Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 3-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team dropped a 4-0 decision to No. 6 Duke tonight in front of 1,732 fans at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
 
The Mountaineers (4-2) allowed a pair of goals in each half for their second loss of the season to a top-10 opponent.
 
"If you've been around the game long enough, you know that soccer can be a cruel, cruel game," Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "Hats off to Duke – they came ready and finished their chances. Unfortunately, this is something we usually don't experience, but I'm excited that we have an opportunity to grow.
 
"A team as good as Duke, you can't wait until halftime to change some things, your emotions and your approach to the game. It was important for us to learn that we need to play 90 minutes against a great team like Duke."
 
Statistically, WVU earned the edge tonight, outshooting the Blue Devils, 14-11, and earning a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.
 
Duke's EJ Proctor made five saves, while Mountaineer sophomore Rylee Foster stopped four.
 
Duke forward Imani Dorsey gave the Blue Devils (6-1) the lead for good in the 29th minute. After receiving the ball from Rebecca Quinn, she pushed right before sending a lofting shot from 22-yards out that got between Foster and the far post for her sixth score of the season.
 
Kat McDonald pushed Duke's advantage to 2-0 in the 38th minute. The midfielder brought the ball up the field, and once inside the 18-yard box, she sent an in-stride shot toward the left post for her first career goal.
 
Facing a two-goal deficit for the first time this season, junior forward Sh'Nia Gordon tried to jump-start the WVU offense two minutes into the second half. After bringing the ball up the right side of the field, she took an in-stride shot from 13-yards out. Proctor moved to the near post for the save.
 
Duke padded its lead in the 53rd minute. Defender Schuyler DeBree sent the ball into the box. Off her line, Foster made a play for the ball, but forward Kayla McCoy got to it first, chipping it up and over the Mountaineer goalkeeper.
 
WVU forwards Michaela Abam and Hannah Abraham looked to cut into the Blue Devils' advantage three minutes later. Posted above the box, Abam flicked the ball wide left to Abraham, who quickly gave chase toward the left post. With just Proctor to beat, she took a shot from six-yards out, but the Duke goalkeeper stuffed the ball at the post.
 
McCoy tallied her second score just 10 minutes later. Mountaineer senior defender Amandine Pierre-Louis headed Ella Stevens' cross away from Quinn, and the ball went back into the box. WVU defenders Vanessa Flores and Easther Mayi Kith marked McCoy, but she stuck her leg between the Mountaineers and tapped the ball away from Foster toward the right post.
 
Abam and McCoy paced the field with four shots each.
 
Tonight marks the Mountaineers' first home loss in regulation since losing 2-0 to the Blue Devils on Aug. 29, 2014. It also is the first time WVU has allowed four goals in Morgantown since a 4-2 defeat to Kentucky on Sept. 15, 2013.
 
WVU is now 2-2 against top-10 opponents in 2017.
 
The all-time series between the teams now stands at 2-2-1.
 
The Mountaineers close their three-week homestand at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium against Richmond on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 1 p.m. Sunday is Youth Soccer Day, and all fans who wear a youth soccer jersey will earn free admittance into the match. Additionally, a free postgame clinic will follow the match.