Gummersall & Redmond Lead Duke Past UNCW, 3-0

Thursday, September 3

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

2-2

UNC Wilmington

1-2

UNC Wilmington

Duke

Gummersall & Redmond Lead Duke Past UNCW, 3-0

9/3/2009 10:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

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DURHAM, N.C. - After four years playing together at Duke, senior's KayAnne Gummersall and Elisabeth Redmond have developed excellent chemistry. That showed on Thursday evening as both players registered a goal and combined for three assists as 24th-ranked Duke downed UNC Wilmington, 3-0, at Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils improved to 2-0 at home this season and in those two contests, Gummersall and Redmond have combined to notch five goals and four assists.

"We are ecstatic about getting a win," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "It has been a tough week around here and we didn't have much of a turn around. I am very proud of the girls. They have worked extremely hard and they want to do well. That is what we tried to tell them at halftime -- just relax. We were pressing things, we got into the final third -- everybody wants to get that first goal. We were actually playing to hard in the first half."

In the first half, Duke controlled the ball as the Blue Devils held a 13-4 shot advantage. A total of six different Blue Devils attempted shots in the stanza led by Redmond's five kicks.

Two of Duke's best scoring chances came towards the end of the half. Redmond took control of the ball at the 34:53 mark and rocketed a left-footed shot from 18 yards out that was heading into the left side of the goal, but UNCW's goalkeeper Chandler Follett made an outstanding diving save to her right.

As time was winding down, junior Marybeth Kreger settled the ball and drove down the left side of the field and fired a shot that was saved when the horn sounded.

Duke came out of the gates in the second half and finally capitalized in only a minute and 38 seconds into the stanza. Redmond controlled the ball in the midfield and sent a cross down the right side to junior Rebecca Allen who beat a UNCW defender and sent a perfect pass in front of the goal where Gummersall headed in her third goal of the season off the crossbar.

"I thought KayAnne and Elisabeth were really special playing off of each other," said Church. "Again, that is four years of playing soccer here. They know each other, play off of each other and they have a different sense than other players have."

The Blue Devils continued to apply offensive pressure on the Seahawks and increased their lead to 2-0 at the 53:52 mark. Gummersall found Redmond who used her left foot to beat Follett for her second goal of the year.

Duke never let down in the second half and moved the score to 3-0 in the 70th minute as Redmond found Cody Newman heading down the left side of the field. A product of Bellerose, N.Y., Newman beat a defender and found Allen in the box. Allen, who is from Jenks, Okla., used her right foot to hit the back of the net on the right side of the goal. The tally by Allen was her first of the season and sixth of her career.

Making her third start of the season, freshman Tara Campbell notched the first shutout of her career as she played 90 minutes and notched six saves. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Campbell made three stops over the final 13 minutes of the match. One of those saves by Campbell was a diving stop from a shot off the leg of UNCW's Stephanie Rose, who had a one-v-one scoring opportunity.

"I am very happy to get a shutout," said Church. "It is one -- we had a goal to win both games this weekend; two wins this week. We have one and now we have to turn around and play UNLV on Saturday."

For the game, Duke held a 21-11 shot advantage.

"I thought we came out pretty tough [in the first half]," said Gummersall. "We knew the goals were going to come so at halftime we just tried to stay calm and collected. We came out hard in the second half. We still had an equal number of shots in the first half, but we just didn't finish. It was nice to get those three goals and obviously with the third goal by Becks [Rebecca Allen] -- the insurance goal -- was fun."

Duke will next host UNLV on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 1:00 p.m.

Notes--

In two home games, Duke has outscored its opponents 6-0.
Elisabeth Redmond now owns 77 career points, which is one shy of tying for fourth place on Duke's all-time charts. KayAnne Gummersall owns 26 career goals and is two away from moving into a tie for fourth place at Duke, while Redmond owns 25 goals. Redmond has totaled 27 career assists, which is second all-time at Duke.
Duke has outshot opponents 98-32 on the season.

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