No. 9 Duke Falls, 3-1, To No. 4 Notre Dame In Women?s Soccer Action

Sunday, September 7

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1:00 p.m.

Duke University

5-0-0

Notre Dame

4-1-0

Duke

#4/5 Notre Dame

No. 9 Duke Falls, 3-1, To No. 4 Notre Dame In Women?s Soccer Action

9/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? After holding tight the first 65 minutes of the contest on Sunday afternoon, fourth-ranked Notre Dame pulled away with two late goals to knock off ninth-ranked Duke, 3-1, in women' soccer action at the Nike Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Blue Devils suffered their first loss of the season to fall to 4-1-0, while the Irish improved to 5-0.

“For Notre Dame to come down and beat Carolina on their home field Friday night and for them to play us and beat us here -- that is a heck of a job by Notre Dame,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “You have to give them credit. They were a final four team last year, a ton of players back, a good recruiting class -- they are probably the best team in the country and I think it will probably show in the polls this year.”

In the first half, both squads played very evenly and saw 15 substitutions over the first 45 minutes. Notre Dame held a 6-5 shot advantage with the best attempt coming in the 32nd minute as Erica Iantorno fired a shot at the Duke goal but Blue Devil senior Kelly Hathorn knocked the ball out of bounds to register a team save.

“We played with them [Notre Dame], but we are not there at that level yet,” said Church. “We are not far, but we are not at that level yet. As I just told them, we have to get better. We have to get better in practice. Notre Dame was the most physical team we have played and we have to be able to play through the physical. We have to be able to play through them and play our game when they press us and they play us hard. They made it really difficult for us to find a rhythm of play today. But we battled. We had some lapses and when we had some lapses they capitalized on them.”

In the first minute and nine seconds of the second half, Notre Dame took a 1-0 lead in the match as Brittany Bock sent a cross in from the right side and found Kerri Hanks in front of the goal. After a battle in front with Duke defenders and a dive for the ball by Blue Devil goalkeeper Cassidy Powers, Hanks was able to put in her fifth goal of the season.

Duke did not let down after allowing only the second goal in five matches this season as the Blue Devils went on the attack. At the 59:15 mark, junior Jane Alukonis sent a right-footed corner kick into the center of the box and Duke's smallest player on the field, 5-2 Lorraine Quinn, headed in her first goal of the season. Quinn, who is a senior from Farmingdale, N.Y., was able to leap high over the Notre Dame defense and hit the top, left corner of the net.

In the 66th minute, Michele Weissenhofer sent a corner kick that went through the middle of the field before Iantorno settled it and sent a pass to Lauren Fowlkes who one-timed the ball into the corner of the net to put Notre Dame ahead.

With a 2-1 lead, Notre Dame capitalized on a Duke miscue on defense to take two-goal advantage in the 70th minute. Weissenhofer sent a pass to a streaking Rebecca Mendoza down the left side and was able to launch a left-footed shot over a charging Powers that curved around and went into the goal.

Duke tried to get a goal late to cut into the lead as Elisabeth Redmond to two shots but neither could get by the tough Irish defense.

For the match, Notre Dame held a 17-10 shot advantage. The Irish also held a 13-3 lead in corner kicks. Powers, who is a native of San Ramon, Calif., played the entire 90 minutes and registered a career-high seven saves in the net.

“It was a great game,” said Quinn. “They are obviously a great team. We had some easy breakdowns in the second half that we probably shouldn't have had. I don't think they came out and dominated the entire second half or entire last 30 minutes, but we had some breakdowns that they could capitalize on. We are going to watch the film and hopefully try to fix those areas.”

After playing the first five contests either at home or in Chapel Hill, the Blue Devils will hit the road this weekend as Duke will travel to Dayton for a Sept. 12 match at 7:30 p.m. Duke will also travel to Columbus, Ohio for a Sunday, Sept. 14 contest at Ohio State. The match will kick off at 1:00 p.m.

Duke Notes:

? Sunday's contest was a rematch of the 2007 NCAA College Cup Elite Eight game in which Duke fell, 3-2.

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