“It was a hard-fought win because Duke outshot us, out-cornered us and on paper in any other stat category, but then the final score was for the better team,” head coach Rolf van de Kerkof said.

In a deadlocked, scoreless first half, the Spartans (2-0) and the Blue Devils (1-1) both demonstrated their equal skills and forceful defense that prevented any goals. With Duke taking seven shots, four of them being on goal, freshman goalkeeper Molly Cassidy stood strong as a wall blocking the net.

“Our team just worked so hard today throughout the entire game, from the start to the end,” Cassidy said.

The intensity of the highly-ranked teams only grew with the start of the second half with each team vying to be first on the scoreboard.

“I think we were just really aggressive today, and we stayed on and pressured really hard on their defense,” sophomore midfielder Kristen Henn said. “We also worked together and worked really well off each other. It was a really good team effort today.”

With about 23 minutes left in the second half, Duke midfielder Emma Le Marchand broke away from an up-field pass for a fast break. Despite what could have been a great scoring opportunity, Spartan sophomore back Corey Block came flying up the field to take control of the ball and destroy any hope of Duke getting off a shot.

During MSU’s second and last penalty corner, Henn was fed the ball from senior back Joelle van Ierland and junior forward Chantae Miller, and she forced a goal past the Blue Devil goalkeeper at 49:29.

“(We) got a (penalty) corner, and I just nailed it to the corner,” Henn said. “But it was definitely a team effort, and everyone was on cage so if there was a rebound, it was going in anyway.”

During Duke’s first penalty corner of the half, Blue Devil midfielder Grace Christus came up with a solid shot against the Spartans, but Cassidy came out of the goal and stepped up for a spectacular save to keep her team in the lead.

“I’m just confident that I know that my defenders surrounding me are going to help me get the job done,” Cassidy said.

“Molly helped us; she kept us in the game,” van de Kerkof said. “Molly, like everybody else, was out there and helped us secure the win.”

Although the ball spent much of its time in Duke’s possession, MSU was able to hold off the Blue Devils through the rest of the game and give Cassidy her first shutout of the season.

“They definitely put the pressure on, especially those last 10 minutes,” Henn said. “I was getting kind of nervous, but we held our ground. Our defense played really great today.”

Van de Kerkof agreed with Henn and said that the Spartan defense played better in this game than any other time in the 2009 season, when the Spartans took home the Big Ten Championship.

This weekend, the Spartans will travel to California where they will compete against California, Pacific and Stanford. Their next home game is Sept. 10 against Providence.