Duke Picks Up 2-1 Victory Over VCU On Friday; Advances To Second Round of NCAA Tournament

Friday, November 12

Charlottesville, Va.

7:30 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia Commonwealth

Duke Picks Up 2-1 Victory Over VCU On Friday; Advances To Second Round of NCAA Tournament

11/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

Nov. 12, 2004

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. - The 15th-ranked Duke women's soccer team battled through a cool, rainy and windy evening in Charlottesville, Va., and pulled out a 2-1 victory over Virginia Commonwealth (15-7) to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils (14-7-0) will next face second-ranked Virginia (17-2-2) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

"We are very fortunate to win tonight," said Head Coach Robbie Church. "I really have to take my hat off to VCU as I thought they played a tremendous game. They pressured us very hard, played a different formation and their central midfielders were really giving us a hard time. This led to us having a hard time getting in a rhythm of play tonight."

Virginia Commonwealth opened the contest with a header by Shelly Lyle off a corner kick from Sandra Anger in the 21st minute of the game to take a 1-0 lead. Duke was able to even the score at the 31:49 mark of the half as a Rams defender sent a pass back to goalkeeper Lauren Hardison, who missed the ball and the Blue Devils got on the board with a VCU own goal.

Then, less than two minutes later by the Blue Devils took a 2-1 lead as a VCU defender tried to send a ball out of the box, but it deflected off another Rams defender and Duke's Sarah McCabe sent the ball in the back of the net for her eighth goal of the season.

"Sarah pressed hard and her hustle play was enough to get us a second goal," said Church.

The score would remain 2-1 in favor of the Blue Devils at the end of the first 45 minutes, while Duke held a 5-4 shot advantage.

The second half could be chalked up to good defense as the Blue Devils held VCU to six shots and freshman goalkeeper Allison Lipsher added three saves in the stanza. Lipsher, a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, finished the game with four saves and improves to 9-6 on the season in the net.

"I thought Allison played great in goal tonight as well as our overall defensive effort was good," said Church. "I thought Lauren Tippets came off the bench and played really well for us also."

Virginia Commonwealth had a few very good chances at goal in the second half with the highlight coming in the 57th minute as Solfrid Anderson blasted a shot that hit the crossbar. For the game, VCU outshot Duke, 10-9. The 14 victories for the Blue Devils this season matches the most wins for Duke under the direction of Church. Last season and in 2000, the Blue Devils won 14 games. Duke has not won more than 14 games in a season since 1994 (17).

"Obviously, we are going to face a very hot Virginia team on Sunday, who just came off their ACC Championship," said Church. "From the little bit of what we saw today, they played very well against James Madison. We are looking forward to the game as we think we have a few good matchups with Virginia, but we know we have to play a very special game to be able to win it."

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