Clemson?s Early Goal Downs Duke, 1-0

Thursday, October 27

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

12-4-2, 7-2-1ACC

Clemson

13-3-2, 7-1-2ACC

#13/14 Clemson

Duke

Clemson?s Early Goal Downs Duke, 1-0

10/27/2016 10:07:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score WS Church Postgame Interview 10-27-16 Boxscore: Duke 0, Clemson 1 ACC Tournament Bracket Photo Gallery: Duke 0, Clemson 1

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The 13th-ranked Clemson Lady Tigers scored an early goal and held off the sixth-ranked Blue Devils women's soccer team the rest of the way to register a 1-0 win over Duke to conclude the regular season at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

With the loss for the Blue Devils, Duke (12-4-2, 7-2-1 in the ACC) dropped to No. 3 in the ACC and will host fifth-ranked and sixth-seeded Florida State Sunday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m., in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

Notre Dame will be the No. 1 seed, while Clemson (2), Duke (3), North Carolina (4), Virginia (5), Florida State (6), Miami (7) and NC State (8) are seeded in the ACC Tournament.

Clemson (13-3-2, 7-1-2) jumped on the Blue Devils early as the Lady Tigers' Sam Staab headed home a corner kick from Shannon Horgan only 4:06 into the match. Staab was able to place the header into the top left corner over a leaping Duke goalkeeper EJ Proctor. The goal was the earlier tally allowed this season for the Blue Devils.

“Any time you have an early goal, that changes things,” said Duke head coach Robbie Church. “It gives you cushion obviously, it gives you confidence and sets the other team back by a foot. It was unfortunate that they did what they do well - set plays. All of sudden five minutes into it we're playing from behind.”

“I thought at times we did a good job of coming back and created a number of opportunities,” commented Church. “There are things that the coaching staff has to continue to look at. I'm just not overly happy where we are right now.”

Duke couldn't muster much offense in the first half and was held to only two shots. Freshman Olivia Erlbeck one-timed the Blue Devils' first attempt 14:50 into the match.

The best scoring chance for the Blue Devils was in the 38th minute as senior Toni Payne fed a driving junior Imani Dorsey, but Dorsey's attempt was saved by Clemson goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan towards the near post.

At the half, Clemson held a 3-2 shot advantage.

Duke came out looking like a different team in the second half and outshot the Lady Tigers, 13-2.

Payne nearly got a one-v-one opportunity in the first three minutes, but was called for offside. In the 57th and 59th minutes, junior Ashton Miller had a couple of opportunities, but a header and right-footed shoot went wide left.

Duke's best opportunity came in the 71st minute as senior Christina Gibbons tried to place a shot into far corner, but a Clemson defender was there to save it before the ball got to the line. The Blue Devils kept trying to get a goal past the stingy Lady Tiger defense but couldn't in the end.

“Christina has such a big heart,” said Church. “She puts it all out on the field all the time. She's a great player. She wheeled some of those [chances] herself and just by running through three people. She's typical Christina; she just plays as hard as she possibly can all the time. We'd love to have a bunch of those. She played very well.”

For the match, Duke outshot Clemson, 15-5, with Dorsey, Miller, Erlbeck and Gibbons all attempting three shots. The Blue Devils were shutout at home for the third time this season.

A week ago, the Blue Devils traveled to Tallahassee, Fla., and faced Florida State. Duke had a penalty kick chance stopped late in the match, before falling in overtime, 1-0.

“We have to play knowing that it's our last ACC game if we lose,” said Church. “The ACC season is over. We know we're going into the NCAA Tournament. I think we have to sit back and evaluate, evaluate how much we want to win a championship. That still has to be done. I know the character of these young ladies. It's because of our regular season people are really coming at us and are really, really playing well for us, but we have to know that and take our level of play up.”

#GoDuke