Blue Devils Fall, 1-0, to UNC Greensboro

Friday, August 28

Chapel Hill, N.C.

5:00 p.m.

Duke University

1-1-0

UNC Greensboro

1-1-0

UNC Greensboro

Duke

Blue Devils Fall, 1-0, to UNC Greensboro

8/28/2009 9:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The UNC Greensboro women's soccer team registered a first half goal, then packed the defense in for the rest of the game and came away with a 1-0 victory over No. 11 Duke on Friday evening in the Nike Carolina Classic at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Blue Devils fell to 1-1 on the year, while UNC Greensboro improves to 1-1. Duke will next take on Central Florida on Sunday during the final day of the Nike Carolina Classic at 1:00 p.m.

"It is a very disappointing loss," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "You have to give credit to [UNC] Greensboro. As I mentioned earlier, they are a well-coached team and they play very, very hard. They didn't have a lot of chances, but they capitalized on the best chance that they did have."

Senior Jane Alukonis took the first shot of the match in the 15th minute of the contest off a direct kick, after junior Carey Goodman was fouled just outside of the box. The shot was saved by UNCG goalkeeper, Kelsey Kearney, on the right side of the goal. Junior Rebecca Allen added the second shot of the match eight minutes later that was also saved.

UNC Greensboro then got on the board first at the 23:47 mark as Tabitha Padgett got past the Duke defense and beat Blue Devil goalkeeper Emily Nahas on a one-on-one opportunity to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.

Duke had a great chance in the 29th minute as sophomore Chelsea Canepa took one shot that was blocked and then had her second attempt saved by Kearney. The Blue Devils also had shot attempts by Lynnea Pappas, Kendall Bradley and Nicole Lipp in the first half.

At the end of the first stanza, Duke lead with a 9-4 shot advantage, but UNCG held a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard.

Duke came out in the second half on the attack as the Blue Devils took the first eight shots of the stanza by Maddy Haller, KayAnne Gummersall, Cody Newman (2), Goodman (2), Canepa and Alukonis, but couldn't get anything past the Spartan defense.

With 77:13 on the clock, there was a lightening delay and the stadium had to be cleared. After a one hour and nine minute delay, Duke registered five shots but with UNC Greensboro packing the defense in the Blue Devils couldn't get anything between the posts.

Lipp, who is a freshman from Lake Forest, Ill., had two great chances in the final seven minutes with one being saved and the other just going high over the crossbar.

"I was very proud of my team in the second half," commented Church. "I thought we did some really, really good things -- outshooting them 13-1 in the second half and really dominating the game. It is a funny game and we are a little bit of a different team right now, we have to find our identity, but I thought we prepared ourselves well and I was proud of the girls how they came out."

Making her first career start, Nahas played the entire 90 minutes and finished with one save in goal for the Blue Devils. Kearney had nine saves in 90 minutes for UNC Greensboro.

Duke outshot UNC Greensboro, 22-5, for the game and 13-1 in the second half but couldn't register a goal.

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