Playing for the second time without leading scorer Makenzie Hommel, Duke found an unlikely hero in its first NCAA Tournament contest.
The Blue Devils rallied from a two-goal second-half deficit to defeat Princeton 10-9 in double overtime at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. Freshman Maddy Acton scored the game-winning goal with 5:15 remaining in the second overtime period to send Duke to the second round.
"It's a shame someone had to lose that game," Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "We've had a really up-and-down season. We're banged up right now, and we talk about being a team and people have to step up in the absence of others, and I think we did a great job at that."
With a chance to win the game in the sudden-death overtime period, Kimel stacked the right side of the field as Acton dodged down the left wing, scoring the decisive goal in her first-career NCAA Tournament game.
"It was a play that we had practiced all week, so it wasn't something new—it was something the coaches had prepared us for," Acton said. "I think one of the great things about our team is that our coaches really trust us."
Duke (13-5) battled the Tigers (10-7) evenly in the early going, as the teams alternated goals to give the Blue Devils a 4-3 advantage. But a three-goal run gave Princeton a two-goaledge, and the Tigers took a 7-5 lead into the locker room.
"We were just out of sync defensively in the first half," Kimel said. "We've played teams like Princeton recently with dynamic offenses and we were not on our A-game. So we made adjustments defensively and because it got us stops it gave our offense momentum."
The Blue Devils opened the second half with a three-goal run of their own. Molly Quirke scored with 26 minutes remaining in the half to cut the deficit to a goal, followed by a goal by Maddy Morrisey with 21 minutes remaining. Duke then took their first lead of the half at 8-7 just six minutes later with a goal by Erin Tenneson.
"We felt like our offense was generating good looks most of the first half," Kimel said. "So I wasn't really worried about that in the second half. I knew we just needed to have the ball and we would have our chances."
Equalizing goals by both teams down the stretch sent the game into overtime, where despite a number of quality shots by both teams, Duke and Princeton headed to sudden death to decide a winner.
Acton coverted on the first shot of the second overtime period to decide the contest.
The Blue Devils advance to face No. 8 seed Navy Sunday at noon. The Midshipmen defeated Monmouth 12-6 in its first round game Friday for their first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
Navy is led by senior attack Jasmine DePompeo, who leads all of Division I in scoring with 126 points on the year.
"You have to focus on the ball and not the player," freshman goaltender Kelsey Duryea said. "I know it sounds simple, but we've gone up against a lot of players and it's hard to do sometime when you get caught up in people's names and how they've been doing throughout the season."
As Duke continues to rely on younger and less experienced players with its continued injury issues, Kimel added that the squad's first NCAA Tournament win—which marked a first-career postseason win for many Blue Devils—gives the team a huge confidence boost heading into Sunday's contest.
"Winning tonight was important for us—really, really important for us," Kimel said. "It was so important for us to not have our season end tonight. We did not have a good showing at [the ACC Tournament] at all.... But there's no excuses right now. So I think for us the next step is going to be the most important run."
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