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DURHAM, N.C. - The ninth-ranked Duke women's soccer team got off to a good start in the Duke adidas Women's Soccer Classic on Friday as the Blue Devils blanked Richmond, 4-0, to improve to 5-1-1 on the season.
"We started off great," said Duke head coach Robbie Church. "Scoring four goals against a good team like Richmond is very nice. I was very proud of how the team responded from losing last Sunday. We came back and had a very good effort tonight."
Freshman Lauren Tippets scored two goals on the evening to lead the Blue Devils. The Menlo Park, Calif., product, connected on her second goal of the season just one minute and 10 seconds into the match off a perfect feed from sophomore Carmen Bognanno. She added another goal early in the second half as senior Gwendolyn Oxenham hit the midfielder outside the goal box on the right side notching a 23-yard rocket in to the back of the net, for her third goal of the season.
"I thought we came out really hard," said Tippets. "Everybody was really prepared to play and wanted to come out and prove something in one of the best tournaments in the nation."
Continuing her stellar season, sophomore Carolyn Riggs connected on her team-leading fifth goal of the season in the first half off an assist from Casey McCluskey. A Indianapolis, Ind., native, Riggs hit a 30-yard bomb which went off the tip of Richmond's goalkeeper Megan Cox's fingertips in to the back right of the net in the 18th minute.
Also, adding her first career goal on Friday was freshman Rebecca Moros at the 85:01 mark, assisted by freshman Sarah McCabe. Moros, from Larchmont, N.Y., beat a Richmond defender and hit the left corner of the goal to beat backup goalkeeper Kelly Kolker of Richmond.
"We started shooting the ball more," said Church. "Lauren Tippets has been working really hard in practice on her shooting and that really showed today. Our goal is to win our tournament, which we haven't done in years."
Picking up the victory in goal for the Blue Devils was senior Thora Helgadottir, who finished with three saves on the night in 80:34 minutes. Junior Kate Straka came in to play the final nine minutes and finished with one save. For the game, Duke outshot Richmond 12-7. Prior to the tonight's game, Richmond had only given up five goals in the first four contests.
In the first match of the day, top-ranked North Carolina defeated third-ranked UCLA, 5-2, as Amy Steadman led the Tar Heels with two goals. North Carolina (8-0) will next take on Richmond (1-3-1) on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. to conclude the Classic. The Blue Devils will battle UCLA on Sunday at 12 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium.
"UCLA is a very good team, definitely worth their ranking," said Church. "They have some great athletes, play well together, are very dangerous going forward and caused North Carolina a lot of problems. It is a match our team likes to play and is looking forward to. It is a chance to test ourselves against one of the top teams in the country."
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