Playing its sixth road game of the season, No. 4 Duke recorded a dominant 18-8 victory over Virginia Tech (4-4, 0-2 in the ACC), notching its fifth straight win to remain perfect in ACC play.
The Blue Devils (8-2, 2-0) took advantage of strong offense and draw controls to take an early 7-0 lead and a 9-2 halftime advantage.
“I thought our girls played a great game today, and I felt our girls came out really focused on the get-go, won the draw and were able to capitalize on early possessions to get a nice lead,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “I just felt like in general we limited their opportunities and we had a couple of really good stops defensively.”
Kimel attributed the recent success to her young team’s ability to learn quickly and improve since its 13-5 loss to No. 1 Northwestern in February. Since their defeat against the Wildcats, the Blue Devils have not lost, beating three ranked teams—then-No. 2 Maryland, then-No. 8 Princeton and No. 15 Georgetown—along the way.
“I think that every game we take with this team is great, especially given that we’re still young and still trying to develop in certain areas,” Kimel said. “We try to take one day of practice at a time, one game at a time…. We ask what we are going to do today to get better, and we make the most of and maximize every day to get better.”
Freshman Taylor Trimble keyed Duke’s quick start against the Hokies, finding the back of the net three times in the first three minutes to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead. She also scored the team’s fifth goal less than six minutes into the game.
Despite a relatively inexperienced offense, the team has shown growth and leadership after an early-season upset at the hands of then-No. 19 Vanderbilt. This progress was particularly clear Wednesday, as nine different Blue Devils scored and Trimble notched a team-high five goals. Kimel said she was especially pleased about the balanced scoring effort in the win.
The team has faced a difficult schedule so far, having faced five ranked teams in its 10 games, and played on the road six times in nine games since Feb. 8. Things will not get easier for the Blue Devils, whose next four opponents are currently ranked in the top 20.
“The early part of our schedule has been very demanding both in terms of opponents and travel, but we’ve worked very hard,” Kimel said. “I thought we did…things very well today, and our offense really controlled the tempo, and we were able to play a lot of our people.”
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