Early in the second quarter, Charlie van Oirschot seized the ball, artfully lunging away from the perilously close North Carolina defenders. Using the stick as an extension of herself, the graduate student dribbled up the field, carving a path to the shooting circle.
As van Oirschot approached the 25-yard line, she strategically passed to star teammate Alaina McVeigh. North Carolina’s defense is one of the best and cannot be tackled alone. McVeigh confronted the opposition, aggressively weaving through defender after defender, and flew towards the shooting circle.
This is the moment. Countless months of practice, games and sweat have brought the team an opportunity to rewrite last year's loss to North Carolina.
Duke hesitates. The ball is sent towards tantalizing victory. It ricochets off North Carolina goalie Abigail Taylor’s foot and clacks against the black fence.
The Blue Devils missed the shot.
This snapshot is emblematic of a game plagued by missed opportunity. Duke lost a seven-game shutout streak in a 5-2 defeat to North Carolina Friday night in Durham.
“I have reminiscence of the Northwestern game from September, where we [came] out hard, but maybe [were] not so clear in our connection,” head coach Pam Bustin said. “We had it, but we just got to capitalize on our opportunities to finish.”
Oftentimes Duke (11-5, 6-2 in the ACC) would approach the shooting circle with electric momentum, only to lose confidence in the face of North Carolina’s impenetrable defense. That being said, there were moments where the team of the last seven shutouts peaked through the clouds.
Senior Josephine Palde was subbed in for graduate student Barb Civitella late in the first quarter. Within seconds, she received the ball from Van Oirschot and quickly dribbled into North Carolina’s shooting circle. Without pause, she fired the ball into the goal and was rewarded by the satisfying rattle of the cage to score the Blue Devils’ first goal of the game.
Defensively, the Blue Devils found their rhythm following a punishing first quarter which ended 3-1 in favor of the Tar Heels (15-0, 8-0). They prevented attempts by North Carolina’s offense to score in the second and third quarters. Where the opposing offense slipped through, star goalie Frederique Wollaert decisively blocked shots.
“Second, third and fourth quarter — I thought we dominated a lot in the play,” Bustin said.
While this regained defensive strength did not result in a victory, Bustin emphasized the importance of looking at how the team performed beyond the scoreboard.
“We played some great hockey today, and I don't want that to not be known or not be felt by [the team],” Bustin said.
Their performance was certainly recognized by the Blue Crew, a new student organization committed to empowering female athletes at Duke by encouraging student attendance and excitement at women’s sports events. Their enthusiastic cheers energized the student section, making Senior Night all the more special for the 13 graduate students and seniors on the team.
Many of those celebrated players experienced Duke’s loss to North Carolina last year in both the regular season and ACC Championship. Despite a similar result, Bustin believes that this year’s team is in better shape.
“We're a better team than we were a year ago because of the experiences we’ve had,” Bustin said. “They want to keep getting better … and that’s exciting.”
This hunger has characterized this year's team as aggressive all around. A return to form will be dependent on a more settled defense and cohesive dynamic overall. Next week, the Blue Devils are headed to Winston-Salem, N.C., to play Wake Forest in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. Last year, the team beat the Demon Deacons 2-0 during the quarterfinals and eventually went on to the NCAA tournament.
“And [this game is] a great … shine up before going into the ACC tournament, where in any given game, anybody can win. [The team is] feeling it,” Bustin said. “They're ready to get back to work.”
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