Canepa's Golden Goal Lifts Duke Past Auburn, 2-1, in OT

Friday, September 18

Durham, N.C.

7:30 p.m.

Duke University

4-3-1

Auburn

3-2-2

OT 1

OT 2

Auburn

Duke

Canepa's Golden Goal Lifts Duke Past Auburn, 2-1, in OT

9/18/2009 11:15:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

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DURHAM, N.C. - Sophomore Chelsea Canepa registered her first game-winning goal in a Blue Devil uniform on Friday night in highlight fashion during the Duke Nike Classic. Canepa notched a golden goal in the 107th minute of the second overtime to lift the Blue Devils past Auburn, 2-1, at Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils improved to 4-3-1 overall, while the Tigers dropped to 3-2-2 on the season. The Duke Nike Classic will close on Sunday with North Carolina and Auburn at 12:00 p.m., followed by Duke versus LSU at 2:00 p.m. An award presentation will follow immediately following the second game.

"It is a huge win for us," commented Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "How we did it was really, really impressive. We gave up our first goal all year at home, fell behind and I thought we gave up a goal against the run of the play. I thought at that point we really played for the rest of the half-- Carey Goodman scored a big goal at the end of the first half to tie it up."

Duke came out on the attack at the very beginning of the match as the Blue Devils attempted the first two shots off the legs of Kendall Bradley and Maddy Haller. Then in the 20th minute sophomore Cody Newman registered a shot on goal that was saved off the line by Auburn goalkeeper Amy Howard.

A native of Bellerose, N.Y., Newman then had a give-and-go with senior Elisabeth Redmond and as she snuck by two Tiger defenders. Newman then used some good footwork to get past an approaching goalkeeper and sent a shot in from inside the box that was saved by the Auburn defense.

Auburn was able to get on the board first in the 26th minute as Caitlin King made a great run down the right side of the field and found Rebecca Howell who blasted a 16-yard shot that hit the back of the Blue Devil net.

The goal by Auburn broke a 388.53 scoreless streak for Blue Devil opponents at home this season.

Duke kept on the attack and after four subs and two straight corner kicks by senior Jane Alukonis, the Blue Devils were able to even the score, 1-1, in the 36th minute. Gretchen Miller sent a ball inside the Tiger box where it was deflected. Junior Carey Goodman settled the ball and sent knocked in her first goal of the season.

"It was big for us to fall behind a goal, tie it up before the half and find a way to win it in overtime," said Church. "KayAnne [Gummersall] and Elisabeth have scored a lot of goals for us and tonight Chelsea and Carey scored goals, which is big because they have to have support."

Auburn attempted two shots over the final five minutes of the half, which were high and saved by Blue Devil keeper Tara Campbell. At the end of the first half, Duke held a 7-5 lead in shots and 7-1 advantage in corner kicks.

In the first minute of the second half, Redmond found a ball outside of the box of the goal box and rocketed a shot that was going towards right post but Howard dove to her left and caught it in mid air for the save.

Campbell, a freshman goalkeeper from Cincinnati, Ohio, Campbell kept the Blue Devils in the match with two key saves in the second half. Mary Coffed got past the Duke defense in the 56th minute and had a one-v-one chance against Campbell. Coffed sent a shot to the left side of the goal but Campbell dove to her right and got one hand on the ball to send it past the post. Then in the 69th minute, Caitlin King of Auburn fired a 22-yard shot high into the box and Campbell backpedaled and leaped up to get a hand on the ball. The rock then went off the crossbar and came back in front of the goal line where Campbell was able to corral ball.

"The other thing that was big was Tara Campbell in goal," said Church. "She made two huge saves at the end of regulation and overtime that gave us a chance to win. That is what our goalkeepers have to do for us. That is what goalkeepers in the past have done."

At the end of regulation, Duke held a 14-10 shot advantage. Campbell had four saves, while Howard added six saves for the Tigers in goal.

"My team works hard for me so when they need me I should be there; that is how I feel," said Campbell. "The fact that they were big saves, I am glad I did my part in such a big game."

In the first overtime, Auburn took two shots with Campbell saving the first attempt of the period off the foot of Katy Frierson. Redmond sent Duke's lone shot wide in the 93rd minute.

Senior KayAnne Gummersall, Bradley and Redmond took three out of the first four shots of the second overtime period as the Blue Devils kept the pressure on Auburn. Then at the 107:07 mark of the second overtime period, Haller sent a cross to Canepa in the midfield where she settled the ball, made a couple of moves and sent her second shot of the match towards the left side of the goal for the game-winner.

"There were a lot of defenders in front of us and it was late in the game so they were crunching their back line," said Canepa. "There wasn't a lot of space so I took it inside and I could hear Jane yelling at me shoot; I had the right touch so I shot it with my left foot and I managed to find the bottom corner of the goal. It was fortunate that I found the space and it was great that I put it away."

Canepa, who is from Phoenix, Ariz., registered her team-best fifth goal of the season and it marked the third straight contest she has scored a goal in.

"It is great to score a goal like that, but more importantly it is better to get the win for our team right now," commented Canepa. "We are a great team, we just need to show it; we can win games and it was important to win this one."

For the match, Duke outshot Auburn, 19-13 and had a 9-6 advantage in corner kicks.

"It was really nice," said Campbell of getting the win. "We have been playing at the level that we played tonight, but have been getting unlucky and not coming out with the result. So it is nice for once for our hard work to pay off."

In the first contest of the day, top-ranked North Carolina received a late second half goal from Jessica McDonald as the Tar Heels defeated LSU, 1-0.

"This [win] could go a long way for us," said Church. "These were two teams matched each other and were playing the same system -- so we had a lot of one-v-one battles. They won a number of them, we won a number of them; we were just fortunate to be able to score the last goal.

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