The California field hockey team shutout No. 7 Duke in the second half but it was two Blue Devil scores in the first half that made the difference in a 2-0 loss at Jack Katz Stadium in Durham, NC on Sunday morning. The Golden Bears (3-4, 0-2 ACC) successfully defended seven Blue Devil (5-2, 2-0) penalty corners but were only able to draw two.
In the first period, Duke earned a penalty corner less than three minutes into the game but Cal was able to defend it. Later in the period, the Blue Devils were able to flip a shot from the baseline over Bears' goalkeeper for the first score of the game at the 8:00 mark. Duke got another penalty corner at the 4:09 mark but Cal was able to defend it successfully once again.
Liz Klompmaker was able to get off Cal's first shot of the day with three minutes to go in the second period but it went high. The Bears defended three straight penalty corners with under nine minutes to go, but the Blue Devils scored their second goal off a Bears turnover at the 3:30 mark to go up 2-0.
Duke received a green card in the third period and Cal was able to take advantage and earn a penalty corner at the 1:45 mark but
Victoria Beiro's shot went high. Beiro had another chance to score but her shot off a penalty corner with just under 11 minutes to go in the third period barely missed and hit the post.
"We had a hard time finding our rhythm in the first half, but the team played a solid second half," Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey
Shellie Onstead said. "We learned a ton from Friday and found improvement in some important game factors, like corner defense. We are outletting well and pressing pretty well and we are clear in what we need to do for our next ACC match on Friday."
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Cal heads home to host Virginia on Friday at 6 p.m. PT and UC Davis on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT.
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