In a tightly contested game, it was Duke that lost out in the tactical chess match.
A change of formation stifled the Blue Devil offense Friday night, and Wake Forest triumphed in the semifinals of the ACC tournament 2-1.
“It was a dead-even game,” Wake Forest head coach Tony da Luz said. “We beat a great team tonight in Duke.”
Although the Blue Devils had a large share of possession, they were unable to create many chances as the Demon Deacon defense kept Duke in its own half. Wake Forest, however, was ready on the counter-attack and tested the Blue Devils on numerous occasions.
The best three chances of the first half, though, were from set pieces. The Demon Deacons’ first goal came from a well-taken corner kick, while Duke had two chances disallowed, one on a corner and the other on a free-kick.
Wake Forest’s tactical shift to a 4-4-2 formation—from the 4-3-3 it used against the Blue Devils in the teams’ last meeting—negated Duke’s possession-oriented game.
“We switched to a 4-4-2 to clog things up in the midfield and to keep an extra player in the midfield so we could possess the ball better,” Demon Deacon head coach Tony da Luz said. “It was a huge improvement over our last game against them.”
This was particularly clear in the second half, as the Blue Devils had no shots in the first 20 minutes of play.
“We know they have a very good front line,” da Luz said. “So whenever we could, we try to keep them out in those wide channels.... We stayed compact as a team to eliminate passing lanes into the forwards and stop service to those three [forwards].”
The sight of Kelly Cobb, who has excelled down the center throughout the season, drifting wide to receive the ball was common throughout.
And it was when Duke could take advantage of the width, while maintaining its shape, that it could break down the Wake Forest defense. Kim DeCesare’s headed goal came after Kaitlyn Kerr found an opening on the right side outside the 18-yard box before picking out DeCesare, who was running into the area.
“I saw [Kerr] with the ball, she had it wide,” DeCesare said. “I just found the ball and just put it away. I honestly thought after that we were to come back and get another one, I really did.”
That shot lifted the team, and Duke created several opportunities to tie the game. Most notably, Cobb’s shot in the last minute, which shaved the right-hand post, also came from a ball played from a wide position.
“I think [Wake Forest’s tactics were] effective because... we made [them] effective,” Duke head coach Robbie Church said. “We tried to play the ball down the middle of the field, which played into their formation. I wish we had made better decisions... played the ball wide and played it down the flanks.”
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