Blue Devils' Run Ends in Quarters with 1-0 Loss

Saturday, November 26

Morgantown, W.Va.

3:00 PM

Duke University

15-5-3, 7-2-1

West Virginia (NCAAs Quarterfinals)

22-1-2, 8-0

Duke

#1/1 West Virginia

Blue Devils' Run Ends in Quarters with 1-0 Loss

11/26/2016 8:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Boxscore: Duke 0, West Virignia 1 Photo Gallery: Duke 0, West Virginia 1

By: Duke Sports Information

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After allowing an early goal, the third-seeded Duke women's soccer team tried to make a second half rally, but fell short Saturday with a 1-0 loss in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship on the road at top-seeded West Virginia (22-1-2) in Morgantown, W.Va.

“Congratulations to West Virginia,” said Duke head coach Robbie Church. “They're a great team. They've had a phenomenal year. I think they are going to do very well moving forward in the College Cup. We wish them luck as they move forward.”

After West Virginia opened with two quick corner kicks and a header that went high, the Blue Devils jumped on the attack featuring four straight shots by freshman Olivia Erlbeck, junior Ashton Miller, senior Christina Gibbons and junior Imani Dorsey. The attempts were blocked, went high and two were saved.

On the Mountaineers' third corner kick early of the match, Michaela Abam sent a kick into the box where Kadeisha Buchanan headed the ball to Alli Magaletta, who had her back to the goal and quickly turned to finish her third goal of the season. The West Virginia goal at the 15:35 mark gave the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead and was the second-quickest goal of the season allowed.

The Blue Devils were limited to only two shots the rest of the first half and went to halftime trailing, 1-0. After facing seven shots the first three matches of the NCAA Tournament, West Virginia fired nine shots and held a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Dorsey, a product of Elkridge, Md., led Duke with two attempts in the first stanza, while junior goalkeeper EJ Proctor added three saves.

In the first 20 seconds of the second half, the Blue Devils shot down the pitch and after a cross by Chelsea Burns the ball was redirected over the top of the Mountaineer goal by a West Virginia defender. The ball nearly went in for an own goal. It created a corner kick, but Duke could not take advantage.

On the third corner of the second half for the Blue Devils, Miller sent in a ball to a leaping Dorsey, but her header went off the crossbar, which was the best scoring chance for Duke of the match.

Senior Toni Payne started to make her presence felt and had a great one-v-one look in the 58th minute, after a great move along the left side of the 18. Payne, who hails from Birmingham, Ala., tried a left-footed attempt that was heading into the goal, but Mountaineer goalkeeper Rylee Foster made a one-handed save to keep Duke off the board.

Off a free kick just outside the box, standout freshman Ella Stevens turned and blasted in a shot that hit the underside of the crossbar and came away in the 68th minute.

The Blue Devils continued to put pressure on West Virginia and a great chance for Stevens with under four minutes remaining, but the shot went just high over the crossbar.

Gibbons added a header in the 88th minute and the Blue Devils had a corner kick with under a minute remaining, but the Mountaineer defense proved too strong and held Duke scoreless for only the fourth time this season.

Duke featured an 11-3 shot advantage in the second half and closed the match with a 17-12 lead in attempts. Stevens had a team-best four, while Burns, Dorsey and Gibbons totaled three each.

“I'm very proud of our team,” commented Church. “We've had a number of injuries and some really good players not playing for a while. We had to make some changes and move some players in different positions as the year has gone on. We played in a very tough league and as you saw at the end, we were pushing until the very last second.”

In goal for the Blue Devils, Proctor played the entire 90 minutes and had four saves.

Duke fell to 3-6 in quarterfinal matches of the NCAA Championship and was held scoreless in three out of the last four appearances.

The Blue Devils will graduate a standout senior class featuring Gibbons, Payne, Lizzy Raben, Krysia Sikora, and Malinda Allen that brought Duke to the NCAA College Cup in 2015.

“I thought we played well and obviously stats speak for where we really dominated in the second half,” said Church. “I'm very proud of our group. They fought until the end and it's a really special group. It's a hard group to let go because of all the quality of the young ladies in that group. Both on the field and in the classroom and in the community; they've represented Duke University very well and our soccer program especially our senior class has taken us to great heights. We look forward to following that group I know they are going to do some great things in their lives.”

Duke concluded the season with a 15-5-3 record.

Notes:
•   Christina Gibbons finished her career with 7,794 minutes played, which was the third most in Blue Devil history and the second most by a field player.
•   Toni Payne concluded her career with 16 points in the NCAA Tournament to rank third all-time on the Blue Devil charts. Payne also ranked third with six goals.
•   On the overall career charts, Payne ranked tied seventh in assists (21), eighth in shots (206) and tied 13th in game-winning goals (6).
•   Gibbons also finished with a Duke record seven penalty kicks made

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