Rebecca Moros Nets Two Goals To Upset No. 1 North Carolina, 2-1, On Sunday

Sunday, October 9

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2 p.m.

Duke University

9-2-1,ACC 3-2-0

North Carolina

13-1-0,ACC 5-1-0

#8/6 Duke

#1/1 North Carolina

Rebecca Moros Nets Two Goals To Upset No. 1 North Carolina, 2-1, On Sunday

10/9/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? For only the second time in school history, the 11th-ranked Duke women's soccer team knocked off top-ranked North Carolina, 2-1, on Sunday at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C., as junior Rebecca Moros tallied two goals, including one with three minutes remaining in the match. The Blue Devils improve to 9-2-1 overall, 3-2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), while the Tar Heels fall to 13-1-0, 5-1-0.

“They are the best, ranked No. 1 and won all their national championships,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “Our program wants to get to that level. To get to that level you have to beat the best. We love playing them as they bring out the best of our players. We played very, very well. It was tremendous to see our team battling, competing for a full 90 minutes.”

The victory for Duke was its second all-time versus North Carolina with the other win coming in 1994 as the Blue Devils knocked off the Tar Heels, 3-2, in Chapel Hill. In the overall series, North Carolina now leads 27-2-1. The loss for North Carolina was the first regular season loss since falling, 2-1, at N.C. State on Oct. 10, 2002, a span of 41 regular season games. It was also the first regular season loss for the Tar Heels at Fetzer Field since a 3-2 loss to Penn State on Sept. 12, 1999.

“This is amazing,” said senior Kate Seibert. “This what we talk about every year. When you go to Duke you want to beat Chapel Hill and even better if you play women's soccer you want to beat UNC and we finally did it. It is awesome.”

After scoring only three goals over their first four ACC contests, the Blue Devils got on the board first on Sunday afternoon. Duke senior tri-captain Carolyn Ford sent a free kick into the box where junior Lauren Tippets sent the first Blue Devil shot of the match at the goal, but a North Carolina defender blocked it.

Duke's Seibert corralled the ball and sent a pass backwards to Moros, who blasted a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 advantage. The goal for Moros, a junior from Larchmont, N.Y., was the second of the season.

The Blue Devils weathered off two excellent scoring opportunities of the first half by North Carolina's Heather O'Reilly as she just missed a header and a shot off a breakaway that went just right of the Blue Devil goal.

With the first half coming to an end, Tar Heel sophomore Jamie Gilbert connected on a rocket from 23-yards out to even the match, 1-1. Gilbert sent the right-footed shot into the top left corner of the net to beat Duke goalkeeper Allison Lipsher.

At the end of the first half, North Carolina held a 10-2 shot advantage with Duke's only shots coming during the sequence where Moros scored in the 16th minute.

The Blue Devils came out very aggressive in the second stanza with offsides called just 40 seconds into the half. Then, Duke junior Sarah McCabe broke down a North Carolina defender and had a shot go just right after Tar Heel goalkeeper Aly Winget challenged McCabe in the 47th minute. Duke's Darby Kroyer added another Blue Devil scoring opportunity less than three minutes later but the shot sailed high from just outside the box.

“There were a couple of things that we saw that we thought we could exploit,” said Church. “Sort of like the last goal when we played a diagonal ball back behind. I thought we were a little quicker today. They had a game on Thursday night but we all have those as that is how the schedule falls in the league. I thought we were quicker and focused. We saw some things offensively we thought we could do. We tried to play up to their back line, play back and then play through. Sometimes it was successful and sometime it wasn't.”

Over the final 29 minutes of play, North Carolina had three scoring chances by Kendall Fletcher, Lindsay Tarpley and Lori Chalupny (2), but the Blue Devil defense held strong.

The Blue Devils were able to shock the soccer nation at the 87:08 mark as Seibert sent a diagonal feed 35 yards down the field from just over the midfield line to Moros. Moros then made the turn from the left side of the box and chipped the ball over North Carolina goalkeeper, Aly Winget, into the net to give Duke a 2-1 lead.

