Duke Cruises Past Radford, 5-1, In The NCAA College Cup First Round

Friday, November 14

Durham, N.C.

5:00 p.m.

Duke University

13-5-3

Radford

14-2-6

Radford

Duke

Gummersall Reflects on Her Trip to Greece This Summer

Duke Cruises Past Radford, 5-1, In The NCAA College Cup First Round

11/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.? Five different Blue Devils tallied a goal and eight different players scored at least one point as 15th-ranked Duke cruised to a 5-1 victory over Radford in the opening round of the NCAA Women's College Cup on Friday at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils advance to the second round of action for the sixth straight season and will play William & Mary on Sunday, Nov. 16.

KayAnne Gummersall registered a goal and an assist for three points to lead Duke in the victory. The five goals were the most the Blue Devils have scored in their NCAA College Cup history. Coming into the game, Radford had not allowed more than two goals in a single contest.

The No. 3 seeded Blue Devils are now 13-5-3 and take on William & Mary in the second round on Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium. It will be the 11th meeting between the two teams with the Tribe holding a slight 5-4-1 advantage in the series.

The Blue Devils attacked Radford right from the opening whistle and were able to penetrate the Highlanders' defense. Duke appeared to have scored just 1:16 in the contest as Gummersall knocked home a rebound, but was whistled for offsides to disallow the goal.

Duke needed just four more minutes to get that first goal when Lorraine Quinn and Gummersall put together good combination play in the midfield and found the feet of Marybeth Kreger in the box. Kreger one-timed the shot into the upper right-hand corner to put the Blue Devils up 1-0 in the fifth minute.

Less than four minutes later it was Gummersall getting on the scoreboard with an assist from Christie McDonald. Gummersall collected the ball at the top of the 18-yard box, spun around her defender and slipped the ball past Lisa Lubke to put Duke ahead 2-0 just 8:18 into the game.

The Blue Devils continued to control the run of play throughout much of the first half. Possessing the ball throughout the back and the midfield, Duke was able to generate countless dangerous attacks and capitalized again in the 42nd minute off a set piece. Drawing a foul about 20 yards from goal, Elisabeth Redmond stepped up to the ball and ripped a shot into the right side netting for the 3-0 halftime lead.

At the end of the first stanza, Duke held a 15-2 shot advantage.

Duke picked up right where it left off, firing five shots before the Highlanders were able to get into Duke's defensive third. Radford started to gain some momentum after those opening 15 minutes and was able to get on the board in the 63rd minute with a set piece goal.

A foul by Duke in the middle third of the field allowed Lubke to step up and send a long ball to the penalty area. Maryellen Derenda was able to flick the ball to McKenzie Vergara. Vergara found herself all alone in the penalty box and lifted it past Blue Devil goalkeeper Cassidy Powers to make it a 3-1 game.

The goal gave the Highlanders a lift and some renewed energy as they pushed to make it a one-goal game. Duke stopped the momentum five minutes later with a Jane Alukonis rifle just inside the right post from the left side of the 18-yard box. Rebecca Allen rounded out the scoring for the Blue Devils in the 76th minute with her first goal of the season off an assist from Cody Newman.

Duke outshot the Highlanders 33-4 for the game and won 12 corner kicks to Radford's two. Powers made two stops in nearly 80 minutes of action, while freshman Emily Nahas played the final 10 minutes without facing a shot. Lubke had 10 saves for Radford.

Live stats will be available for the contest versus William & Mary. A link is provided at www.GoDuke.com.

NOTES:

- With her goal on the night junior Elisabeth Redmond moved into seventh place on Duke's all-time points list with 67. KayAnne Gummersall notched her team-best 12th goal of the season, which ranks seventh on Duke's single-season charts. Her 28 points on the year is tied for seventh on the Blue Devil single season list.

- Duke has now one its first game in the NCAA College Cup in its last eight straight appearances.

- The Blue Devils now own 50 goals on the season, which ranks as the fifth-best single season total in school history. Duke's 147 points on the year is tied for fourth.

Duke Head Coach Robbie Church

On what getting the first win means

"Obviously it means we play Sunday. That's the best thing of the win. I think a lot of things we wanted to happen, happened. We wanted to get back to scoring goals and creating opportunities and we did both. We had five [goals]. We could have had more. A lot of them banged around. I thought we started off great. I thought the kids really came out great. A little frustrated after we scored the second goal. I thought was started to get individual, instead of what got us to a 2-0 lead at that time, playing as a team, playing as a group. But I thought we played some really, really good soccer during that time. Second half, I thought we played well too. Their goalkeeper made some very nice saves and we missed some opportunities. Overall, I thought it was a really, really good performance."

