Behind five goals from sophomore midfielder Molly Quirke, the Blue Devils extended their win streak over unranked opponents to 83 games.
No. 5 Duke (2-0) took down William and Mary (0-1) for the 13th consecutive time winning 18-9 Wednesday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field at Martin Family Stadium.
The Tribe broke onto the scoreboard first, just 57 seconds into the contest, and kept up with the Blue Devils through the 13th minute, when William and Mary midfielder Katie Stillwell scored her second goal of the game on a free position shot that tied the game at 4-4.
“The conditions weren’t great,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “It was raining, and the field was really slick… and it was really cold today too. I think it just took us a while to get going, to get comfortable.”
The weather could only slow down the high-powered Duke offense for so long, though.
Led by two goals from Quirke, the Blue Devils ended the period on a 6-2 run, putting them up 10-6.
“Molly Quirke had a fantastic game,” Kimel said. “She’s a great off-ball threat, and she was able to work herself free quite a bit…. She’s really smart like that and she’s a great target for our feeders.”
Upon returning to the field for the second half, Duke picked up the intensity, scoring six goals in 10 minutes to extend its lead to 10.
“At the beginning of the second half, we had some really great opportunities—off the draw, off the fast break—and, I think that once we basically got in a rhythm… we had a lot of success,” Kimel said.
Key to the Blue Devils’ offensive execution was their ability to win the ball off the draw. Redshirt senior attacker Emma Hamm and freshman midfielder Taylor Trimble combined for 13 draw controls.
Holding a 16-13 advantage over the Tribe in total draw controls, Duke proved it was capable of making up for the loss of senior Kat Thomas—who collected the fourth-highest single season draw controls in program history last season with 62—to injury.
“Emma and Taylor Trimble both did an outstanding job on the draw for us,” Kimel said. “[They] quite honestly need to do that for us because we’re down Kat Thomas right now.”
Despite the improved showing in the second half, the Blue Devils left much to be desired in their defending around the net, earning a number of three-second calls and giving up 11 free position opportunities.
“That is not ok,” Kimel said. “You just can’t afford to give up [those]…. We can’t afford to put people on the line that often in the game…. Nonetheless, it’s the kind of thing that’s a focus thing and an anticipation thing, and we just have to do a better job of it moving forward.”
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