CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — After 87 deadlocked minutes, in which the Duke defense successfully stopped a hungry North Carolina attack, goalkeeper Tara Campbell found herself lying on the ground as the ball slowly rolled away from her grasp and into the net.
In the aftermath, even Campbell could not explain exactly how the game-winning goal had been scored.
“It’s kind of a blur,” she said. “I know a ball got crossed in and [defender Alex Straton] was there. I don’t know if she miscleared it or if [North Carolina’s Kealia Ohai] blocked the clear.”
With Straton and Ohai tangled on the ground fighting for the ball, it was the Tar Heel’s toe that managed to reach the ball first, weakly sending it into the net.
And though the loss may have been particularly demoralizing, it did provide Duke with plenty of constructive takeaways. The Blue Devils should consider it one of their finest defensive performances this season. Throughout the majority of the first half, the Tar Heels dominated possession while Duke’s offensive movements could only be described as messy and unorganized, leading to a heightened burden on the defenders.
“I thought the game was lost in the first half. I thought we didn’t play well,” head coach Robbie Church said. “The first half we didn’t have an aggressive mentality. I thought we were quiet... we were scared.”
Church’s sentiments are reflected in the statistics. With two minutes remaining in the opening period, the Blue Devils had shot the ball a paltry four times, compared to their opponent’s seven attempts. In the first half alone, the Tar Heels enjoyed eight corner kicks to Duke’s one.
The game could have been much worse for Duke if its defenders had not stepped up. In particular, junior Libby Jandl, along with sophomores Natasha Anasi and Straton—who combined for a total of two minutes of rest—were responsible for holding off the aggressive Tar Heels.
“We were sitting back a little bit... Carolina comes out hard, and we took the brunt of their initial wave,” Campbell said. “They defended great for us for the rest of the game. I think it’s really unlucky that they got one at the end of the game.”
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the midfielders and forwards did not match the level of their defensive counterpart’s performance. Instead, their play was characterized by missed opportunities and reckless errors.
In particular, Mollie Pathman, Chelsea Canepa and Kim DeCesare all had chances to put the ball in the net that they were unable to capitalize on. And at the end of the night, these squandered chances were the reason Duke came away with its first conference loss.
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