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DURHAM,N.C. - After bringing in top-eight recruiting classes the last two years, Duke women's soccer head coach Robbie Church needed a big win to show his young team how good they could be this year. On Sunday night at Koskinen Stadium, the 24th-ranked Blue Devils got it by knocking off fourth-ranked Texas, 3-2, on a wet, muggy evening in Durham, N.C.
"This is a great win for our team, but we have a long season ahead of us," said Church. "I could see in their eyes at our pregame meal this afternoon that they were ready to play today. We were able to stay focused for 90 minutes tonight and played very quick as a team."
Texas got on board early as just seven minutes into the match Nikki Thaden connected on her first goal of the season after it deflected off a Duke defender. The Blue Devils closed out the first half with a goal of their own as freshman Darby Kroyer registered her first collegiate goal from 18 yards out off a perfect feed from sophomore Carolyn Riggs.
Duke dominated the offensive action during the first half collecting seven shots in the stanza, while holding the Longhorns to only two kicks.
The Blue Devils came out in the second half on a mission and just 49 seconds into the stanza, junior Lauren Simel found Riggs in front of the goal and the Indianapolis, Ind., product was able to put the ball in the back of the net. The goal by Riggs was her third in the last two contests.
Then, 20 minutes later Duke senior Gwendolyn Oxenham scored from over 30 yards out off a long feed from sophomore defender Kate Seibert to give the Blue Devils a 3-1 advantage with only 24 minutes remaining. Texas added another goal at the 78:56 mark by Kelly McDonald to cut the Duke lead to 3-2, but the Blue Devils were able to hold on for the final 12 minutes of action.
Picking up the victory in goal for the Blue Devils was senior Thora Helgadottir, who finished with two saves on the night. The biggest save on the evening by the Kopavogur, Iceland native, was at the 54:17 mark as Helgadottir was able to knock a high shot by Texas midfielder Kati McBain off the top goal post and kept the ball in play.
"We have brought in two great recruiting classes over the last couple of years," said Church. "You mix those recruiting classes with our returning players, who have worked really hard to make themselves better, we have a great team."
For the game, Duke outshot Texas 11-6. The Blue Devils started the game with three freshmen, five sophomores, one junior and two seniors. The game-winning goal by Oxenham was her second of her four-year career.
Duke will next travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. on Friday, Sept. 5 to take on 20th-ranked Nebraska at 2:00 p.m. in the Nike Carolina Classic.
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