Durham, N.C. – All Fight has been the athletic department’s slogan for the 2023-24 campaign, and that’s exactly what it took for the No. 10 Notre Dame women’s soccer team on Thursday night against No. 16 Duke. The Fighting Irish (6-1-2, 2-0-0) trailed 1-0 after 85 minutes but found a way late to earn a tough 2-1 road-ranked victory in the house of the Blue Devils (5-3-0, 1-1-0).
Graduate student Kiki Van Zanten scored the first Irish goal at 85:07. At 86:40 – the game-winner from sophomore standout Leah Klenke. This marked Notre Dame’s first win against Duke since October of the 2015 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a weird first half or as the phrase goes, a series of unfortunate events. The Irish were all over the Blue Devils early. For the first 10 minutes, the ball lived in Duke’s defensive third.
Then a momentum shift occurred in the 14th minute. A give-and-go via a through ball behind the Irish defense, and it was a simple tuck-away for the score.
Duke put a lot of pressure on the Irish defense until the final 20 minutes of the half. When Ellie Ospeck subbed in, she gave the offense a spark and chances developed.
Case in point, in the 27th minute, Ospeck played in a great cross from the left side and Charlie Codd’s one-time shot just went a few inches wide of the near post.
All-in-all, both sides finished with five shots for the half and two on goal.
The second half was all Irish. In fact, Duke only tallied one shot on goal in the second half.
Maddie Mercado had several chances in the early going. She was on the receiving end of a through ball deep in the left side of the box, but her through ball to an open Irish forward was blocked at the last second. Mercado later had a blocked shot that was almost deflected in. In the 71st minute, Mercado let a free kick rip from just outside the box and it was undoubtedly going in, yet Duke’s keeper made the leaping save.
A few minutes later, Morgan Roy let one rip inside the box. Her shot soared through three Duke defenders but right at the Blue Devil keeper. Notre Dame continued to let shots rip from outside the box but to no avail.
Yet, the constant pressure in the offensive third paid off. Ospeck, who was a problem for Duke the whole game, tore through several defenders in the 86th minute and hit a shot that deflected off the near post, ricocheted, and found Van Zanten on the far post who tapped it in.
A minute later, Roy got the ball off of a throw-in, deep in the right corner. She crossed it into the box and a Duke defender went to one-time the ball to clear. Klenke stepped in at the right time and got a foot on it and soared it into the back of the net. It was her first career game-winner.
UP NEXT
The road swing continues for the Irish as they look to continue their hot start to ACC play. They’ll stay on the road and fly to Pittsburgh, where they’ll battle the Panthers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ACCNX.
– ND –