Blue Devils Blank San Diego, 5-0, in Duke adidas Classic On Sunday

Sunday, September 18

Durham, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

6-0-1

San Diego

2-5-0

San Diego

#7/7 Duke

Blog No. 2: Women's Soccer Preseason By Katie Roark

Blue Devils Blank San Diego, 5-0, in Duke adidas Classic On Sunday

9/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.? After scoring only eight goals over the first six contests, the seventh-ranked Blue Devil Women's Soccer team exploded for five goals on Sunday to defeat San Diego, 5-0, in the Duke adidas Classic at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils improve to 6-0-1, while the Toreros fall to 2-5 on the year.

Duke was on the attack from the start of the match as freshman Christie McDonald notched two shots over the first five minutes of the contest. The Blue Devils then added a goal at the 19:51 mark as junior Lauren Tippets sent a corner kick short to junior Rebecca Moros, who then rocketed a right-footed blast into the top right corner of the net from 25 yards out. The goal for Moros, a product of Larchmont, N.Y., was her first of the season and eighth of her career.

Then less than 10 minutes later, Blue Devil senior Kate Seibert was taken down in the goal box by a Torero defender to give Duke a penalty kick. Junior tri-captain Darby Kroyer was awarded the kick and was able to beat San Diego goalkeeper Brittany Cameron on the left side for her second goal of the year.

Duke wasted no time giving the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage as senior Shelly Marshall sent a corner kick into the box to senior Heidi Hollenbeck, who headed a ball high to the other side of the box, where Seibert then headed a ball towards the goal. Blue Devil senior Carolyn Ford grabbed the ball and was able to flick a shot into the top of the net for her second goal of the season.

Prior to Sunday, Duke had scored only four goals in the first half in six matches, but headed to the lockerroom with a 3-0 lead over San Diego. The Blue Devils held a 9-1 shot advantage and 6-1 corner kick lead.

After getting two shots early in the first half, Duke's McDonald was able to start the second half with a goal of her own as senior Carmen Bognanno sent a ball into the box where McDonald was able to settle it and beat the San Diego goalkeeper from eight yards out to give Duke a 4-0 lead. A product from Newnan, Ga., McDonald now owns two goals on the year and leads the squad with 22 shots.

With 35 minutes remaining in the match, Duke freshman Cassidy Powers entered the lineup in goal for the Blue Devils for her first collegiate action. The product of San Ramon, Calif., Powers finished the match with one save in 35:11 minutes. She replaced sophomore Allison Lipsher who notched zero goals allowed in 54 minutes.

San Diego had their best scoring opportunity of the contest in the 64th minute off a corner kick. Vanessa Vella sent a corner kick into the box where Shannon Sullivan was able to settle the ball and fired a shot at the goal, but Duke junior defender Rachel-Rose Cohen saved the ball at the goal line to keep the shutout in tact.

In the last minute of the contest, the Blue Devils added another goal as sophomore Andrea Crane and Lauren Tippets found junior Katie Roark streaking up the middle. Roark, a native of Gainesville, Fla., sent a shot in from 14 yards that hit the left side of the goal for her first of the year.

The Blue Devils finished the match with an 18-5 shot advantage. The shutout for Duke is the fifth of the season out of seven contests.

North Carolina closed out the Duke adidas Classic with a 4-0 victory over UAB to claim the team championship. The champion was decided by number of goals scored as the Tar Heels scored seven and the Blue Devils had six.

Duke will next open Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) action on Thursday at 7:00 PM against Virginia Tech at Koskinen Stadium. It marks the second straight year the Blue Devils have hosted the Hokies in ACC play, after Duke defeated Virginia Tech, 9-3, in 2004 in Durham.

NOTES: Duke has now allowed only two goals in seven matches this season ... Duke has outshot its opponents 127-32 and outscored opponents 13-2.

- d - u - k - e -

Duke adidas Classic All-Tournament Team

Brittany Cameron ? San Diego

Vanessa Vella ? San Diego

Katie Forbis ? UAB

Laura Skridulis ? UAB

Kacey White ? North Carolina

Lori Chalupny ? North Carolina

Yael Averbuch ? North Carolina

Darby Kroyer - Duke

Rebecca Moros ? Duke

Kate Seibert - Duke

Carolyn Ford - Duke

Offensive MVP ? Lindsey Tarpley, North Carolina

Defensive MVP ? Allison Lipsher, Duke

Duke Quotes

Junior Midfielder Rebecca Moros:

“I think it was the best concentrated offense we've had. We've had a lot of opportunities, but this was the best finishing shots to goal ratio that we've had all season.”

“It was just a matter of time. I think we were knocking the whole season and it takes a little time to get a rhythm. We've got new people up top. We've got a new system. We've got people just learning each other and it's all going to start falling together now.”

Head Coach Robbie Church:

“I knew the goals were going to come if we just stayed focused and we just kept working hard. We've been playing well and I thought we played well again today. I thought we took it intensely though. I thought we went up a notch that we had. We knew we had to today with San Diego. We've got a lot of respect for them. They're a perennial NCAA team and they've gone through a tough stretch. They've played a lot of teams, San Diego has. But we've been playing well and I thought we took a little bit more responsibility. People took it to be the personality players. We've been talking about that a lot.”

“Of course, getting the early goal was great. That just kind of relieved the pressure a little bit.”

On the 4-3-3 Format:

“It's going well. What you want your formation to do is to create opportunities and chances and if we look at our staff we have done that. We've done that really well. We've been outshooting our opponents and we've been creating opportunities. The only thing it hadn't done until today had led to goals. But that's not the formation; that's some of the responsibility we haven't taken, that's some of the technical ability ? we've knocked a lot of balls over ? and both of those are coming. People are taking more responsibility and they're getting confident taking that responsibility.”