Duke Concludes Season in NCAA Second Round

Friday, November 22

Los Angeles, Calif.

8:00 PM

Duke University

Wisconsin

Duke women's soccer team huddles before a game

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Concludes Season in NCAA Second Round

11/22/2019 11:16:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Boxscore

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – An impressive 2019 season came to a close on Friday evening in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the Duke women's soccer team fell in a 1-0 decision to the third-seeded Wisconsin Badgers at Wallis Annenberg Stadium on UCLA's campus. With the result, the Blue Devils close the season with a 9-4-7 overall record, while Wisconsin improves to 16-3-2 and advances to the Round of 16.

"First off, I'd like to give credit to Wisconsin and wish them luck in the next round," said head coach Robbie Church. "This team has been awesome. They've been awesome all year. We've had a lot of stuff thrown at us all year and we've done nothing but bounce back. Their preparation has been great and they've played their butts off every time that they've put that Duke uniform on. The game could have gone either way. They scored on their opportunities, and we had plenty of chances to score on ours, but we just didn't get it done."

It was quiet first half of action that featured only five combined shots and three corner kicks. Wisconsin held the slight edge in shots, 3-2, as Duke's two shots came from sophomore Marykate McGuire and senior Ella Stevens. The Blue Devils created several favorable opportunities in the final third but neither team was able to connect on a goal as the game headed into the halftime break scoreless.

Duke created a number of chances throughout the second half, resulting in a tally of four shots throughout the first 30 minutes of the second 45.

Wisconsin broke through for the lone score of the contest with a goal in the 78^th minute to break the scoreless tie and take the late lead. Dani Rhodes worked off a long ball at the top of the box with several touches before firing off a shot that sailed into the back of the net to set the score at 1-0, the eventual final.

The Blue Devils worked the ball into their offensive third several times across the remainder of the match, but were unable to cash in on the equalizer.

Duke's senior class closed out their Blue Devil careers as the second-winningest class in program history, racking up 63 total wins in their four years. Over their four years, Stevens, Mia Gyau, Brooke Heinsohn, Olviia Erlbeck and Mackenzie Coles have reached one NCAA College Cup and one NCAA Quarterfinal, while capturing the 2017 ACC regular season championship.

Stevens closes out her Duke career as one of the most accomplished players in school history. Her 82 career points place her sixth all-time in Duke history, while she ranks amongst the top five in program history in career goals scored (24) and career assists (34). The Grayson, Ga., native received All-ACC accolades each of her four years with the Blue Devils, being named to the All-ACC Second Team her sophomore, junior and senior seasons, while receiving All-Freshman Team honors for her rookie campaign.

"More importantly, we thank our seniors for the journey that they had for four years," Church added. "We thank them for how awesome that they have been on the field, in the classroom and in the community here."

For more information on Duke women's soccer, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWSoc". You can also find all-access coverage of all Duke athletic programs on SnapChat by searching for "dukeathletics".

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