No. 10 Duke Downs Louisville for Fourth-Straight Win

Thursday, October 18

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

12-2-2 (6-1-1ACC)

Louisville

11-4-0 (5-3-0ACC)

Louisville

Duke

No. 10 Duke Downs Louisville for Fourth-Straight Win

10/18/2018 10:49:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - For the second time in as many games, the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils (12-2-2, 6-1-1 ACC) overcame an early deficit to capture a crucial ACC win, defeating the Louisville Cardinals (11-4-0, 5-3-0 ACC), 2-1, Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium.

Behind goals from Taylor Racioppi and Karlie Paschall, the Blue Devils picked up their fourth-straight win and third comeback victory of the season. Duke has now won back-to-back games against the Cardinals and is now 2-0-4 in the series.

Thursday's win gives the Blue Devils 11 wins in the last 13 games and is the 16th in their last 18 ACC regular season contests. Duke also continues to be dominant at home, moving to 9-2-0 on the year and 27-2-0 in its last 29 games at Koskinen.

“This is a big win for us because Louisville is a very good team,” Duke head coach Robbie Church said. “They had some great attacks and defended well, too. This was a big game because of how close they were to us in the standings. We got three points and didn't give them three, so it's almost like a six-point win for us.”

The win moves Duke's point total to 19 in ACC play, putting them second in the league standings with two matches remaining.

However, it was all Louisville in the early stages, as the visitors did not waste time in getting things started. The Cardinals tallied a score just 2:15 into the start of the match for a 1-0 advantage, immediately putting the Blue Devils on their heels. However, the 24th minute brought a fantastic combination play from Ella Stevens and Kayla McCoy, who fed the ball to Racioppi in the box for a one-timer into the back of the net to even the score. The score gives Racioppi goals in back-to-back contests and moves her season total to seven, which ties her freshman year in 2015 for a career high.

“It's always a team effort,” Racioppi said. “Unless Kayla plays that perfect ball between four defenders into the six-yard box, it's not going to happen. There's big moments in every game and I think a lot of people stepped up today, especially on the PK. Everyone is doing their part and that's what is really special about this team.”

Neither side held much of an advantage coming out of halftime, with most of the play coming in the middle third of the field. Only five shots, all from Duke, were taken in the first 34 minutes of play, with only one on goal courtesy of Stevens.

Then came the 80th minute, when the Grayson, Ga., junior drew a penalty on a run into the box, setting up Paschall's fourth score of the season to give Duke the 2-1 lead. From there, the Blue Devils would continue their strong defensive showing, holding Louisville without a shot in the second half, to secure the win.

Duke outshot the Cardinals, 14-5, with an 8-0 advantage in the second half. Louisville's Gabrielle Kouzelos made five saves on the night, while Brooke Heinsohn turned in a pair of stops.

“We were so good in possession, especially in the second half. Our build-up, our ball movement, we were just really good,” Church said. “Now, for us to be what we want to be, we have to get better defensively. We cannot give up goals early in the match and think we're always going to come back. We have to figure out how to not go down early, but that's the third game this year that we've come back. To have a team that, when you go down has the confidence to come back is very important."

Duke closes out its 2018 home regular season slate on Sunday against the No. 11 Boston College Eagles. The Senior Day match is slated to begin at 1 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

Fans can keep up with all things Duke women's soccer by following the program on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for “DukeWSoc”. Behind-the-scenes content of women's soccer and all Duke athletic programs can be found on Snapchat by following “dukeathletics”.

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