Coming off three straight shutout defeats, Duke was looking to bounce back. After 80 minutes of scoreless play, things were not looking good for the Blue Devils. Despite a constant high-energy attack against Syracuse that provided plenty of quality opportunities, the game was headed to a shootout.
Freshman Kaiya Chepow came in to guard the goal cage for the home team in the shootout, replacing graduate student Frederique Wollaert. With the score in the stroke-off standing at 3-1 in favor of Duke — after some impressive work by Blue Devil forwards Josephine Palde, Charlie van Oirschot and Alaina McVeigh — Chepow came out of the cage to challenge the Orange’s Aiden Drabick. Drabick had almost no time to make a decision, as Chepow forced the issue and made an impressive kick save to put the game away and give the Blue Devils their first win in more than two weeks.
After an onslaught of shots and near-misses, head coach Pam Bustin was happy to see her ninth-ranked team get a well-deserved 1-0 shootout win against the No. 15 Orange, Sunday afternoon in Jack Katz Stadium.
“I just feel so happy for the team. We have been playing such great field hockey, and even today we're still having trouble finding our way into the goal cage,” Bustin said after the game. “But … they finished it strong.”
It didn’t show on the scoreboard, but Duke (5-4, 1-1 in the ACC) did not let up through regulation and two periods of overtime, racking up an impressive 19 total shots compared to Syracuse’s nine. The Blue Devils had not scored outside of a stroke-off in their last three games, despite strong offensive efforts in each. With just under five minutes remaining in the second quarter, it looked like things might finally go Duke’s way when a series of penalty corners gave the Blue Devils some more opportunities up close to the goal. Orange goalkeeper Louise Pert, however, made impressive diving saves and deflections to keep the ball out of the cage.
Another opportunity presented itself with a little more than two minutes remaining in the period, when the Blue Devils managed to generate a quick breakaway attack. Pert once again made an athletic save, deflecting the ball with just enough authority to make it glance off the post. When the buzzer sounded at halftime, the game was still knotted at zero.
Bustin continued to rally her players, reminding them to keep pushing even despite the lack of scoring.
“Just keep believing and do what we're doing, because we're dominating,” Bustin said she told her players at halftime. “And [the Orange] are a very good team, very dangerous team, so if you get too frustrated and you push too hard, then you leave opportunities at the other end.”
She added, “And we didn't do that today. They kept it structured, and they kept it sound from end line to end line.”
The second half continued similarly to the first, with Duke dominating the run of play and controlling the ball for most of the two quarters. The Blue Devils had five shots on goal compared to Syracuse’s one in the second half, and three corners while the Orange had none. Syracuse managed to push back in the small-sided overtime, getting a pair of corners and four shots off in the fifth and sixth periods of the game. However, more excellent goalkeeping work by both teams kept things even through to the shootout.
Ultimately, Bustin was satisfied with the progress her squad has made throughout the season thus far. Duke has demonstrated resilience and maturity, even if the goals themselves have not come yet.
“It's going to come, it's going to come. It's going to come because we're there. I think we just need to hone in on some of the details in the intense moments,” Bustin said.
The Blue Devils will go again, looking to get on the scoreboard against California Friday.
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Martin Heintzelman is a Trinity junior and Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.