Blue Devils Fall, 2-0, in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

11/4/2009 4:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

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CARY, N.C. - In a match where the Blue Devils had their chances to score goals, Duke came away with a 2-0 loss to the hands of third-ranked Florida State on Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament, which was being played at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.

Duke's 2009 future will now depend on the NCAA Tournament committee as the Blue Devils are hoping to receive their seventh straight NCAA bid on Monday, Nov. 9 during the NCAA Tournament selection show. With a record of 8-8-4 overall and 4-4-2 in the very challenging ACC, the Blue Devils boast a RPI ranking of 34.

"I am so, so proud of our team," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "I thought we fought extremely hard today through the whole match playing a very talented team. We did what we wanted to defensively, we created some chances in the second half, we got some good looks, but unfortunately they didn't go in -- we couldn't get that one goal that would energize us. The effort and heart of this team today and all year is just fantastic. I am just very proud of them."

In the first half, Florida State outshot Duke, 10-3, but the Blue Devils didn't get anything going until the final 15 minutes of the stanza. Duke had an excellent chance with six minutes remaining as senior Elisabeth Redmond made long run down the left side of the field and beat a FSU defender to the inside post. A product of Morristown, N.J., Redmond sent a cross to senior KayAnne Gummersall but the ball was just outside her reach on the right post with a wide open goal in front of her.

"We were too defensive in the first half," said Church. "Obviously with KayAnne and Elisabeth up front we have some very talented front runners. They needed some help, we had to get some help from them and our wide players. There were a number of people in the wide position that did a much better job of getting ourselves forward and giving our center players an option instead of giving it straight down the middle of the field. And we got our backs much more. But it actually started with 15 minutes left in the first half, we got a hold of the ball, we got some better options and we got going forward and we created some more opportunities. We knew that there weren't going to be a lot of opportunities out there today, but we finally created some and we created some good ones. Unfortunately, we just didn't finish them."

Redmond totaled a shot of her own in the 40th minute and then as the final 10 seconds were going off the clock, freshman Libby Jandl flopped a ball over the FSU defenders and Carey Goodman chipped in a goal just over the hands of FSU goalkeeper, Erin McNulty, but time expired before the ball crossed the goal line and the goal was called back.

The second half provided a lot of action as Blue Devil freshman goalkeeper Tara Campbell made two diving stops in the 51st and 54th minutes to keep Duke in the match early.

Duke came back with some action of its own in the 55th minute as Redmond drove down left side of the field and into the Seminole box. She almost lost the ball as two FSU defenders emerged on her but Redmond retained it and found herself wide open for a shot. The three-time All-ACC selection fired a left-footed attempt that just sailed wide right of the far post.

Only three minutes later, Blue Devil freshman Nicole Lipp drove down the middle of the field and sent a great feed over to a streaking Redmond on the left side. Redmond had a one-v-one opportunity, but McNulty stopped an excellent chance for a goal for Duke. Blue Devil sophomore Chelsea Canepa sent a shot high on the rebound from Redmond's attempt that came off McNulty.

"I definitely think it was momentum because it just kind of propelled us because we knew we could score on them, that we could create chances and just because they may have controlled some of the possessions that we're going to get that half chance and hopefully score it," said Goodman. "And we did. In the second half, we created a lot more chances in the opening 15 or 20 minutes [of the second half]."

In the 70th minute, the high-powered Seminole offense finally got on the board as ACC Player of the Year Tiffany McCarty beat the Duke defense up the middle of the field and Campbell tried to charge out and stop the one-on-one chance high in the box, but McCarty made a great move around Campbell and sent in her 16th goal of the year in the right corner.

Duke tried to mount a rally in the 83rd minute as junior Kendall Bradley sent cross to the front of the goal where Gummersall and the Florida State keeper collided. Goodman, who is from Greensboro, N.C., ended up with the ball on the left side of the goal but her shot went wide left.

"We have a young defense but they are very good," said Gummersall. "Watching them make big saves is inspiring up top. We came into the game knowing we could win if we all played our best. I think we played hard but we just didn't get that end result. Our defense has been consistently great all year and they are really stepping it up when it matters. Hopefully we can just get the chance [to keep playing]."

As the Blue Devils tried to push ahead and get a goal in the final minutes of the match, Florida State's Lauren Switzer sent a corner kick into the box and as junior defender Gretchen Miller was trying to head the ball out of the box, but it went into the Duke goal to give Florida State a 2-0 lead.

For the game, Duke was outshot, 22-12, and the Seminoles (15-3-1) also held an 11-3 advantage in corner kicks. Campbell, who is from Cincinnati, Ohio, finished the match with nine saves. She now owns 92 saves as a freshman, which is one shy of the Duke single-season record of 93 held by Thora Helgadottir and Melissa Carr.

"There is no question we deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament," commented Church. "We are a NCAA caliber team, we finished tied for sixth in the regular season in the toughest conference in the country, we have quality wins and quality ties -- that is the tricky part as you are not quite sure what they are going to do with the ties. This is a tough, tough conference -- since the middle of September all the way until early November; every game is a fight. I have been around long enough and I know what NCAA teams are like and this is definitely one. I am not quite sure of our chances, but I know we deserve to be there and I know if we can get that second chance we will perform very well."

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