Blue Devils Fall To 18th-ranked Florida, 1-0, in Duke adidas Classic

Friday, September 15

Durham, N.C.

7:30 p.m.

Duke University

4-3-0

Florida

4-2-1

#--/18 Florida

#22/16 Duke

Duke Hosts Boston College In Women?s Soccer Action On Thursday

Blue Devils Fall To 18th-ranked Florida, 1-0, in Duke adidas Classic

9/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? The 18th-ranked Florida Gators withstood a fury of shots in the second half from 16th-ranked Duke and downed the Blue Devils, 1-0, in the opening day of the Duke adidas Classic held at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. Duke falls to 4-3-0, while Florida improves to 4-2-1.

“From our standpoint we pushed it obviously in the second half and it made it a very fast game,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “We played quicker, we played faster and we played with more confidence [in the second half]. I know the loss at Kansas set us back a little bit with giving up as many goals as we did at the end of the game. We are a young team and I am very proud of our team with the way we came back in the second half and had a number of good opportunities. We played hard.”

Duke started the game off with a shot by senior Sarah McCabe that was saved by Brittni Goodwin of Florida just 36 seconds into the contest. Florida came back three minutes later as Ameera Abdullah won a 50-50 ball with Duke goalkeeper Allison Lipsher and then poked it past a Duke defender for her fourth goal of the season at the 3:38 mark. The Gators dominated the rest first half taking a total of six shots to only three for the Blue Devils.

Being down 1-0 to start the second half, the Blue Devils came out firing in the second half as senior Rebecca Moros and McCabe took early shots at the goal but were each high.

At the 66:25 mark, Duke's best scoring attempt of the match came from the right leg of freshman KayAnne Gummersall as she sent an 18-yard shot just high over the crossbar. The Blue Devils added four shots in the final seven minutes of the game by Moros, McCabe, senior Lauren Tippets, and freshman Elisabeth Redmond, but none could get past Goodwin in goal for the Gators.

For the contest, Duke outshot Florida, 14-10, and held an 11-4 shot advantage in the second half. In goal for the Blue Devils, junior Allison Lipsher totaled six saves, while Goodwin added seven.

“We created more opportunities in the second half,” said Church. “Our pace created the opportunities, but when we get down in the final third in the scoring area we have to be able to finish those.”

In the first game of the day, fifth-ranked North Carolina used two second half goals to defeat the Golden Eagles, 2-0.

The Blue Devils will be back on the field on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. against Marquette to close out the Duke adidas Classic. North Carolina will also face Florida on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. for the tournament crown.

“We are going to need to build on this [loss] against a good Marquette team on Sunday,” said Church.

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