Strong Second Half Leads Duke to 6-0 Victory over JMU

Sunday, September 15

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

Duke University

5-1-1, 0-0-0

James Madison

2-6-0, 0-0-0

James Madison

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Strong Second Half Leads Duke to 6-0 Victory over JMU

9/15/2019 9:21:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Boxscore

DURHAM, N.C. – The 11^th-ranked Duke Blue Devils used a strong offensive performance, including five second-half goals, to propel to a 6-0 victory over the James Madison Dukes (2-6-0) Sunday evening at Koskinen Stadium in the final game of nonconference play.

"I thought we came out and we were prepared," said head coach Robbie Church. "We had a lot quality things happen the whole game. They wanted so slow the game down, so our plan was to make the game faster. We wanted to move the ball sideways and move them a little bit. We're playing with a lot of confidence right now. We're playing at a really high level but understand that this finishes the first segment of our season and now our second segment, and most important segment comes next in the ACC."

Five different Blue Devils tallied goals, while nine recorded at least one point in Duke's second consecutive contest with at least six goals. The performance marked the third time ever that Duke has scored six or more goals in back-to-back matches, and the first time since 2004, when the Blue Devils defeated Furman, 7-0 on Sept. 19, before shutting out Davidson, 8-0, on Sept. 24.

The offensive effort was highlighted by sophomore Mackenzie Pluck who tallied a game-high four points, including one goal and a career-high two assists.

The Blue Devils got on the board in the 33^rd minute of the first half thanks to a James Madison own goal. Duke would take the 1-0 lead into the halfway point, before the offense returned for five-goal affair in the second 45.

The first goal of the second period came from sophomore Marykate McGuire, who extended her scoring streak to four games with a score at the 53:20 mark. The second-year Blue Devil capitalized on a sequence from Pluck and senior Ella Stevens to cash in on her fifth goal of the season.

Shortly after, Stevens recorded her fifth goal of the season as well, which came in the 55^th minute of action. After retrieving her own missed shot off the left post, the Grayson, Ga., native fired in a second attempt past the keeper to the back of the net, pushing Duke's advantage to 3-0.

Freshman Julia Hannon joined in on the scoring action in the 73^rd minute of play, marking her first career goal. The first-year Blue Devil took a pass from Pluck on the left side of the box and sent it past the JMU goalie's outstretched hands to make it a 4-0 contest.

The Blue Devils went on to score two goals across the next 10 minutes, as the junior duo of Pluck and Tess Boade closed out the six-goal effort for Duke. Boade also assisted on Pluck's goal, while Hannon provided the service for Boade's score.

Duke tallied a season-high 29 shots in the contest, while limiting James Madison to only four attempts—all of which came in the second half. The Blue Devils also held the advantage in corners over the Dukes, recording 15 corner kicks, while holding JMU to zero.

The duo of redshirt junior Brooke Heinsohn and freshman Ruthie Jones combined for the team's third straight shutout, and fifth overall on the season. Heinsohn picked up the win, tallying one save, while Jones added two saves across her 25 minutes in the goal.

The Blue Devils will take the upcoming week off before returning to action next Sunday to open conference play. Duke hosts NC State next Sunday, Sept. 22, at Koskinen Stadium for a 1 p.m. matchup. Fans can catch all the action on ACC Network.

For more information on Duke women's soccer, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWSoc". You can also find all-access coverage of all Duke athletic programs on SnapChat by searching for "dukeathletics".

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