virginia tech crumbles against no. 8 duke

Jack Brizendine

April 17, 2021

DURHAM, N.C. — After two late first half goals from Duke to give the Blue Devils a five score lead, things seemed bleak for Virginia Tech.

Then with only eight seconds left in the half, senior Paige Petty sprinted downfield, snatched a deflected pass from Caroline Allen, and took flight, sniping the back right of the net in mid-air to cut the deficit down to four before the half concluded.

The Hokies’ leading goal scorer gave the team life when it felt as though the win was possibly out of reach. She opened up the second half with another diving score, cutting the Blue Devils’ lead back down to three and giving the team an opportunity to pull off the upset.

Despite keeping it competitive until the late stages of the game, Virginia Tech (4-9, 0-8 ACC) dropped its seventh-straight ACC matchup to No. 8 Duke (9-5, 4-5 ACC) on Saturday afternoon, 13-7.

The Blue Devils kicked things off at home with a quick goal from Catriona Barry in the first two minutes of the matchup. The Hokies responded with a score of their own from senior Sarah Lubnow to even things up, 1-1.

Duke proved its high national ranking to be deserved following Lubnow’s goal, scoring the next five goals and grabbing a 6-1 lead.

Virginia Tech didn’t back down, however, answering back with a pair of goals from Emma Crooks and Grace Nelson.

The Blue Devils matched those two scores shortly after, with goals from Caroline DeBillis and Gabby Rosenzweig. Petty’s heroic goal late in the first half cut the Duke lead to four going into the break.

The effort from Petty seemed to reinvigorate Virginia Tech, as the team scored three of the first four goals in the second half to cut the deficit to two goals.

Unfortunately for the Hokies, that’s as close as they would come to lead for the rest of the game.

The Blue Devils imposed their will over the final ten minutes of the game, rifling in four goals to cement the victory.

Goal scorers for Virginia Tech include Crooks, Lubnow, Nelson, and Petty.

The Hokies travel to South Bend on Wednesday to take on Notre Dame (6-5, 3-5 ACC) as they hunt for their first ACC victory of the year. The game is at noon and will be televised on the ACC Network Extra.