No. 25 Duke Rallies But Falls Short to No. 4 UNC, 5-3

Thursday, October 28

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

Women?s Soccer Hosts Tribe Saturday in Exhibition

No. 25 Duke Rallies But Falls Short to No. 4 UNC, 5-3

10/28/2010 10:56:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – On a emotional night for the Duke women's soccer team as eight Blue Devil student-athletes were recognized on senior night, the 25th-ranked Blue Devils made a great rally but fell short, 5-3, to fourth-ranked North Carolina at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

With the loss, Duke dropped to 10-6-3 overall and 4-5-1 in the ACC to conclude the regular season, while North Carolina improved to 15-2-1, 7-2-0. The Blue Devils will next compete in the ACC Tournament on Nov. 3 at a time yet to be determined. The contests will be played at the WakeMed Soccer Complex.

Prior to the match, eight Blue Devil seniors were recognized. Seeing action in their final regular season contest at home were Rebecca Allen, Kendall Bradley, Meaghan FitzGerald, Carey Goodman, Marybeth Kreger, Molly Lester, Gretchen Miller and Lynnea Pappas. All eight seniors started the match for Duke, including three first time starters in 2010.

“They've been great ambassadors for the program and to the university,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “I am very, very proud of what they've done on the field, off the field and in the classroom. They have been great this year to. Obviously, some of them have given up some playing time and starting positions to the younger players. The character of this group is outstanding.”

After making her first start of the season, Bradley exited the contest just six seconds into play as North Carolina was kind enough to agree to kick the ball out of bounds. A product of Durham, N.C., Bradley had missed the entire season due to injury, after seeing action in 67 games her first three years.

North Carolina came out and took the first five shots and got on the board first in the 20th minute as Courtney Jones blasted a shot with an assist from Crystal Dunn.

Duke attempted its first two shots in the 22nd minute off back-to-back attempts from Laura Weinberg and Callie Simpkins. After UNC fired the next four shots, Duke was able to get its first goal of the match in the 38th minute. Freshman Alex Straton sent a perfect feed from almost midfield to freshman Mollie Pathman. A product of Durham, N.C., Pathman took a few touches and used her left foot to beat North Carolina keeper, Hannah Daly, for her seventh goal of the season.

“Carolina's definitely a high-pressure team,” commented Pathman. “Everyone is going to work a 100 percent when they are playing. They put a lot of numbers forward. So definitely in the first half, they kept us in our end, but I think we pushed more numbers forward and got more aggressive in our attack and were able to break them down.”

The Tar Heels came right back to take the lead again just three minutes later as Emmalie Pfankuch notched her first goal of the season.

At the end of the first half, UNC held a 13-4 shot advantage with the Blue Devils called for five offsides.

“We were a step or two behind,” said Church regarding the first half. “Their forwards are a handful. Oh my gosh, they are a handful. They are quick, they turn on a dime, they accelerate and go to goal. It was disappointing to give up the goal right before halftime. We didn't head the ball – the ball bounced and got knocked down. We didn't do a couple of little things in the first half. We got on the wrong side of players and we didn't head balls. When you play Carolina it ends up in the back of the net doing things like that.”

North Carolina came out in the second half and caught the Blue Devils off guard with its third goal of the match just 36 seconds into the stanza by Jones.

Duke wouldn't drop its heads and had a couple of excellent scoring chances over the next 16 minutes as freshman Gilda Doria had a one-v-one opportunity against Daly but was stopped as Doria tried to hit to the near post. Weinberg, who is out of Boca Raton, Fla., also had a terrific chance that went straight to the goalkeeper for a save.

Just over three minutes after Weinberg's shot, freshman Kaitlyn Kerr found junior Chelsea Canepa who beat a UNC defender and blasted her second goal of the season into the left corner at the 67:44 mark to cut the lead to 3-2.

As Duke tried to put the pressure on the Tar Heels up front, UNC was able to take advantage as Jones made it a hat trick in the 78th minute with her third goal of the match to give North Carolina a 4-2 lead.

Once again, the Blue Devils wouldn't give up and added their third goal of the match less than a minute later as Canepa and redshirt freshman Kim DeCesare found Pathman just outside the box. Pathman was able to control the ball and flicked it with her right foot just past a diving goalkeeper as it hit the right corner of the net for her second goal of the match.

The multi-goal performance was her third of the season and second against ACC action. She now owns eight goals on the year and a team-best 21 points.

With Duke down 4-3 with less than 10 minutes remaining, the Blue Devils continued to move players forward and got caught again with less than two minutes left as Kealia Ohai connected on her 12th goal of the year.

“It was good to see some adversity set in,” said Church. “We never dropped our heads -- we never quit playing. We kept attacking, and attacking and attacking -- trying to get even. We just couldn't get even. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened -- put them back on their heels. Of course, we are not playing for a close score. We made some tactical adjustments -- we matched them system for system when we were down a goal because we play to win.”

The Blue Devils scored their most goals against North Carolina since Oct. 19, 1994, when the Blue Devils downed the Tar Heels, 3-2. The eight goals combined by both teams is the most in the series since the teams tallied nine goals during a 7-2 win for UNC in 1993.

For the game, North Carolina outshot Duke, 20-10 and the Blue Devils were called for seven offsides.

“It was a really emotional night,” commented Kreger. “It was just great to have so much support. All of our loved ones and close friends came and rallied around us. It was bittersweet having our last game here on this field. It just meant so much to play for this program and to represent Duke. It has been a blessing.”

None of Duke's starters registered a shot on the night with Pathman and Weinberg coming off the bench to collect three shots each. Pathman scored goals with both her right and left foot on the evening.

Duke will await the ACC Tournament bracket to be released on Monday, Nov. 1. The first round will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

“We need to go in with the attitude that we have had the last four games,” said Pathman. “We have been unbelievable coming back and making the tournament. Now I think we can beat any team in the country if we play our game.”

- d - u - k - e -