Despite having fewer shots in the game and scoring fewer goals than No. 5 Georgetown in the second half, No. 6 Duke came out victorious 10-8 Saturday at Koskinen Stadium, bringing the Blue Devils their third consecutive win within a week.
“Obviously I’m thrilled with the win,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “Georgetown is a great team. Overall, [we had] a great team effort and a tough effort. That’s what I care about.”
The Blue Devils exhibited strong defense, forcing the Hoyas (2-2) into 21 total turnovers while only committing eight themselves in each half. The victory brought Duke to a 7-1 record and helped prepare the relatively young team for its critical matchup with ACC foe Virginia Tech in an away contest Wednesday.
After losing most of the team’s top scorers to graduation, Duke has been looking to rebuild its offense, as well as figure out its defensive alignments with a new goalie in net. With injured sophomore Mollie Mackler out, freshman Katilin Gaiss has stepped in.
The newcomer did not disappoint in Saturday’s game. Gaiss made eight saves and collected three ground balls for Duke against the Hoyas.
“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of Kaitlin Gaiss,” Kimel said. “I’m so proud of the way she performed today, coming in as a freshman and having not competed all year.”
And with a victory over another highly-ranked team, the Blue Devils seem to be gaining momentum and increasing team cohesion and communication to accomplish their goal of becoming regular season ACC champions.
Before the season is over, however, Duke hopes to win a title the right way—by keeping possession, dictating tempo and not turning the ball over, something the team appeared to do in the game against Georgetown.
“We had a great first half, [and] our defense was fantastic,” Kimel said. “Our second half could’ve been a lot cleaner, but what you saw was the fact that [we’ve] played three games in seven days. We could have done a much better job of executing offensively in the second half, which is something we’re going to work on.”
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