Five Blue Devils Score as Duke Takes Down HPU, 5-0

Sunday, September 5

Durham, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

Duke University

High Point

Five Blue Devils Score as Duke Takes Down HPU, 5-0

9/5/2010 9:07:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - Five different Blue Devils scored on Sunday evening as the 15th-ranked Duke women's soccer team took down High Point, 5-0, at Koskinen Stadium in non-conference action.

The win improved the Blue Devils to 4-1-0 on the year and gave Duke a 14-0 scoring difference over the last two contests. Duke downed Francis Marion, 9-0, on Thursday evening. High Point fell to 1-4-0 on the year.

"We wanted to play -- not just win on our personnel as we have better personnel but play good soccer," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "Overall with the quality of games we played in a row, I thought we did that pretty well."

The Blue Devils started the match with a quick goal for the second straight contest as freshman Natasha Anasi notched her first career tally at the 3:30 mark. Freshman Gilda Doria started things off by sending a corner kick through the box to senior Molly Lester. Lester, a product of Atlanta, Ga., fired a cross right to an awaiting Anasi who tapped in the goal in mid-air from eight yards out.

"It feels great," commented Anasi on her first collegiate goal. "To finally get that goal, I mean it was probably an interesting goal but I was finally glad to put one in."

Anasi, who is from Arlington, Texas, was making her second start in the backfield for the Blue Devils and became the sixth Duke freshman to collect a goal on the season.

Duke continued on the attack and went ahead 2-0 in the 20th minute as freshman Laura Weinberg notched her third goal of the year off an assist from freshman Mollie Pathman. Weinberg, a native of Boca Raton, Fla., drove in from the left side and hit the back of the net from 12 yards out. The 5-9 forward has totaled goals in three straight contests for the Blue Devils.

As the first half was coming to a close, redshirt freshman Callie Simpkins fed senior Gretchen Miller along the middle of the field, broke free and beat Panther goalkeeper Andrea Ritchie for her first goal of the season. Miller, who is from Fairport, N.Y., has made the switch from defense to forward in her final year with the Blue Devils.

At the end of the first half, Duke held a 14-1 shot advantage.

"We had a couple of nice combinations that led to goals, but I didn't overly thing we played all that well at times," commented Church. "I thought we played in spurts a little bit more in the first half. In the second half, I thought we picked it up a little bit. I thought there was a little bit more intensity and a little bit more work."

For the second straight contest, freshman Kaitlyn Kerr started the second half and scored for the third time in those two matches. Senior Carey Goodman made a terrific run down the left side and centered the ball to Kerr, who took a couple of touches and hit from 22 yards with pinpoint accuracy in the 66th minute.

Duke went ahead 5-0 in the 74th minute as Doria hit redshirt freshman Kim DeCesare on a corner kick for her first career goal. DeCesare, who is from Massapequa, N.Y., came charging in on the right post and headed it past the High Point goalkeeper. With her goal, DeCesare became the seventh Blue Devil freshman to register a goal in 2010.

"We spent a lot of time yesterday on set pieces -- great goal by Kim," said Church. "That was the one area that we didn't do well on Thursday night. We had nine points but got nothing out of it so we spent a lot of time yesterday in training [on set plays] -- probably a little to much time as their legs were heavy today. We were on the field a lot working on that so it is good to see that come."

For the contest, Duke outshot High Point, 30-4. Sophomore Tara Campbell started in goal for the Blue Devils and faced one shot over the 45 minutes of play in the first half. Junior Emily Nahas added a save in the second half as he started after the break. Ritchie added 11 saves in 73 minutes of action for the Panthers, while Jesse May totaled two saves in 16 minutes of play.

The Duke defense was yet again very solid as the Blue Devils posted their second consecutive shutout at home. Duke has three shutouts in five matches to kick off the 2010 campaign.

Duke will continue its seven-game homestand on Friday, Sept. 10 at 7:00 p.m., against Florida International. The Blue Devils will also host Yale on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 1:00 p.m. Both matches will be played at Koskinen Stadium.

Notes:

A total of 11 Blue Devils have registered goals on the 2010 season. Molly Lester, Laura Weinberg and Kaitlyn Kerr each have three to lead Duke.
A total of 23 different Duke players saw action on Sunday.
The 14 goals in a two-game span is the most since 2004 when Duke notched 15 in two games against Furman (7-0) and Davidson (8-0).

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