Duke Falls, 2-1, in Overtime at No. 1 North Carolina

Thursday, September 24

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

4-4-2 (0-1-0)

North Carolina

8-0-1 (1-0-0)

OT 2

Duke

#1/2 North Carolina

Duke Falls, 2-1, in Overtime at No. 1 North Carolina

9/24/2009 10:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Duke women's soccer team took No. 1 North Carolina to overtime on Thursday evening at Fetzer Field before falling, 2-1, in both teams Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opener in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Blue Devils fell to 4-4-2 overall and 0-1-0 in the ACC, while the Tar Heels improved to 8-0-1, 1-0-0.

"Superior, awesome, awesome," commented Duke Head Coach Robbie Church on the Blue Devils' performance. "We couldn't ask for anything else of our group. They (UNC) are a very talented team and coming on their home field is a very difficult assignment. We asked them all week to make sure we did one thing -- make sure we all showed, we all wanted the ball, nobody hid, nobody was in awe of them and nobody didn't want to make plays. They all did it today, we just laid it flat out there."

The match started off very even as the Blue Devils made two nice runs but sophomore Chelsea Canepa was called for offsides on both occasions. The Tar Heels took the first two shots of the contest in the 10th minute and then Duke senior KayAnne Gummersall registered Duke's first attempt at the 11:42 mark that was saved by UNC freshman goalkeeper Hannah Daly, who was making her first start of the season.

For the remaining time in the first half, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels were very even and finished the half with North Carolina holding a 5-3 advantage in shots. Duke was called offsides a total of eight times in the first half. Senior Elisabeth Redmond took the two other shots for the Blue Devils in the 45 minutes.

North Carolina opened with the ball in the second half and had a corner kick just 27 seconds later. The Tar Heels then had the best scoring chance of the match after a throw in when Whitney Engen rocketed a right-footed shot that nailed the right side of the crossbar and came back in front of the goal. Ali Hawkins then took a shot that was blocked by freshman defender Erin Koballa to preserve the scoreless tie in the first two minutes of the second period.

Following Duke junior Kendall Bradley's shot in the 51st minute that went high, North Carolina put some serious pressure on the Duke back line and freshman goalkeeper Tara Campbell. The Tar Heels notched five corner kicks and three shots over the next six minutes. Campbell, a product of Cincinnati, Ohio, came up big with two saves during the stretch, while the other attempt was blocked.

Over the next 14 minutes, both teams played solid before the Blue Devils were able to take their second shot of the half off the leg of Redmond in the 76th minute, but was saved by Daly.

On their 11th corner kick of the match, North Carolina's Hawkins sent a perfect feed to Maria Lubrano who hit the crossbar. Off the rebound, Lubrano fired in her first career goal through the Duke defense at the 83:06 mark.

Church made three offensive subs and then less than two minutes later with only 1:06 remaining in regulation, senior Jane Alukonis sent a feed down the left side of the field to sophomore Cody Newman. She drove down the side, beat two defenders and sent a perfect cross over the heads of the Tar Heel defenders to Gummersall, who headed in her sixth goal of the year.

Duke's goal was only the fifth scored in the second half all season and the first since scoring three netters against UNC Wilmington on Sept. 3. Gummersall's goal was the 29th of her career, which moved her into sole possession of fourth place all-time at Duke.

The match went into overtime, which marked the third straight overtime contest for the Blue Devils.

North Carolina won the match with 3:01 left in the first overtime as Casey Nogueira fired a shot that was saved by Campbell and Alyssa Rich took the rebound and hit the back right of the net.

"It is definitely a tough one to swallow, but our defense -- you cannot ask for a better effort than that," said Gummersall. "Across the entire board -- we came out on their home turf, we matched their intensity and we really went at them the first 20 minutes of the first half. Things were a little back and forth in the second half. The effort was there, you cannot really be upset with that. We got unlucky a few times. Congrats to Carolina -- that was a big goal. It definitely hurts to lose in overtime."

The Tar Heels finished the contest with a 21-6 shot advantage as Duke was held to a season-low six shots. North Carolina held an 11-3 lead in corner kicks.

"It is a shame -- we shouldn't have lost -- at the worst it could have been a tie," said Church. "A couple of mistakes and they are now ending up in the back of our net. Some opportunities we have had we are not finishing them. The effort, I couldn't ask for anything else."

In goal for Duke, Campbell finished the night with five saves in 97 minutes of play. Daly had three saves in the net for the Tar Heels.

With the victory, the Tar Heels take a 2-0 lead in the Carlyle Cup, which is a year-long competition between Duke and North Carolina. Duke will next travel to top-10 ranked Wake Forest on Oct. 1 for another ACC contest at 7:00 p.m.

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