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DURHAM, N.C. - Five different Blue Devils scored goals on Monday to lead the ninth-ranked Duke women's soccer team to a 5-0 victory over Gardner-Webb at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils improve to 11-5-1, while Gardner-Webb falls to 7-8-1.
"To score five goals tonight was great," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "A lot of our players took more of an offensive responsibility in that we penetrated more often tonight. The only negative aspect of the victory was we didn't strike the ball very well."
The Blue Devils jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, less than six minutes into the contest, as freshman Rebecca Moros collected her third goal of the season, after sophomore Carolyn Riggs' shot deflected off Gardner-Webb goalkeeper Hilary George.
Duke added two more goals at the 16 and 18 minute marks from sophomores Carmen Bognanno and Kate Seibert. Riggs settled a cross from Casey McCluskey and hit Bognanno for her third goal of the season, from only two feet in front of the goal. Then, for the fifth time this season, defender Carolyn Ford hit Seibert to give Duke a 3-0 advantage. Ford took the corner kick and found Seibert, who headed the ball in the right corner of the net. The tandem of Ford and Seibert have hit each other for header goals on three different occasions this season.
On perhaps the best goal of the night, junior Lauren Simel collected a Heidi Hollenbeck pass and nailed a 25-yard rocket past the Bulldog keeper. Simel, a Durham, N.C., product, registered her first goal of the year and fourth of her career.
For the first half, Duke outshot Gardner-Webb by a 22-1 margin.
In the second half, the Blue Devils continued to use mass substitutions, which saw every one except for player play for Duke. At the 77:08 mark, Sarah McCabe settled a rebound off a Lauren Tippets shot, which came off the crossbar, and scored her third career goal to give Duke a 5-0 victory.
The Blue Devils finished with 32 shots on the night, which was the second most on the season (Davidson, 33), while the Bulldogs were held to seven shots. In goal for Duke, senior Thora Helgadottir picked up the victory playing the first half, while sophomore Alexis Morant finished the game out in the net.
"What we all are trying to do is get in the NCAA Tournament," said Church. "It is another win to our resume and that is huge right now. We are trying to get in the tournament and we are trying to host a first and second round game. The more wins we have the better opportunity we have to host."
Duke will next host Maryland on Friday in the final regular season contest for the Blue Devils at 7:00 p.m. It will mark senior night for Gwendolyn Oxenham, Kelly Harris and Helgadottir. All three will be recognized before the game.
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