The #19 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9-1-2, 3-0-1 ACC) added a marquee win to their ledger on Thursday, defeating the #9 Duke Blue Devils (6-3-1, 1-3 ACC) by a score of 3-2 at Koskinen Stadium in Durham. For Wake, this was their first win against Duke since the 2021 ACC tournament and a third ever win at Koskinen Stadium, and the result also extended their unbeaten streak out to 8 games. As for the Blue Devils, their struggles continue, as they have only 1 win in their previous five games (1-3-1) and have suffered
3 straight losses to ranked opponents, surrendering 9 goals in that span. This was a rollercoaster game that had disallowed goals, big saves, and a 4 goal second half that was played at a frenetic pace.
Wake head coach Tony da Luz decided to make a big tactical change heading into this game, switching from the Deacs’ usual 4-3-3 setup to a 4-4-2. This was a change that paid dividends in the first half. Although Duke had the majority of the possession, and you could say that they controlled the game, they did not have a lot of clear-cut chances through the first 45 minutes. The clearest chance of the first half actually fell to Wake in the 2nd minute, as, while Duke struggled to clear their lines from a corner, Allie Flanagan’s deflected shot rolled into the six yard box to Chloe Burst, who could only toe poke her effort wide of the goal. Duke was able to grab hold of the game after a strong Wake start, with talented forward Kat Rader forcing a big save from star goalkeeper Valentina Amaral shortly after Burst’s big chance. The Blue Devils did put the ball into the net in the 9th minute, but the flag was raised, as Kat Rader was judged to be in an offside position when the ball was played across. The game settled down after this, with Wake looking comfortable playing against the ball, giving Duke the possession but giving up very little defensively. Then, in the 21st minute, the Deacs struck. Wake right back Brooke Miller hit a flat ball in behind for Kylie Maxwell, but it was cut out by center back Cameron Roller. Roller could only pop the ball up in the air, back into the middle of the field, and Wake midfielder Carly Wilson was first to it, nodding it down to Alex Wood, who was just able to poke it through to Maxwell with the outside of her boot. One on one with the goalkeeper, Maxwell made no mistake, tucking the ball into the bottom corner with her left foot for her 5th of the season and giving the Deacs the lead. A video review was initiated for offside, but the goal ultimately stood.
After the goal, the game kept its same tenor until half time, with Duke still having the lion’s share of the ball and getting it into dangerous areas, but they were not able to create any clear opportunities. Their clearest shooting opportunity came from a corner kick in the ‘25th minute, as Daya King was able to get on the end of a great ball to the back post that left Amaral in limbo, but she could only direct her effort wide of the goal. The Blue Devils came close again in the half’s final minute, with a long ball from Cameron Roller finding its way to Julia Saunicheva on the left flank, who had space to run into and attack. She played a good ball inside to Farrah Walters just inside the penalty area, but Walters was unable to bring it under control, and center back Laine DeNatale came across and made a vital intervention to keep Wake ahead going into the half. Through 45 minutes, the Deacs were exactly where they wanted to be, but they were going to have to weather a storm in the second half to take home all three points.
The second half was night and day from the first for the Duke attack, which was now able to create many more dangerous opportunities in front of goal. In the 46th minute, Laine DeNatale was judged to go over the back of Duke forward Mia Oliaro at the top of the box, setting up a Kat Rader free kick that many in the building thought went into the back of the net, but the ball stayed just wide of the post and went out for a goal kick. In the 48th minute, though, Rader made no mistake. Oliaro earned another free kick for the Blue Devils on the right flank after Chloe Burst tripped her up. Oliaro then took the free kick, putting it low towards the front post, where Rader was first to the ball ahead of Sierra Sythe and side-footed it first time into the bottom corner for her 7th tally of the season to tie the score.
