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CARY, N.C. - The fourth-seeded Duke women's soccer team scored two second half goals to edge fifth-seeded Virginia, 2-1, in the first round of the ACC Championship on Wednesday at the SAS Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C.
The Blue Devils improve to 13-5-1 and will next battle top-ranked and No. 1 seed North Carolina on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals. The Tar Heels defeated N.C. State on Wednesday, 6-2, to advance. Virginia falls to 12-5-2 overall on the season with the loss.
Virginia took the early lead as Sarah Huffman found a streaking Lindsay Gusick for her sixth goal of the season at the 12:01 mark in the first half. The goal came after a Duke defender turned the ball over at midfield and Huffman was able to beat two Blue Devils down the field and found Gusick.
At the end of the first half, Virginia led Duke 1-0, but the shots were an even 4-4.
The Blue Devils evened the match just four minutes into the second stanza as sophomore Carolyn Riggs sent a perfect cross to freshman Darby Kroyer, who hit a blast from 10 yards. A San Ramon, Calif., native, Kroyer connected on her fifth goal of the season and it marks the second straight contest the midfielder has scored a goal.
Duke controlled the next 20 minutes of the contest on its offensive end collecting five corner kicks and three excellent chances for goals, but couldn't capitalize. In a matter of 11 minutes, Riggs had a header on goal, but went high; with Cavalier goalkeeper Anne Abernethy out of the box, senior Gwendolyn Oxenham couldn't control a header in front of the goal; and Riggs had a breakaway, which was saved by Abernethy.
With all the opportunities on goal, the Blue Devils were finally able to break through and took a 2-1 lead at the 67:33 mark in the second half. Sophomore defender Carolyn Ford sent a corner kick into the box, but Abernethy was able to bat the ball out to the right corner of the field. Duke freshman Rebecca Moros settled it and sent a perfect cross to Oxenham, who headed in her third goal of the year into the right corner of the net. The game winning goal was the second of the season for Oxenham as the Gulf Breeze, Fla., native also had the goal to defeat fourth-ranked Texas earlier this season.
Virginia made a rally at the end with four shots over the final 18 minutes of the contest, but couldn't get the ball past senior goalkeeper Thora Helgadottir, who finished with four saves on the night.
Duke finished the contest with Virginia outshooting the Blue Devils, 9-8, but Duke had a 7-2 advantage on corner kicks.
The contest marked the fourth straight year Duke and Virginia met in the first round of the ACC Championship. The Blue Devils now own a 3-1-1 record against the Cavaliers in the ACC Championship.
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Duke Head Coach Robbie Church
"What a great second half I thought we played. I give a lot of credit to our young ladies because at halftime they made a decision to come out strong in the second half.
"I thought Virginia came out and did a good job in the first half. They pressured us and put us under. We got really tentative in the first half, which wasn't Duke soccer. We got out of the half only down one. We have been in that situation many times this year and have been able to come back from it."
"At halftime we talked about going out and attack, being aggressive and going forward. I thought some of our youth was tentative in the arena. It is an awesome setting here with the fans and facility. I thought we handled that very well, especially in the beginning of the second half. I thought we passed; we moved, had more movements off the ball and were more precise with our passing. We started going forward and we started penetrations, which we have been working on lately."
"Both goals were great goals. You knew at the end with a quality team like Virginia, they were going to push. I thought we played very solidly defensively at the end of the game."
On playing North Carolina
"We are going to have to attack and are not going to sit back. We have to go in and play our game."
Senior Gwendolyn Oxenham
On the game-winning goal?
"This is amazing. I am a senior and I couldn't have asked for a more amazing feeling."
"At the half, the coaches said this is your last guaranteed half of soccer and we didn't want it to end like this."
Sophomore Carolyn Riggs
On playing UNC again?
"There is so much emotion from coming back from behind 1-0, that we are all right now still thinking about the victory right now. I think we are allowed to glow in our victory for a few hours and then we can think about North Carolina."
Freshman Darby Kroyer
On her goal
"I give a lot of credit to [Rebecca] Moros because she held the defender off of me. I just tried to stick my foot in there and get contact on the ball. It just went in. It was so cool."
