Blue Devils Open Season With 9-0 Rout Of Coastal Carolina On Sunday

Sunday, August 24

Durham, N.C.

5:00 p.m.

Duke University

1-0

Coastal Carolina

0-2

Coastal Carolina

Duke

Blue Devils Open Season With 9-0 Rout Of Coastal Carolina On Sunday

8/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Lindy Brown, Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.? Coming off an elite eight visit in the 2007 NCAA College Cup, the 10th-ranked Duke women's soccer team (1-0) has high expectations in 2008 and the Blue Devils set the tone in the season opener on Sunday with a 9-0 rout of Coastal Carolina (0-2) at Koskinen Stadium.

“We didn't have a great game last Saturday [at UNC Wilmington],” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “So I think the girls were very, very anxious to get out and kind of play better and take it to a different level than we did last Saturday. We did that, but it comes down to finishing. We did a great job of finishing.”

The Blue Devils scored five goals in the first 29 minutes of the match and held a 6-0 advantage at the end of the first half. The contest was a day of firsts as four Blue Devils collected their first career goals -- freshman Ashley Rape (2), freshman Cody Newman, sophomore Marybeth Kreger and sophomore Lynnea Pappas.

“We had four [players] who scored their first career goals at Duke,” said Church. “We scored a couple of goals on set plays, which is something that is always a bonus. We haven't been as sharp over the last couple of years as I have wanted to in that area. That was great. Carla [Overbeck] said it best at halftime when she talked to the team. The good thing about it is we scored different ways and different players scored. We scored on long-distance shots, set plays, scored on combinations and beating players. We had a lot of variety in our attack.”

Duke's nine goals in the match also matched the Blue Devil single-game record, which was also accomplished on Oct. 15, 1991 against Monmouth and on Oct. 17, 2004 versus Virginia Tech. The 12 assists by the Blue Devils also matched the single game mark last tallied against the Hokies in 2004.

Returning leading scorer from last season, Elisabeth Redmond, got things started for the Blue Devils at the 5:25 mark of the first half as the versatile midfielder ripped a right-footed blast from 25 yards out that hit the upper right hand corner of the net off assists from Kelly McCann and Kreger.

Rape, who started her first collegiate contest as the center back on defense, put the Blue Devils ahead 2-0 with a header goal off a corner kick from Jane Alukonis, which was executed perfectly.

“I really didn't know what to think,” said Rape about scoring her first goal. “I am not used to scoring goals so I was excited. I wanted to make sure it went in right when I thought it did and it had. So I was excited.”

After scoring only one goal last season while dealing with an injured ankle, junior KayAnne Gummersall registered the next two tallies for Duke in the 18th and 22nd minutes. Gummersall, a product of Wilmette, Ill., now owns nine career goals.

“Last season I was injured for most of the season,” said Gummersall. “I am really happy I had surgery in the offseason and I am happy with how my ankle has progressed. Today was a lot of fun. We came out strong and it definitely showed all of our hard work in the preseason paid off. ”

A native of Dallas, Texas, Rape then connected on her second header goal off a corner kick when Sheila Kramer found her wide open in front of the net at the 28:52 mark. Senior Kelly Hathorn added the sixth goal of the first half in the 41st minute as the Durham, N.C., product was able to get around Coastal Carolina's sliding goalkeeper, Amy Haggard, for her seventh career goal.

At the end of the first half, Duke held an 11-2 shot advantage and a 6-0 lead. Coastal Carolina was held without a shot for the first 36 minutes of the match and the Blue Devils had a 5-0 corner kick advantage as well.

Duke's offense continued to sizzle in the second half as freshman Chelsea Canepa found Newman in the 54th minute for her first career goal. Kreger, who is from Noblesville, Ind., showed her leg strength at the 64:44 mark as she intercepted the ball from a Chanticleer defender and rocketed a 25-yard shot into the left corner of the net.

Pappas, who transferred to Duke from Valparaiso over the summer, had the record-tying goal in the 79th minute off assists from Meaghan FitzGerald and Carey Goodman to put the Blue Devils up 9-0.

“I think this team is going to have more firepower than the teams have had in the past,” said Church. “We have different combinations but we are still searching for our combinations. It was a good job. I was proud. We are obviously a better team than they are -- we have better players -- but we played better. We played good soccer for most of the 90 minutes. I am very happy, it was a good start but we have a long ways to go.”

Duke closed the match with a 23-4 shot advantage and 9-1 lead in corner kicks. Making her second career start in goal for the Blue Devils was senior Cassidy Powers. Powers, a native of San Ramon, Calif., played 56 minutes and totaled two saves. Freshman Emily Nahas played the final 33:50 in the net in her first collegiate experience.

For the game, Duke played a total of 22 players and 14 of those Blue Devils collected at least one point in the match.
“We are a lot stronger than we were last year,” said Gummersall. “We have that goal-scoring mentality and obviously this wasn't the toughest test we will have but I think we will be able to bring it in games down the road.”

The Blue Devils will next host Campbell on Friday, Aug. 29 at 7:00 p.m., and then will close a three-game home stand on Sunday, Aug. 31 against UNC Greensboro with a 6:00 p.m. match. Beginning this season, all Blue Devil home soccer contests will be ticketed events. Tickets will be $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for youth, while Duke students will have free admission with valid identification.

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Notes:
? Duke scored only one goal over the first five games of the 2007 season.
? The nine goals in a season opener is a new school record as the previous was six (which happened six times).