Wake had to withstand heavy pressure through the next 20 minutes, facing wave after wave of Duke attacks. In the 61st minute, Oliaro was once again at the center of a huge moment in the game. Kat Rader was able to spring Avery Oder down the left flank, and Oder put a brilliant ball across into the path of an unmarked Oliaro, who, with an open goal in front of her at the back stick, could not direct her effort on target. Amaral may have gotten a touch on the ball on its way through to Oliaro that made the chance a bit more difficult, but it was still an opportunity that you would expect to see end up in the net. Only a minute later, it looked as if Duke had taken the lead. Mia Oliaro once again created an issue for the Deacs on the right flank and found herself with enough space to put a ball into the middle. The ball went through the legs of Kat Rader on its way across to Mia Minestrella, who tapped it into a wide open net. However, after a lengthy video review, Rader was judged to have interfered in the play while in an offside position when she attempted to flick the ball on to Minestrella, and the goal was ultimately ruled out. In the 65th minute, though, the Blue Devils did get their go ahead goal. From a corner kick, Mia Oliaro put in a wonderful ball that banked off of Devin Lynch in front of the goal and was then met by Julia Saunicheva to open her account for the season. That goal seemed like a backbreaker to Wake’s chances at earning a result in this game, but there were more twists to come.
After the go-ahead goal, though, Duke seemed content to try to take the air out of the game and keep possession while Wake chased. However, this allowed Wake to grow back into the match, as they began to press higher and challenge Duke for possession. In the 69th minute, they found the goal they needed. Brooke Miller was able to cut out a pass from Devin Lynch around midfield and get it up the field to Kylie Maxwell. Maxwell was able to beat Lynch off the dribble and switched the field to Sierra Sythe. Sythe drew 4 defenders with her, including Cameron Roller, who committed to the ball while leaving Daya King by herself in the box with Allie Flanagan and Alex Wood. King went with Flanagan, but the ball across from Sythe went to Wood, who smacked a daisy cutter off of the post and into the back of the net for her first goal of the season, evening the game up once more.
Only minutes later, the tie was broken again. In the 72nd minute, after winning the second ball from an Amaral goal kick, left back Sophie Faircloth played it up the flank to Sierra Sythe, who got the better of Mia Oliaro off the dribble before swinging a ball into the area. It looked as if it would be out of reach for Wake’s forwards, but Kylie Maxwell was able to track the ball down at the endline and lob it back across the six yard area to Hannah Johnson, who had little to do but side foot it into an open net for her second of the season and Wake’s third of the game. From there, Wake was able to kill off the last 18 minutes. Duke played with some urgency and once again controlled possession and the flow of the game, but they did not create near the volume or quality of chances that they did in the early goings of the second half. In the end, Wake held strong for their first ranked win of the season, a result that also earned them a tie with #6 FSU atop the ACC standings (pending this weekend’s games).
For Wake, as Tony da Luz alluded to in his post game comments, it was all about execution. The 4-4-2 formation and a more pragmatic approach defensively was a big change for the Deacs, but one that they carried out nearly to perfection. Even though they gave up their fair share of chances, both the goals they conceded came from set pieces. More importantly, their counterattacking was absolutely lethal; the Deacs only had 3 big chances from the run of play and they scored all three. There were a lot of performances to gush about in this game: Valentina Amaral was once again stellar between the sticks, both Tahlia Zadeyan and Laine DeNatale put in their best performances of the season in those center back slots, Sierra Sythe had a spectacular second half with two assists after moving up to the left wing from left back, and Alex Wood both delivered the incisive ball to set up the first goal and the clinical finish to claim the second. With all of that said, my player of the match in this game was Kylie Maxwell. It is not often that you see an 18 year old at this level that is as complete of a player as Maxwell is. She put it all on display in this match, getting in behind the Duke defense and deftly slotting it into the back of the net for the first goal, dribbling a player and hitting a ridiculous switch to Sythe to set up the second, and showing her work rate and determination getting on the end of Sythe’s cross to set up Hannah Johnson for the decisive goal. She is already at 5 goals and 5 assists on the season and is looking more and more like a top player at this level. It was a team effort to get them three points, but the Kylie Maxwell had a big hand in claiming those points.
Wake will be off this weekend and will return to action next Thursday, October 2nd, in Raleigh, NC against the NC State Wolfpack at Dail Soccer Field. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 PM EDT and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
