CHAPEL HILL -- It was an up-and-down weekend for Duke's field hockey team, as the Blue Devils' performance assured them a place in the school's record books but left them less than pleased.
Duke split a pair of games, losing to No. 2 North Carolina 4-1 Friday night in Chapel Hill, then beat visiting Boston 7-0 at Williams Field Sunday afternoon.
The lopsided win over the Terriers improves the No. 4 Blue Devils' record to 9-2 overall (0-2 in the ACC) and matches Duke's 1990 squad for the best start in team history.
Still, a slow start against the over-matched Terriers followed a disappointing loss to the Tar Heels, leaving some frustrated Blue Devils on the field after both games.
"The weekend went poorly," junior Gracie Sorbello said. "We should have won against UNC, and we should have played a lot better today [against BU]."
Duke started off slowly against unranked Boston University, letting the Terriers generate several scoring chances in the early-going. Blue Devil goalie Christy Morgan made five saves in the first half, including a pair of diving saves on breakaways.
"It took us a good 30 minutes to get into the game," head coach Beth Bozman said. "The last five minutes of the first half we were fine."
The Blue Devils seemed to awaken midway through the first half and then snap into focus towards the end of the period, getting in three goals in the those last five minutes to push the lead to 5-0 going into the second period.
Duke also scored two goals 15 and 20 minutes into the game, including Gracie Sorbello's ninth score of the year, on which Johanna Bischof assisted.
Bischof, a junior from North Vancouver, B.C., scored once and assisted on four other scores on the day; she now has a team-leading 16 assists on the year, which places her near the top of the nation in that category.
Duke continued its strong play in the second half, limiting Boston to just one shot in the last 35 minutes of play.
"It's always hard coming off a loss," said freshmen Amy Stopford, who scored twice on the day. "I felt like we responded pretty well." Friday's game played to a similar script, but, ironically, it was the Tar Heels who came out ahead, making more of their scoring chances, however, despite the Blue Devils' controlling the ball for most of the second period. North Carolina scored the game's first and second goals and then scored its third goal of the game less than a minute after Duke's Sorbello cut the margin to 2-1.
The loss to the No. 4 Tar Heels (10-1, 1-1 in the ACC) drops Duke's in-conference record to 0-2 and extends the Blue Devils' losing streak to North Carolina to 48 straight games--not that the name of the opponent matters to Bozman.
"I do not like to lose any games," Bozman said. "I do not care who it is."
Jason Strasser contributed to this report.
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