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Duke Set To Face South Carolina In NCAA College Cup
11/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
DURHAM, N.C. ? For the 14th time in school history and the fifth straight year, the Duke women's soccer team will play in the NCAA Women's College Cup, which kicks off on Friday, Nov. 16 as the Blue Devils will take on 23rd-ranked South Carolina at 4:30 p.m. The contest will be played at the Turner Soccer Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.
Hosting the four-team subregional will be 13th-ranked Georgia (17-3-2) and the Bulldogs will face Alabama A&M (10-6-3) in the first round. The winner of the Duke/South Carolina contest will take on the winner of the Georgia/Alabama A&M match on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 1:30 p.m.
The Blue Devils own an 8-5-6 overall record and totaled a 3-3-4 mark in the very challenging Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Duke is coming off falling in overtime during the quarterfinals of the ACC Championship to 11th-ranked Wake Forest, 1-0. On the season, the Blue Devils have been led on the scoring end by the foursome of sophomore Elisabeth Redmond (6 goals, 11 assists), junior Kelly Hathorn (5 goals, 5 assists), sophomore CJ Ludemann (4 goals, 5 assists) and freshman Rebecca Allen (5 goals, 2 assists), who have scored 20 of Duke's 28 goals on the year.
Redmond, a second team All-ACC selection, owns a team-best 11 assists and six goals for a total of 23 points. A native of Morristown, N.J., Redmond has registered three game-winning goals and notched eight assists on goals that have tied or been the game-winning goals of matches this season. Senior Allison Lipsher enters her final NCAA Tournament in goal for the Blue Devils. A product of Honolulu, Hawaii, Lipsher has totaled five shutouts and a 0.82 goals against average in 2007.
South Carolina enters the NCAA Tournament coming off a 2-0 loss to 13th-ranked Georgia in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Tournament semifinals. The Gamecocks opened the season with seven straight wins, including a 1-0 win over top-seeded North Carolina in the season opener. Darcel Mallon has led South Carolina with 10 goals on the season. South Carolina will be making their second appearance all-time in the NCAA College Cup as the Gamecocks last played in the NCAA Tournament in 1998.
Duke and South Carolina will meet for the second time in school history with the only other contest coming in 2000 when Duke notched a 5-1 victory in the Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Duke is making its 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and is coming off advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 three years ago, which marked the first time since 1996 the Blue Devils had advanced past the second round of the tournament. In its first NCAA appearance in 1992, Duke advanced to the NCAA Championship game, but lost to North Carolina (9-1).
The Blue Devils are making their fifth straight appearance in the NCAA College Cup and have won at least one contest in the tournament each of the last seven appearances.
The ACC led all conferences with eight tournament bids, while the SEC had six teams receive invitations. A total of 30 automatic bids along with 34 at-large invitations were given out this season. The Blue Devils and Gamecocks each received at-large bids. The four No. 1 seeds include the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, an automatic qualifier from the ACC, Penn State University, UCLA, an automatic qualifier from the PAC-10 Conference, and Stanford University.
Tickets for NCAA Tournament games will cost $7 for adults and $3 for children and students with a valid I.D. Fans can purchase tickets at the venue on Friday or can place orders in advance by calling the UGA Ticket Office at 706-542-1231. Tickets purchased for Friday's first-round action will be valid for both games.
The NCAA Division I College Cup will be played Dec. 7 and 9 at the Aggie Soccer Complex in College Station, Texas.
Notebook:
? Duke has registered six ties this season which is one shy of matching the single season record set in 2002.
? Senior Allison Lipsher has registered 31 career shutouts and is three away from tying the Duke career mark held by Melissa Carr, who played from 1992-95. Lipsher is also four shutouts shy of matching the ACC career mark held by Aly Winget (35) of UNC.
? Sophomore Elisabeth Redmond has totaled 11 assists on the season, which is tied for second on the all-time single season chart at Duke. Redmond has also notched a team-best three game-winning goals, while also posting eight assists on goals that have tied the match or goals that were game-winning.
? The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) office released the 2007 All-ACC squads on Nov. 6 with three Blue Devils earning accolades. Junior Lorraine Quinn and sophomore Elisabeth Redmond were named to the All-ACC first and second teams, respectively, while Rebecca Allen was selected to the All-Freshman team by a vote of the league head coaches.
? Sophomore KayAnne Gummersall continues to be hobbled with an ankle injury that occurred earlier this season. Duke's leading goal scorer from a year ago with seven goals has yet to score this season and has totaled one assist. She missed three matches in October but has played the last four contests. She is still not 100 percent healthy and will not be until after the season is over.
? Duke is coming off a 1-0 shutout loss at 25th-ranked Clemson to conclude the regular season. It marked the first time the Blue Devils had been shutout since Sept. 27 against fourth-ranked Virginia. They had scored at least one goal in eight straight matches.
? A total of 10 Blue Devils have scored at least one goal this season, while 15 Blue Devils have posted one or more assists.
? In the NCAA stats, Duke ranks 56th in goals-against average (0.827) and 60th in save percentage (0.83). In the individual categories, Elisabeth Redmond ranks 10th in assists per game (0.58), while Allison Lipsher is 70th in goals-against average (0.821) and 64th in save percentage (0.832). South Carolina is 87th in scoring offense (1.68), 25th in goals-against average (0.698), 23rd in shutout percentage (0.545) and 50th in save percentage (0.682). Gamecock goalkeeper Laura Armstrong is ninth in goals-against average (0.491).
? Duke has only lost five matches this season and all five came against ranked opponents-- second-ranked Texas A&M (2-0), fourth-ranked Virginia (2-0), 12th-ranked North Carolina (2-1), 25th-ranked Clemson (1-0), 11th-ranked Wake Forest (1-0).
? The Blue Devil defense has not allowed more than two goals in any matches this season.
? Dating back to last season, Duke has not scored a goal in the ACC or NCAA Tournament in 405.37 minutes -- Florida State in 2006 ACC Tournament (90), Louisville and Tennessee in 2006 NCAA Tournament (220) and Wake Forest in 2007 ACC Tournament (95.37).
? Senior goalkeeper Allison Lipsher has totaled three career shutouts in NCAA Tournament action -- Louisville and Tennessee in 2006 and Virginia in 2004. She did not allow a goal in the 2006 NCAA College Cup in 220 minutes.
? Junior Christie McDonald is the only current Blue Devil who has scored a goal in the NCAA College Cup. She totaled the fourth and final goal against Fairfield in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
? Duke has graduated 17 seniors over the last two years and has only one senior that plays significant action.
? Head Coach Robbie Church will be taking his sixth Duke team to the NCAA Tournament and seventh overall team to the postseason (Charlotte in 1998). In 1998, Charlotte advanced past the first round by defeating South Carolina, 2-0, but lost to North Carolina, 6-0, in the next round.
? Kelly Hathorn and Christie McDonald were named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III recently. Hathorn earned second team honors, while McDonald was named to the third team.
Players Mentioned
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