The philosopher George Santayana once said: “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” After three heartbreaking overtime losses to the Hokies in the 2023 season, the Blue Devils headed to Blacksburg, Virginia, determined not to repeat history. They won a hard-fought 9-8 battle and returned home with three consecutive wins.
In the first half, both teams had continuous attacks, but in the second half it was a defensive battle. Duke put together a 5-0 run in the second quarter to take a 6-2 lead, and Virginia Tech responded with a 4-0 run of its own. The Blue Devils headed into the locker room with a narrow 7-6 lead, and the final 30 minutes featured aggressive defense that led to just four total goals. In the remaining minutes, Duke made several timely turnovers on defense, and redshirt sophomore goaltender Kennedy Everson stood between the pipes and made nine saves, giving him a .529 save percentage. did. That included two saves late in the fourth quarter that stopped the Blue Devils' game. .
Virginia Tech, which was one point behind, came out of intermission and scored right after the tie, but the Hokies couldn't find the back of the net for another 20 minutes as Duke (6-4, 2-2 in the ACC) . ) I did my best not to miss this year's match. With one second left on the shot clock, graduate midfielder Lexi Schmaltz scored the go-ahead goal with a powerful bounce shot from downtown, creating much-needed momentum after several heavy possessions.
Immediately after her goal, Schmaltz got a big possession from a tie and Duke's offense resumed. Graduate midfielder Olivia Kerner had a chance for free position, but chose to pass to her senior Katie DeSimone, cutting down the middle eight meters in characteristic fashion. The attacker took a low shot past Virginia Tech's Lily Kanapel for Duke's final score of the day.
The final period was a dogfight, with nine turnovers in total, and although the Blue Devils' offense was unable to capitalize on man-up and free position opportunities, the opposing defense made a big comeback. With just over three minutes left, Duke's pressure forced attacker Ella Ryshko to take a bad shot on a free position opportunity, causing a shot clock violation and giving the ball back one point with just over a minute left.
The Blue Devils' defense crossed the goal line, but the offense was strong in the first half.
Midway through the first quarter, Virginia Tech (6-4, 1-3) turned the ball over and Duke stormed the other way in transition. Senior midfielder Katie Keller brought the ball into her own attacking third and went straight to the cage. Keller drove left to 8 meters, stopped, spun back to the right and fired a low sidearm shot between two colliding defenders for a solo goal, tying the game at 2. It sparked Duke's five points.
The Blue Devils broke through again with junior midfielder Matty Shearer's 8-meter long shot from the right wing, and after a series of yellow cards, Duke's offense entered the second quarter with a 7-on-5 lacrosse game.
Not to be denied while the two were in the lead, freshman midfielder Vera Goodwin scored on a feed from junior attacker Carly Bernstein's side of the crease, giving the Hokies yet another one from the draw. Duke was up by two again when he picked up a yellow card. Bernstein had a free position opportunity on the right wing and passed to DeSimone, who cut through the middle. DeSimone's shot went high, but Bernstein fed him again 10 seconds later, and the nation's leading goal scorer didn't miss his second chance. She scored her 43rd goal of the season in 10 games.
After a classic give-and-go play for senior midfielder Maddie McCorkle's first goal of the day, Virginia Tech stopped the bleeding and scored its own. The Hokies put three points in the back of the net 1:07 into the game, quickly scoring two after a tie.
Hokie graduate Paige Tyson went from scoreless to scoring a hat trick in less than five minutes. Virginia Tech exploited and punished the Blue Devils' inefficiency in the draw circle. They won seven of eight draw controls in the quarter, preventing Duke from running away with the lead before halftime. Even though we only had a one-point lead going into the locker room, it was still a winnable game for anyone watching.
The Hokies had the advantage in draw control with 15 draw controls to the Blue Devils' 5, but Duke's offense effectively spread the ball around and exhausted Virginia Tech's defense. Seven different Blue Devils scored his nine goals. When the offense slowed down in the final frame, the defense took the burden, and Duke came on after 60 minutes to avenge last year's loss with a team-wide victory.
They will look to extend their winning streak in a big ACC game Saturday afternoon at home against No. 2 Boston College.
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