Duke’s trip to the ACC Championship semifinals came the hard way Sunday night, and then some.
The 15th-ranked, sixth-seeded Blue Devils erased a two-goal deficit and outlasted No. 4 Wake Forest, 5-4, in overtime at Spry Soccer Stadium in Winston-Salem. Senior Mia Minestrella finished it 1:04 into the extra period with a penalty kick, sending Duke to Cary and capping a wild second-half surge that featured nine total goals in the match.
Minestrella’s winner was her 17th goal of the season and tied Kelly Walbert’s Duke career record of 47 goals. Duke moved to 10-2-5 overall and picked up the 500th win in program history.
Wake Forest struck first, with Kylie Maxwell scoring at 21:17 to put the Demon Deacons ahead 1-0. Then, after the Blue Devils spent much of the opening half pressing the issue, the game flipped into a track meet after halftime.
Wake Forest made it 2-0 on Allie Flanagan’s goal at 50:40, but Duke answered almost immediately. Cameron Roller got the Blue Devils on the board at 53:56 after a corner kick sequence, and Yuna Marui tied it 2-2 less than four minutes later with a rebound finish.
From there, the goals came in bunches. Sam Courtwright headed in Mia Oliaro’s corner at 64:30 to give Duke its first lead, Wake Forest answered in the 66th minute, and Courtwright struck again at 68:06 off a pass from Jocelyn Travers to put Duke back in front, 4-3. Wake Forest leveled it again in the 72nd minute when Sammi Wiemann scored her second of the night.
Duke kept generating chances late in regulation, but the winner wouldn’t come until overtime. Early in the extra session, Avery Oder carried the ball down the left side and fed Marui, whose cross hit a Wake Forest defender’s raised hand in the penalty area. Minestrella handled the rest.
The Blue Devils piled up the chances all night and finished with a 40-15 shot advantage, a season high. They also owned the corner-kick battle, 7-0 at halftime, and 40 shots overall after regulation and overtime.
Courtwright finished with a brace, while Roller, Marui and Minestrella each scored once. Oliaro added two assists, bringing her Duke totals against Wake Forest to two goals, four assists and eight points in three meetings.
The match also gave Duke a few notable marks beyond the scoreline. Roller scored her first goal of the season and her fifth career goal, while Minestrella matched Walbert’s career record with her 47th. Duke’s 5-4 win tied the ACC Championship single-match record for combined goals, and the Blue Devils’ five goals were their second-most ever in an ACC Championship match and their most since scoring six against Maryland in 1990.
It was also a milestone night for the program overall. Duke advanced to the ACC Championship semifinals for the 19th time and played in its eighth overtime game in tournament history, the first since 2022.
The comeback marked the fourth time in program history Duke has won after trailing by two goals, and the first since 2022. It was the largest comeback win in ACC Championship play in Duke history.
There were other details tucked into the chaos, too. Graduate student Elle Piper made her first appearance of the season after missing the regular season with an injury.
Duke was without Lauren Martinho and Katie Shea Collins because of injuries. Roller started her 70th consecutive match, moving into sole possession of eighth on Duke’s all-time list for consecutive starts.
And for Minestrella, the numbers keep stacking up. Her 17 goals rank fourth on Duke’s single-season list, her 36 points are tied for eighth, and she now has 12 career game-winning goals. She has scored against 15 different ACC programs, with Syracuse the only other current ACC team she has faced without finding the net.
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