Duke Downs UNC Wilmington, 5-3, In First Exhibition Contest

Thursday, August 18

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

UNC-Wilmington

Duke Downs UNC Wilmington, 5-3, In First Exhibition Contest

8/18/2005 1:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM,N.C. ? In the first exhibition contest of the 2005 season, the ninth-ranked Duke women's soccer team knocked off UNC Wilmington, 5-3, on Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils will next host South Carolina in another exhibition match on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. before opening the season on Friday, Aug. 26 at 7:00 p.m. against UNC Greensboro.

Thursday's contest featured three 30-minute periods where both teams played every player available with Duke holding a 19-7 shot advantage.

“It was great to be playing again,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “We need to find out what our strengths and weaknesses are with this team. We got our first look at that tonight. I thought at times we played really well, knocked it around well, but then at times we didn't play as well as we could.”

The Blue Devils opened the first stanza with a penalty kick goal by junior tri-captain Darby Kroyer at the 18-minute mark, but UNC Wilmington came right back with a goal of its own as Dalton Carruthers took a feed from up the middle for a breakaway goal with seven minutes remaining in the first period.

The final two minutes of the first period proved to be very exciting as sophomore Lauren Tippets blasted a 40-yard rocket by the Seahawk goalkeeper to give the Blue Devils a 2-1 advantage. UNC Wilmington then added another goal by Liz Chriss to even the match, 2-2.

Duke took control in the second stanza as Tippets registered her second goal of the match off an assist from tri-captain Kate Seibert to put the Blue Devils ahead, 3-2. Then, junior Jenny Alleva took control of a ball which rebounded off the Seahawk goalkeeper and netted her first collegiate goal with 36 seconds remaining in the second period.

The Blue Devils took a 4-2 lead into the final 30 minutes of action.

In one of the biggest story lines of the contest, UNC Wilmington sophomore Ashley Church made her return to Durham after having a stellar high school career at Riverside. Church, the daughter of Duke Head Coach Robbie Church, came off the bench in Thursday's contest and took two shots.

The biggest of the two shots by Church came with 18 minutes left in the final period where she got free on a breakaway and beat Duke goalkeeper Emily Barnes to score a goal against her dad, Robbie. Church's goal cut the Duke lead to 4-3, but heralded freshman Christie McDonald connected on a goal just three minutes later to put the Blue Devils ahead, 5-3. McDonald, a product of Newnan, Ga., blasted a 30-yard shot to the top right corner of the net for the goal.

“It is a win-win situation,” said Church. “Our team won and Ashley scored a goal. I am very happy and proud of her. It is going to make my dinner table life miserable as that is one I will hear about until I go to the grave for sure. It is ok as I will just smile at it.”

For the game, Duke played 21 different players and held a 5-1 corner kick advantage. In goal, senior Alexis Morant finished with one save and two goals allowed, while Barnes had one save. In goal for UNC Wilmington, Christine York finished with two saves and Kristie Towsend had one.

“It was really nice to get out and play against some other competition,” said Tippets. “I think we struggled a little bit at first but I think that is probably part of us playing a new formation. We got used to it [the new formation] and played a lot better towards the end. Everyone was working hard even though some things were not going as well.”

Notes: Sophomore Allison Lipsher and senior Carolyn Riggs did not play for Duke due to injuries, but are expected to see action on Saturday.

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