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Duke soccer: Women blast Boston College for 7th win

By Del Barris

Duke defender Emily Royson (15) and Tennessee forward Maddie Eskin (6) battle for the ball during a game between Duke and Tennessee at Regal Soccer Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.Kns Vol Soccer Duke
Duke defender Emily Royson (15) and Tennessee forward Maddie Eskin (6) battle for the ball during a game between Duke and Tennessee at Regal Soccer Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.Kns Vol Soccer Duke /
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In their last game, they had to wait nearly the full ninety minutes to get a goal against Syracuse in a 1-0 win. But the women of Duke soccer wasted little time before opening the scoring in a 3-0 blasting of Boston College Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium.

Starting the party early

In the twelfth minute, midfielder Maggie Graham lofted a beautiful pass towards Kat Rader, who outraced a BC defender to the ball, cut to her left and put a blast past keeper Wiebke Willebrant from just outside the eighteen-yard box. It was Rader’s fourth goal of the season.

You just had to know she’d get on the sheet

You just knew we’d hear from goal-scoring ace Michelle Cooper. A penalty kick in the thirty-seventh minute gave the sophomore her sixth goal of the season and extended the Blue Devil lead to 2-0. Early in the second half, Mackenzie Pluck brought the ball up the left side, lost the BC defender with an abrupt change of direction, and sent a perfect pass to Cooper, who deftly headed the ball for her second goal of the evening and seventh of the season. Up 3-0, the Blue Devils cruised home for their second-straight ACC win.

Dominant in every way

When you look at the final stats, you see just how much the Blue Devils controlled this one. They outshot the Eagles 19-3 and had eleven shots on goal. Keeper Ruthie Jones had to make just one save in recording her fourth clean sheet of the season-it is her thirty-fourth career win. The dominant performance allowed Duke head coach Robby Church to empty his bench and use fourteen substitutes. Church was very pleased when he met with the media after the game, “I think it was our best 90 minutes of the year from the opening minutes all the way through. I am very happy with the 90 minutes, especially scoring early. Our mentality has started to change. We started to see that in the second half at Syracuse.”

ALSO READ: Men hold off stubborn Elon for hard-fought win

The Blue Devils will next travel to Raleigh to take on 25th-ranked N.C.State on Sunday night at 7 p.m. in a game carried on the ACC Network.

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