Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami Falls to No. 2 Duke 2-0
10/15/2017 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
OXFORD, Ohio - The Miami University field hockey team lost to No. 2 Duke by a 2-0 margin. The RedHawks fall to 6-7 on the season and the Blue Devils improve to 12-2.
"The team was very disciplined today," said head coach Inako Puzo. "We knew we would have to play without the ball for the majority of the game. We had to keep our defensive structure and commitment to keep fighting to the end. We did it and especially in the first half we were able to play the game that we wanted to play. Give them the ball, close the space in the back field and take care of our opportunities in the attacking 25. In the second half, I think Duke was able to adjust making our job much more difficult. We tried to answer with a different approach to build the game after their second goal. We created a few new opportunities but we did not get into the attacking circle with enough numbers to be a real threat to the Duke defense. I'm proud of the way we presented ourselves today. Our commitment is to play to win every game. It does not matter the name on the jersey of the other team or their ranking. We did it today. It is just that you try to win games in different ways. We did not give the game away. We played hard and smart. Duke is a great team and we love to be challenged on the field against great teams. This is the way we understand we can get better."
Duke led the game in shots 28-5 and corners 5-4.
The Miami defense, led by junior goalkeeper Maddie Passarella, shut out Duke in the first half.
Just two minutes into the second half, Rose Tynan scored her 11th goal of the season on a rebound to put Duke on the board.
Five minutes later, Ashley Kristen netted her fifth goal of the season by diving to finish a cross pass from Morgan Bitting. The Blue Devils held onto this 2-0 lead for the remainder of the game.
"It was a great game against a very good team," said junior back/midfielder Avery Sturm. "Our objective was to work together as a unit and communicate for 70 minutes. We did that. Duke is a very good team and full credit to them. We worked to keep our structure and compete hard. Have to give credit to Maddie [Passarella] for having an outstanding game."
Passarella recorded 14 saves. Freshman midfielder Leonor Berlie took three shots and junior midfielder/forward Paula Portugal took two.
Miami plays the second and final game of the North Carolina trip tomorrow at Davidson at 5 p.m.
