No. 9 Duke Falls, 2-1, To No. 1 North Carolina in Semifinals Of The ACC Tournament

Friday, November 4

Cary, N.C.

5 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina (Semifinals)

GoDuke.com Q&A With Midfielder Darby Kroyer

No. 9 Duke Falls, 2-1, To No. 1 North Carolina in Semifinals Of The ACC Tournament

11/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

CARY, N.C.- Ninth-ranked Duke made a late run at top-seeded and third-ranked North Carolina but came up just short as the Blue Devils fell, 2-1, in the semifinals of the ACC Championship on Friday at the SAS Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C. The loss for Duke drops the Blue Devils to 13-5-1, while the Tar Heels improve to 19-1-0.

“I would like to congratulate the University of North Carolina,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “I thought they played very, very well. We knew they were going to come out after us and they definitely did that. They came out at us early, came hard and took us out of our rhythm of play.”

North Carolina came out fired up and registered a goal in the fourth minute of the contest as Lori Chalupny sent a perfect cross from the right side to Jamie Gilbert who headed the ball off Duke defender Heidi Hollenbeck for her ninth goal of the season. It marked the quickest goal the Blue Devils have allowed this season.

The Tar Heels dominated the first half outshooting the Blue Devils, 8-0, and Duke goalkeeper Allison Lipsher was credited with three saves as North Carolina held a 1-0 lead at intermission. It marked the first time this season the Blue Devils were held without a shot in the first half.

“Obviously we were down a goal at the half, which we felt we were still in the game,” said Church. “All it would take would be to intercept a pass, play a ball forward and get a 30-yard shot like that. The main thing we had to do was know we were still in the game. Carolina is always going to get a lot of opportunities and take a lot of shots.”

Duke came out of the lockerroom and was able to register its first shot of the contest in the 49th minute of the match as senior Carmen Bognanno rocketed the ball right at North Carolina goalkeeper Anna Rodenbough. Making her third start of the season, Rodenbough collected the save to keep the score in favor of the Tar Heels.

North Carolina came back and continued to pressure the Duke defense. The Tar Heels were able to take a 2-0 lead at the 68-minute mark as Yael Averbuch sent a beautiful feed down to Kacey White who beat a defender and blasted her eighth goal of the season past Lipsher.

The two goals scored by the Tar Heels marked only the second time this season the Blue Devils allowed more than one goal-- Florida State defeated Duke, 2-1 in overtime, on Oct. 23 in Tallahassee, Fla.

After North Carolina collected its 17th shot of the match, the Blue Devils came back on the counter attack. Bognanno sent a ball down the field to junior Rebecca Moros, who settled it and tapped the ball to junior Darby Kroyer. A product of San Ramon, Calif., Kroyer one-timed it with her left foot from 35-yards out over Rodenbough's head at the 82:11 mark to cut the UNC lead to 2-1.

“The ball got switched, bounced off Moros and she was going backwards so I just decided to take a 30-yard shot and just hoped it would find the net,” said Kroyer. “I think it gave us a lot of confidence. That is what happened in the first half as they got that early goal and it made us not have as much confidence. But then once we when got that goal we said hey we can actually score a goal, let's go and attack them.”

The Blue Devils then subbed forwards Carolyn Riggs and Sarah McCabe into the match to try to get more offense after the goal, but couldn't get anything past the stingy Tar Heel defense over the final seven minutes.

For the match, North Carolina outshot Duke, 17-2. The 17 shots was the most allowed by the Blue Devils this season and the two shots by Duke were a season-low. Duke lost its fourth straight match in the semifinals of the ACC Championship and third consecutive to North Carolina.

“North Carolina did a very good job pressuring us all over the field until a lot of times we panicked with us trying to get long,” said Kroyer. “They did a good job of getting into the backs of our forwards and it was hard for us to keep possession of the ball, especially in the first half. In the second half, we did a lot better job of trying to find the outside mid-feet and then playing it forward.”

With the victory, North Carolina earned half a point back in the Carlyle Cup, a yearlong competition between Duke and UNC. The Blue Devils currently hold a 5-1 lead in the 2005-06 standings.

“We worked extremely hard for 90 minutes and I am extremely proud of our team,” said Church. “I thought in the second half we were able to connect, play off of each other and get down there [on the offensive end]. They are a great team, we are a great team and I expect both of us to do well in the NCAA Tournament.”

Duke will next await the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday, Nov. 7 on ESPN News. The show will air sometime between 5:00-5:30 p.m. and the first round of the tournament will begin on Nov. 11.

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