McCabe, Lipsher Lead Blue Devils To 1-0 Win Over WCU On Sunday

Sunday, August 27

Durham, N.C.

5 p.m.

Duke University

2-0

Western Carolina

0-2

Western Carolina

#12/12 Duke

ACC Select To Broadcast Duke Adidas Classic

McCabe, Lipsher Lead Blue Devils To 1-0 Win Over WCU On Sunday

8/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.? Led by a first half goal by senior Sarah McCabe, the 12th-ranked Duke Women's Soccer team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 1-0 victory over Western Carolina (0-2) on Sunday at Koskinen Stadium.

"Well, first off this was the first back-to-back games we have had and it was hot today," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "We did some good things as we created 24 shots, but we didn't score goals. Western Carolina played hard and its defense played well. I was disappointed how we played after we scored the first goal as we could have played harder."

The Blue Devils (2-0) came out on Sunday with a totally different lineup featuring six different starters from a year ago and four freshmen. Duke were firing early in the match as the Blue Devils collected eight shots over the first 18 minutes of action.

Duke got on the board in the 22nd minute of play as senior Rebecca Moros sent a cross in from the right side and McCabe was able to hit the left corner of the net from 15 yards out. The goal for McCabe was the 20th of her career, while Moros registered her 19th career assist to rank tied for fifth on Duke's all-time assist list.

"Sarah had a great game and was our player of the match," said Church. "She had a brilliant goal, which was setup by [Rebecca] Moros. Sarah is a senior and we are going to need her. She came ready to play in her second game as she knew she was going to get some opportunities."

Two minutes later senior tri-captain Darby Kroyer took a shot which went off the crossbar. The score would remain 1-0 in favor of Duke at the end of the first half with the Blue Devils holding an 11-0 shot advantage.

Duke wasted no time after the halftime break as McCabe and freshman Sara Murphy each had header shots that were saved by Western Carolina goalkeeper Alesha Row in the first four minutes of play. In the 54th minute, Catamount midfielder Lauren Atkinson took WCU's first shot of the contest, but Duke came right back two minutes later and McCabe hit the post on another shot.

With 10 minutes remaining in the contest, Duke had another flurry of scoring opportunities as Murphy had a shot blocked and Kroyer had her fourth shot of the contest saved by Western Carolina's Heather Dittmer.

For the game, junior Allison Lipsher posted her 18th career shutout and 24th win of her career as she posted one save on two WCU shots. Row, the Catamount goalkeeper, finished the contest with 11 saves on 24 Duke shots.

The Blue Devil starting defense of Rachel-Rose Cohen, Murphy, Sheila Kramer and Jane Alukonis played very well on the afternoon. Duke held an 8-0 corner kick advantage.

The Blue Devils will next travel to New Haven, Conn., for the North-South Challenge on Sept. 1 against 13th-ranked Yale at 4:00 p.m. and on Sept. 3 against Connecticut at 1:00 p.m.

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