Duke Downs Lipscomb to Move on to Round of 16

Friday, November 16

Washington, D.C. (Second Round)

11:00 AM

Duke University

16-3-2

Lipscomb

15-5-2

Lipscomb

Duke

Duke Downs Lipscomb to Move on to Round of 16

11/16/2018 2:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score WSOC: Church Postgame - Lipscomb - NCAA WSOC: Boade Postgame - Lipscomb - NCAA WSOC: Highlights - Lipscomb - NCAA Box Score (PDF)Season Stats Box Score (HTML)

By: Duke Sports Information

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It was all-out domination by the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils (16-3-2) on Friday, as they used a trio of goals and a stifling defense to shut out the Lipscomb Bison (15-5-2), 3-0, to advance to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16.

With the win, Duke has now advanced to the Round of 16 in eight-straight NCAA appearances and 12 times overall in history. The win also continues Duke's NCAA Tournament success over the last several years, giving them a win or tie in 10 of its last 11 postseason matches.

“I'm so excited for these girls and how they played today,” head coach Robbie Church said. “It's been a fantastic year so far, but we're not done. Lipscomb worked hard and they deserved to be here, but I thought we came out did a really professional job on both sides of the ball. We need to be more clinical in the final third and we'll work on that for Sunday.”

The game, which was played at George Washington's field due to weather impacting Georgetown's Shaw Field on Thursday, was all Duke from start to finish. The Blue Devils posted 26 shots to Lipscomb's four, including a 16-2 advantage in attempts on target, and held the Bisons without a chance until the 68th minute.

“I thought we did a great job on defense of closing them down,” Church said. “We've been better defensively and have understood the importance of that more lately. We also moved the ball and shared the ball really well, too, and did a great job of keeping the ball in our offensive half.”

After maintaining possession of the ball for a majority of the first 33 minutes, the Blue Devils finally connected at the 33:45 mark to take a 1-0 advantage. A long ball from Kayla McCoy found Taylor Racioppi, who then played it in to Tess Boade. The sophomore would finish for her third goal of the season and second of her NCAA Tournament career, sending Duke to the locker room with the one-goal lead.

“It was great to see Tess come on and play the way she did,” Church said. “She came in and was ready to play and delivered a huge goal right before the half.”

The Blue Devils continued their aggressive attack out of the half, putting three attempts on frame before McCoy sent the game's second goal home in the 63rd minute off an assist from Lily Nabet. Duke's third and final score was one to remember for Gabi Brummett, as the sophomore used her first-career goal to put the game on ice in the 87th minute. Marykate McGuire picked up her seventh assist of the season on the score, tying her for fifth in the Duke freshman record book.

“What a fantastic goal from Gabi at the end,” Church said. “She's been working really hard lately. She had an injury last week and had a chance to sit out practice, but didn't and that's the commitment that our players have this time of year.”

Duke's defense put together its second shutout performance and held Lipscomb to just four shots, including zero until the 68th minute. Brooke Heinsohn racked up her 10th clean sheet of the year behind two saves, tying her for fourth in Duke single-season history.

Next up for the Blue Devils is No. 1 Georgetown on Sunday with a trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals on the line. The two squads, who played to a scoreless draw earlier this year in D.C., will kick off at 11 a.m. ET from Shaw Field with the match live streamed on www.GUHoyas.com.

“We've already started our recovery process,” Church said. “It's going to take a lot of work to get them ready for Sunday, but there's a lot on the line and this is a tough group. They'll be ready to play.”

Fans can keep up with all things Duke women's soccer by following the program on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for “DukeWSoc”. Behind-the-scenes content of women's soccer and all Duke athletic programs can be found on Snapchat by following “dukeathletics”.

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