Tech falls to No. 1 Duke, 3-0, in NCAA Round of 32

DURHAM, N.C. – A goal 68 seconds before halftime, and one just eight minutes into the second half, pushed No. 1 Duke past Texas Tech, 3-0, in the 2024 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament Round of 32, Friday night at Koskinen Stadium.

Despite a valiant effort from goalkeeper Faith Nguyen, who shined to the tune of a career-high nine saves, Texas Tech (15-5-2) saw its season end to the top-seeded Blue Devils (16-2-1).

Right from the very start, Ngyuen, looked up to the task, as she made consecutive saves in the first five minutes to keep Duke off the board.

The Red Raiders nearly struck first in the eighth minute when a pair of shots from midfielder Kate Libel and forward Taylor Zdrojewski were blocked by the Duke backline.

On the backs of two more saves from Nguyen and multiple clutch crosses eliminated, the Red Raiders continued to hold the potent Duke attack off the board deep into the first half.

The heroics of the UCLA transfer not only kept the game scoreless, but also made it to where the Red Raiders continued to have chances to find the ever important go-ahead goal.

Minus the double-shot sequence in the eighth minute, no chance came closer, than a bending shot from Kaitlyn Giametta 19 seconds in the 24th minute.

The shot was one of two the Prosper native had on the night.

Just under two minutes from getting to the break scoreless, the Red Raiders ultimately could not close out the half without conceding, as Duke used a freekick restart with just 100 seconds left to dent the scoreboard first.

The goal came on a rocket shot from Duke's Maggie Graham. Graham, the ACC's Midfielder of the Year, scored twice on Friday night.

Just seven minutes and 27 seconds into the second period, Duke added its second goal, when Graham scored again on a counterattack.

Looking to apply pressure with a goal, the Red Raiders nearly did just that in the 72nd-minute when Freshman Alana Harry ripped a low shot across the goal-mouth that ACC Goalkeeper of the Year Leah Freeman was able to punch wide. The save, was Freeman's lone save of the night.

Duke ultimately added one more goal with just 4:29 left when Mia Oliaro slipped a shot past Nguyen.

The goal, Duke's third, marked the first time that Tech allowed three goals in a match since Sept. 30, 2021. In that match Baylor scored three times in a 3-2 win. The stretch spanned three full years and almost 1150 days.

With the season coming to a close, the Red Raiders closed the 2024 season with 15 total wins, marking the second-consecutive season Tech reached that mark. The Red Raiders also closed the season with another NCAA Tournament win and with 45 total goals.

HEAD COACH TOM STONE

Opening statement:
"First, it's only proper to congratulate Duke on a great game, a really good second half, and they proved that they're the number one team in the country for a reason. It's not easy to get knocked out ever, but when you get knocked out by a really good team who played really well, there's some consolation because we played really hard. [Duke HC] Robbie Church, coached me when I was here. It's hard to be happy for him right now because of the emotion. But the reality is, I'm proud of Robbie. I'm excited what he's doing with this program, with this team. In his retirement season, you we wish him and Carla, Kieran, Jason, all the best. We hope that they continue to win so we can say we got knocked out by the national champions. What Robbie has done here for his career is nothing short of majestic and honorable, and he's one of the best guys in women's college soccer. So, we're honored to be in the game against Duke, and we congratulate them fully on their victory. I think, from our standpoint, the first goal was just absolutely brutal. We're are a great box defending team. We have been all year, but we had a lot of 'half clearances' in the first half. Normally, we're really good at 'sealing' players, and making sure that there's no second phase goals. Unfortunately for us, the first goal was both of those things, a bit of a half clearance. And then we got beat to a ball. That's not the kind of goal we've been given up this year, and it hurt. Duke got to go into half and talk about what to do with the one goal lead. We had to go into the half talk about how to get back in it. That changes the dynamic. If you let a team like Duke, who can eat a lot of clock with the ball, get in front, you're going to have less opportunities to get back at them. And although I thought we looked dangerous a couple times on counters, we had less than we would normally get in these types of games. Our chances were few and far between. The ones that we had a good look at, like a shot that went over [from Giametta] and then [Zdrojewski] was about a half a step offside. Those could have changed the game for us, but we only had a few of them, and that shows the value of how important those chances become. When you look back and think, if one of those goes, this game turns upside down. Unfortunately, we were never able to put that kind of pressure on the scoreboard and force Duke to have to do more than they had to. "

When asked about his game plan coming into the game:
"Well, we were trying to contain their play because they score so many goals off crosses. Duke has a great left-footed player and a player on the right-side that cuts inside. We had seen that on video. The lefty didn't like to be forced inside, and the player cutting inside, could be talked into passing sideways. That kind of was evolving in the way that we wanted to evolve. We knew we'd have to do some good box defending, and we knew we'd have to get on the ball to keep it. For some reason with about 10 minutes left in the half, we started getting real hasty with the ball. I think that's where their momentum started. We started playing one touch, which is not logical, we started passing sideways too much, and Duke's press jumped on the ball. It was just a tiny little twist of momentum. It was in that twist that Duke got the goal, because we were just under a lot of pressure and couldn't get it out of our own end. The game was evolving in a way that would have gotten us to the half scoreless. If we did that, then we could have emboldened our team at the half, and we probably would have changed a couple things to keep us going. Z [Zdrojewski] is really good on the ball. She could hold the ball against anyone in the country, and we thought we had enough to maybe steal one. You know, we've been a great defensive team all year, so I agree. I think the game was at our pace. It was in a good pace to get to the half 0-0, and that's why the goal that we gave up, and the way we gave it up was painful."

GOALKEEPER FAITH NGUYEN

When asked about her career high of nine saves:
"We've been talking the whole year about how good our defenses is. And my defense, multiple times, has stepped up for me, and I think in a game like this, it required me to step up for them, just as they've stepped up for me all year. So honestly, I'm proud that I was able to do that, but also at the same time, it was required of me for the year that we've had to do my part."

Texas Tech University Athletics

Tech falls to No. 1 Duke, 3-0, in NCAA Round of 32

Players Mentioned

Kaitlyn Giametta

Alana Harry

Faith Nguyen

Taylor Zdrojewski

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