DURHAM — Fifth-ranked Duke didn’t make it easy on itself Sunday. The Blue Devils rallied from a halftime deficit on Kim DeCesare’s 11th goal of the season to pull out a 1-1 tie against 12th-ranked Wake Forest at Koskinen Stadium and extend its unbeaten streak to four games.
More importantly, with one regular-season ACC game remaining, the Blue Devils (11-3-2, 5-2-2 ACC) maintained their hold on third place in the conference standings. Wake Forest (10-3-3, 4-2-1) moved into a fourth-place tie with Virginia but has a game in hand. The top four seeds receive quarterfinal home games in the eight-team ACC tournament beginning Oct. 28.
Sunday’s result left both coaches wanting more.
“We probably deserved a little bit more than we got out of here,” Duke coach Robbie Church said. “It is frustrating to get a tie out of this game because I thought we could have gotten more.”
Wake coach Tony da Luz echoed those sentiments. “Today was a must game,” he said. “We would have preferred three points (in the standings for a win) because that would have been a big separation. But it’s probably a fair result for both teams.”
The Deacons had gone in front 1-0 on Katie Stengel’s penalty kick late in the first half but couldn’t hold onto the lead in face of Duke’s determined rally, which culminated in DeCesare’s header at 74:01.
“Laura (Weinberg) got the ball out wide and sent in a stellar cross,” said DeCesare, who was waiting at the far post. “I was able to get a head on it.”
Up until then, the Blue Devils had dominated possession, outshooting the Deacons 12-3 to that point, but had nothing to show for it.
“We felt it coming,” DeCesare said. “We were confident, but it’s still frustrating. When we dominate play, we need to win games.”
Church liked his team’s resolve, if not its execution, on offense.
“Wake Forest had given up only nine goals all year,” said Church, who noted the five saves by Deacons goalkeeper Audrey Bledsoe. “We’ve got to play through the pressure and make better decisions. I thought in the first half we played really well until the final third. Then in the final third we weren’t dangerous and dynamic enough.”
Stengel’s team-high fifth goal of the season came as she was pursuing Wake defender Jackie McSally’s flick-on header in the penalty area. Duke defender Libby Jandl was assessed a yellow card for grabbing Stengel’s jersey, and Stengel buried the resulting penalty kick in the upper right corner only 2:09 before halftime.
The Deacons nearly pulled out the victory in regulation but were denied on a big defensive play in the 76th minute by Duke midfielder Cassie Pecht. Off a corner kick, Wake’s Jackie Logue sent a header toward the near post, but Pecht headed it off the line. Duke goalkeeper Tara Campbell then made a follow-up save on another header by Kim Marshall.
“That play just came out of nowhere,” a relieved Church said. “They hadn’t had the ball down there in forever.”
Although Wake had been content to sit on its lead in regulation, the Deacons dominated the 20 minutes of double overtime, outshooting Duke 7-2 and forcing Campbell to make two of her four saves.