“I saw the keeper laying off a little bit and it opened up a shot,” said Moros. “When she hesitated it left the opening for the ball to go over her head. I think the keeper would of have gotten there first if she would of come out.”

Prior to heading into Sunday's action, Moros had scored eight career goals and the two scores versus North Carolina marked the first time in her career she registered two goals in one contest.

“There is nothing like it, there is nothing like it,” said Moros. “We have a lot of respect for Carolina and everyone in the country does-- it feels good for everyone.”

After notching the goal, Church moved Kroyer into the back field to try to hold onto the lead. North Carolina had one final scoring chance with 43 seconds remaining, but freshman Yael Averbuch's free kick sailed high over the Blue Devil goal.

With the victory, the Blue Devils receive one point towards the Carlyle Cup, a yearlong competition between North Carolina and Duke to give Duke a 2.5-0 lead on the season.

In 12 matches this season, the Duke defense has allowed only five goals and no opponent has scored more than one goal against the Blue Devils in a game.

“They were terrific, no question,” said Church on the Duke defense. “When you look at their front line their offense is so potent and they put so much pressure on you. Your back players have to make great decisions. They have to make decisions when to clear it and when to possess it. We like to possess more but with the pressure Carolina plays and the system they play we had to clear more balls early. Everybody did a great job.”

For the game, North Carolina finished with a 16-6 shot advantage and Lipsher turned in four saves, which tied for a season high. The Blue Devils were held without a corner kick for the first time this season.

Duke will return home for two straight homes matches next week on Wednesday and Sunday. The Blue Devils will host Wake Forest on Oct. 12 at 7:00 p.m. and then take on Maryland on Oct. 16 at 2:00 p.m.

Duke Postgame Quotes

Kate Seibert

On the game-winning goal:
“They were pushing forward a lot which was opening up gaps in their back line. I was just trying to step off the backline and turn. I turned and saw Rebecca Moros running up and I tried to play it in because their keeper had been playing back on the line a lot. So there were holes in the back.”

“The biggest thing with us is that after we scored we couldn't try to play defense the whole game. Carolina is going to score goals and we had to keep trying to play.

On the victory for the veteran players:
“It is a huge highlight. We know this could be the last time we play UNC, we could play them again in the playoffs, but we it was the last time we were guaranteed them. We wanted to go out with a win so we did. We don't want this to be the highlight of the season by any means. Up to this point probably the best.”

Carolyn Ford

On the victory:
“Finally as a senior it feels good.”

“Our game plan in the back was to make sure nobody got in behind us. We were falling deeper than we usually do to keep the play in front of us because we knew that when they were behind us they were really dangerous with the keeper. They actually scored from in front of us and they didn't get behind us at all, which was what we wanted.”

Rebecca Moros

On why she went over the keeper for the goal:
“I think she thought I was going to go around her as she looked like she was getting low to go to the sides. So the top looked pretty open.”

Robbie Church

On winning goal:
“We thought we could free up one of our outside midfielders. It was a great delivery and a great timing of the run. Rebecca didn't make a run too early, held the space and she had a great composed finish.”

“It didn't change our attitude one bit. Everyone said Jamie hit a great shot. They had 10 shots but didn't think many were very dangerous. We knew they were going to shoot a lot of balls and we cannot get caught up on what the shot total is. We were mature enough again as we have been here, battled and didn't let it break us up. We knew we had some good looks, needed to play better in the second half and thought we played a little bit better in the second half.”

On Rebecca Moros:
“Rebecca is a player that wants the responsibility and she wants to score the big goals. A little bit like we had with Casey McCluskey last year. You can see our players are growing. We have been looking for that person that will take the responsibility. I think Rebecca can be one and a number of players that can be one. You can see our players are growing.”

“It means a lot for this win. The greatest part was to look at them and see how happy they were after the game. To see their tears in their eyes. That is what coaching is all about is to see your team out there battling and fighting for 90 minutes and getting rewards for their hard work. It is priceless.”

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