Blue Devils Net Key League Win With 3-1 Victory Over No. 15 Wake Forest

Thursday, October 9

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

10-2-1, 2-1-1ACC

Wake Forest

8-4-0, 1-3-0ACC

#20/15 Wake Forest

#12/11 Duke

Redmond, U-23 Women Fall, 2-0, to England

Blue Devils Net Key League Win With 3-1 Victory Over No. 15 Wake Forest

10/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? As the Blue Devils were closing out a six-game homestand, the ninth-ranked Duke women's soccer team needed a key Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) victory on Thursday evening at Koskinen Stadium. Duke registered exactly what it needed with a 3-1 win over 15th-ranked Wake Forest.

With the victory, the Blue Devils improve to 10-2-1 overall and 2-1-1 in the ACC, while Wake Forest fell to 8-4-0, 1-3-0. The 10 victories on the season mark the fifth time in Head Coach Robbie Church's eight years at Duke his squads have notched double-digit wins.

“We needed that quality win,” said Church. “Our goal was to win two games with six points, so we're half way there.”

The first half featured only four shots but one of those four gave Duke the advantage in the 37th minute. Off a throw in at midfield, Meaghan FitzGerald and Rebecca Allen teamed to set up senior Kelly Hathorn with an excellent opportunity. Hathorn broke at the pass by Allen and beat Wake Forest goalkeeper Laura Morse to the ball. A native of Durham, N.C., Hathorn settled it with Morse out of the goal and hit the left corner for her second goal of the season.

“I think it was a great performance in the sense that we struggled earlier in the match, we made some adjustments; we moved some players,” said Church. “Players off the bench, they did a great, great job. The depth in those players was really big time. Kelly's [Hathorn] been around the goal all year. We knew it was coming. She just had to stay in there and keep working, and she scored a huge goal -- the first goal was going to be big in this game.”

Hathorn's goal was the only legitimate attempt of the first half as the Blue Devil defense played tough.

In the second half, Wake Forest had one of its best scoring chances of the match as Amy Smerdzinski fired an attempt at the Blue Devil goal which just slipped wide left past a diving Duke goalie, Cassidy Powers.

The Blue Devils wasted no time getting a two-goal lead as junior Elisabeth Redmond passed the ball to senior Kelly McCann, who took off down the far side of the field. McCann, who is a former track star out of Carlsbad, Calif., used her speed to beat three Demon Deacon defenders on a 70-yard run before sending a short cross to Redmond, who one-timed the rock into the left corner at the 53:09 mark.

The goal for Redmond broke a five-match scoreless streak and gave her nine on the season.

“It felt good, really good,” commented Redmond on her first goal. “For a period of time, I was looking for other people -- I had a lot of pressure in the first few ACC games and I had to adjust to that a little bit. So it felt really great to break through in this game.”

Just 12 minutes later, freshman Ashley Rape launched a feed down the middle of the field to sophomore Marybeth Kreger, who was then fouled by Eleanor Davidson in the box for a penalty kick. Redmond, who is from Morristown, N.J., stepped up and collected her 11th goal of the season.

“Kelly is so fast and she is an amazing player,” said Redmond. “I passed [the ball] to her, and right when I saw her taking off, I [ran] with her...I was there, telling her, ?Kelly, I'm here if you need me', and she found me at the end [for the goal]. It was really great, it was all her, it was an amazing play by her.”

The 10 goals on the year for Redmond already ranks as the seventh-best single-season output in school history. Over her career, Redmond owns 65 points to rank eighth on the Blue Devil career points list. The two-goal output by the midfielder marks the fourth time this season she has notched two or more goals in a contest.

Wake Forest added a goal in the 74th minute as Kaley Fountain sent a rocket from 15 yards out that hit Powers' hands and went into the net, off an assist from Bianca D'Agostino.

The Demon Deacons tried to make a rally late with three shots over the final 15 minutes of action, but were stopped by a solid defensive effort by the Blue Devils. For the match, Wake Forest held a 9-6 lead in shots and 8-2 advantage in corner kicks. Both teams were called for 14 fouls each.

In goal for the Blue Devils, Powers finished with four saves, while Morse added two for the Demon Deacons.

Only three Duke players attempted shots in the night -- Redmond (3), Hathorn (2) and Gretchen Miller added one. The six shots attempted on the evening were a season low.

“Wake Forest is a great team, great program, always at war with us,” said Church. “They created chances, we created chances, there are not a lot of shots in the ACC games, we just finished better. We were aggressive for a longer period of time.”

Duke will hit the road for the next three contests with the next match coming on Sunday, Oct. 12 at Maryland. The contest will begin at 1:00 p.m.

“It was a big time win,” said senior Lorraine Quinn. “For us to get this win at the end of our home games, I think it was big time for us. It gives us another three points in the ACC and hopefully we can use the mentality and really get a result this Sunday against Maryland.”

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