Toronto, Canada, notched her second goal of the season and fourth of her career. 

 

At the end of the first half, Duke held an 11-2 shot advantage. 

 

Boston College evened the match in the 51^st minute as Hayley Dowd one-timed a ball from the corner for her sixth goal of the season. 

 

Duke outshot the Eagles, 12-4, in the second half but continued to misfire on its attempts.  At the end of the 90 minutes, the Blue Devils outshot Boston College, 23-6. 

 

In the final 20 minutes of overtime, the Blue Devils outshot the Eagles, 8-4, but the match would eventually end in a draw, 1-1. 

 

Duke concluded the match with a 31-10 shot advantage led by a career-high nine attempts by freshman Taylor Racioppi.  Kayla McCoy, Toni Payne and Cassie Pecht each added four shots each. 

 

“We are pressing a little bit around the goal area; right now we are just hitting balls at goalkeepers, but that is going to change,” said Church.  “The kids are doing a fantastic job of preparing themselves.  I really couldn’t be happier how we are playing and the style we are playing.  We need to keep working hard on our decisions in the final third and they are going to go in the goal.  We just have to keep believing ourselves, doing what we are doing and we will be fine.”

 

In goal for the Blue Devils, sophomore EJ Proctor notched two saves over 110 minutes of action.  Bryant added five saves in goal for the Eagles.

 

Duke will continue its ACC road swing as the Blue Devils will travel to top-ranked Virginia Sunday, Sept. 27 at 2:00 p.m.

 

#GoDuke