On playing at home

"It's fantastic and this is what we play for. Again, it's being familiar. We've had a good year. We're comfortable with the situation at home. We're comfortable -- places that we eat, the locker room -- so it's everything. It's a combination of stuff. We're confident on this field, like most teams are when they play at home. It's a great reward for what we did early in the year. It's well deserved and I was happy that the girls really stepped up their play tonight."

On building on this win

"We know there's going to be a better quality team out there. That's how the tournament goes. You kind of advance and each round you get a little bit harder team. You got two very talented teams in South Carolina and William & Mary. It should be a really great game to watch and to see. We have to do some of the things that we did but we also have to be able to play through a lot more pressure. Athletically, Radford didn't really stack up to us. We know these teams will stack up. Last year we played South Carolina and we beat them on penalty kicks. It was a tight game. It's a game that we're going to really have to play through them. We have to play like we did, but under pressure too."

Radford Head Coach Ben Sohrabi

On overall thoughts on the game

"It was an exciting night. I think Duke is a very good team and we were very excited to play Duke and we made a couple mistakes here and there. When you make mistakes against a team like Duke they're going to punish you. Overall I was really proud of our team and the way they played."

On what team takes away from the experience

"I always felt that when you play teams like this, it helps you become better. I think what we take away from it is that's the level we want to aspire to. As much as we can, we try to play teams like this. It's just going to make us better."

On what Duke was able to do to challenge them

"I watched them on video and the thing about them is you don't realize how well they move off the ball. They're a well-coached team. They move off the ball as well as any team I've coached against and I've coached against a lot of top 10 teams. They're off the ball movement is great."

On their goal

"We sent our keeper up to send a long ball. She's great at serving balls. We hit it to our best target player. She flicked it on. A great individual effort by our senior to get to the end of it and get the goal. That made it real exciting, 3-1. At that point, who knew what could happen. That was exciting for us to get that at that point of the game."

William & Mary Head Coach John Daly

General Statement on game

"I'm so proud of our team and what they did tonight. I really didn't think we played that well in the first half. I thought South Carolina possessed the ball and that we were playing a little nervous. We were sending long balls that they were handling them. We took the lead against the run of play and then got the equalizer rightfully so. We came out in the second half and I think we were the better team and we had so much momentum in the final 15 minutes. I just told them to keep playing hard and that we could win the game."

"On game-winning goal scorer"

"She didn't play great in the run of play tonight, but she scored two goals. That's what she does and she's always great in the penalty area and she proved that tonight."

On playing Duke on Sunday

"They are a lot like South Carolina in that they possess the ball really well and build the attack and are athletic. They have some very talented players and are a very well coached team and are a great side and will offer us a great challenge."

William & Mary Senior Claire Zimmeck

On scoring the game-winning goal

"It feels amazing. I wasn't expecting it at the time. It just came and it felt natural. It was awesome. It was a great effort by my teammates. It was amazing."

On the game-winning goal

"I can only remember up to the part where Dani (Collins) headed it and then I was, I guess, pretty high on the endline and the keeper started coming out. I didn't really see her until after I headed it and she wasn't there so it was great."

On what the experience means for her and for the team

"It's awesome. As myself, I'm a senior, so I want to go as far as we can. I think we can do it. We're just coming together as a team and I think we have a lot of potential and we just got to keep fighting and I think we can go far."

On what coach said before the game

"We got to fight hard. The only way we're going to win is if we fight for the win and go hard to everything."

On expectations for game against Duke

"We're going to have to fight really hard. They're a great team. We're going to have to work real hard to beat them. I think if we play as a team and how we can play, I think we have a chance to win."

South Carolina Head Coach Shelley Smith

On overall game

"I think we played very well tonight. We played our hearts out. Our kids left everything on the field. I was so proud of their performance."

On the experience and what it means for the young team

"I told the team it's something to learn from, to be here and to be feel the sting of being out in the first round. I think we were obviously very excited to make it to the NCAAs and to have the committee give us a chance. I thought we could have won tonight and give William & Mary credit for battling and getting the goals they needed. It was a good game. The players that come back will have the hunger to get back to the NCAAs. They know they can get past the first round and I think they'll have that drive coming in to next fall. So that's some motivation for the young players: to get back here and get past that first game. Any time you make it to postseason it's great experience, especially for some of the young freshmen on the team."