Less than one minute.
That's all it took for the Blue Devils to make a statement in their ACC opener.
With Koskinen Stadium still covered in snow and ice, No. 5 Duke scored in 42 seconds and never looked back, taking down No. 16 Notre Dame 17-3 at the West Campus turf fields in its first conference game Sunday afternoon. The Blue Devils’ sixth straight victory marks their best start to a season since 2006.
“I’m really proud of the team’s effort,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “They played smart, dominated the draw control and took advantage of the opportunities we had.”
Shortly after the contest's opening faceoff, the Blue Devils (6-0, 1-0 in the ACC) gained possession and senior attack Brigid Smith fed midfielder Katie Trees for an early score and a punch the Fighting Irish would never recover from. According to Trees, playing a top-20 opponent in frigid temperatures at the turf fields provided additional motivation for Duke to start fast.
"We knew we needed a good mindset going in,” the San Diego native said. “We were not going to let Notre Dame come here on our turf and beat us even though we had bad weather.”
After their first score, the Blue Devils scored five more goals in the following 14 minutes to break open the contest early. And, led by its seniors, Duke did not let up, eventually heading to the locker room with a commanding 10-1 lead. Trees registered four of her career-high five goals in the first 30 minutes, and four other seniors—Smith, Kerrin Maurer, Chelsea Landon and Taylor Trimble—also found the back of the net in the opening half.
After the break, Duke seniors continued controlling the contest, netting five of the team’ seven goals—including a second-half hat trick by Smith—to make sure the outcome was never in doubt.
“We’ve been a young team for the last few years,” Kimel said. “But in the ACC, you need strong seniors to be a top team and we have them this year. They make good decisions with the ball, and provide leadership and experience to the team.”
But as impressive as the senior-laden Blue Devil attack unit was, Duke's defensive effort against an offense that entered averaging 14.5 goals per game made sure the visiting team never had anything to cheer about.
After allowing one goal in the opening period, the Blue Devils only allowed one goal with 26:17 left in the contest and Notre Dame's third and final tally 12 minutes later. Sophomore Cortney Fortunato scored all three goals for the Fighting Irish (3-2, 0-1), who were held scoreless for the first 16 minutes of the contest.
“Defensively, we were very strong and really made them work for their opportunities,” Kimel said. “And we were able to generate a lot of fresh legs from the bench. If someone is not having a good day or is tired, we have other people in the defensive rotation to give us some flexibility.”
Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea—who was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week last week thanks to her standout performances against Northwestern and William & Mary—delivered eight saves against the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame only got 14 shots off Sunday afternoon, but when it was able to test Duryea, she was more than up for the challenge.
“She was tremendous,” Trees said. “We know she’s going to come super strong all the time and she did it again today. Every time [Duryea] steps up, she keeps the momentum for the rest of the team and gives life back into our defense.”
In addition to being proud of her team for its dominant performance in an unfamiliar setting, Kimel lauded her team for its toughness in the freezing rain. That toughness is a characteristic the Blue Devils will look to keep displaying when they host Virginia Tech Friday in their second ACC contest.
“The weather was horrendous,” Kimel said. “But the kids did an awesome job at putting all that aside. I’m proud of their incredible toughness.”
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