Duke continues streak, routs Virginia Tech

Coming off three straight wins against nonconference opponents, the Blue Devils were still looking for their first ACC victory Wednesday afternoon.  

No. 6 Duke (8-1, 1-1 in the ACC) was more than up to the task, cruising to an 18-6 blowout win at Virginia Tech (2-6, 0-2) in Blacksburg. Senior midfielder Lindsay Gilbride led Duke with five goals, but 10 different Blue Devils were able to score against the Hokies— including four who notched their first tallies on the year.

“The fact that we had so many different kids score is a testament to the offensive firepower that we have on the team,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “I was really pleased that, number one, so many people scored and that we were able to play a lot of people.”

The numbers Duke ran up on the offensive end belied a strong performance on the other end of the field. Kimel credited the defense’s ability to generate turnovers for much of Duke’s offensive success on the day. The Blue Devils’ defense made life easier for freshman goalie Kaitlin Gaiss, the replacement for injuried sophomore starter Mollie Mackler. Gaiss took advantage of the good defensive performance and let in only six goals in her second career start.

Duke’s strong performance came at a good time—the game was one of only five ACC matches the Blue Devils will play this year.

“Every ACC game we play is really important,” Kimel said. “Coming up here we were 0-1 in the conference, and [the game today] was on the road—these were all factors that we handled really well today.”

After her team’s performance against Virginia Tech, Kimel is looking forward to the rest of the season.

“I really wanted us to come away from the game with a really solid performance and I think we did that,” she said. “In doing that, we were able to play a lot of kids and come away with a double-digit win, and any day you can do that is a good one. We’re really happy—we’ll enjoy the day off and then start getting ourselves ready for Navy on Sunday.”