After a three-game stretch that saw the women's soccer team outscored 13-1 by its opponents, there was no doubt Duke's offense was ailing.
It turns out a dose of Kasey Truman was just what the doctor ordered.
Playing up front for most of the game, Truman scored the game-winning goal and set up another to help the Blue Devils snap a three-game losing streak as they shut out UNC Charlotte, 2-0, at Duke Soccer Stadium last night.
Truman scored the only goal Duke would need in the 22nd minute. Emily Feeney was tripped up trying to burst through the middle of the 49ers defense, but managed to put the ball out in front of her as she went down. Truman raced in for the loose ball and beat Jessica Brooks with a low shot just inside the left post.
Feeney added an insurance goal in the 71st minute when Truman almost got a bit too unselfish. After Truman shook free of her defenders down the right side of the field for an apparent breakaway, she suddenly passed the ball back across the box to Feeney.
But new keeper Kelly Sweetingham ended up out of position, allowing Truman to laugh about the play after the game.
"I didn't know if I had the angle or not," she said. "I saw the white jersey and knew that was Feeney. She's always there. So I'm glad we scored that one."
Duke goalkeeper Isis Dallis was tested only sporadically, but did make four saves while recording her first shutout of the season and the team's first since a 2-0 win against Rutgers on Sept. 6.
Coach Bill Hempen seemed especially pleased with his team's defense, which won most balls in the air and generally kept the 49ers out of Duke's end for large portions of the match.
"Not giving up any goals, for starters, was a fantastic effort," Hempen said. "I'm real happy with the way that turned out. What a hard-working game that was for us."
Making the work even harder was a combination of clutching and grabbing from the 49er defense and some head-scratching officiating. Feeney drew a yellow card in the 13th minute for complaining about her jersey being held, one of four yellows handed out in all.
"They kept grabbing our shirts and everything," said Truman in defense of her teammate. "I think we were a bit quicker than their defense, so they just tried everything to just kind of stop us and frustrate us. But we found our ways to get behind them."
Hempen admitted to some feelings of nervousness until the second Duke goal was scored, no doubt brought on by a sense of deja vu left over from the Blue Devils' last outing. After holding a 1-0 halftime lead at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem on Sunday, things fell apart in the second half in the midst of a 4-1 Wake Forest victory.
"It was more of the same that's been happening to us all year," Hempen said. "We were pretty much in control of the game, and then we gave up a goal. We kind of had a mentality of, 'here we go again', and here we go again happened.
"Then we try and get people forward and try and get the equalizer. You do that, and you end up getting exposed in the back, which is what ended up happening."
Truman played forward, marking back and goalkeeper in the Wake Forest game, but Duke clearly needed her up front on Tuesday. Her offensive presence just might help her team find that all-important insurance goal-Duke is now 7-1 when scoring at least two goals-as the Blue Devils enter their final four matches of the season.
In a game she described as a must-win, Truman shared the credit for making the offense feel healthy again at last.
"It was awesome to finally put some away," she said. "Our team defense really stepped it up, and that sets everything up, all the way from the midfield up front. That's how we scored the goals, and it was awesome."
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