No. 11 Duke Concludes Regular Season With 1-0 Loss At Virginia Tech

Sunday, November 2

Blacksburg, Va.

2:00 p.m.

Duke University

12-4-2

Virginia Tech

10-7-2

#16/17 Duke

Virginia Tech

No. 11 Duke Concludes Regular Season With 1-0 Loss At Virginia Tech

11/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

BLACKSBURG, Va. ? The 11th-ranked Duke women's soccer team concluded the regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 loss at Virginia Tech, which was played in Blacksburg, Va. The Blue Devils now enter the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament with a 12-4-2 overall and 4-3-3 ACC mark.

The Blue Devils finished fifth in the ACC and will most likely take on fourth-seeded Boston College in the first round on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at the WakeMed Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C. The official bracket will be released on Monday by the ACC Office.

On a day where Duke was held to only seven shots, which was the third-fewest taken in a match this season, Virginia Tech (10-7-2, 4-4-2) scored the lone goal in the 16th minute as Robin Chidester delivered a cross to the back post of the Duke goal where Laurie Beth Puglisi headed the ball past senior goalkeeper Cassidy Powers.

The Hokies controlled the opening half as they out shot the Blue Devils 7-2 in the first frame and took four corner kicks to just two by Duke.

“In the first half, we did not play well,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “Virginia Tech was obviously a desperate team trying to get into the NCAA Tournament and need a quality win. We really got outplayed in the first half and I was disappointed in our performance in the first half. It has to come back to me as I don't think we were prepared enough and got outworked the first half.”

The rest of the contest mirrored the defensive battle of the first half with the two teams combining for nine shots in the second period. Duke's best chance to tie the score came in the 60th minute when the senior Lorraine Quinn fired a shot from the top of the box. The ball appeared to have gone in the upper corner of the net, but had actually traveled just wide of the goal.

“We did better the second half,” said Church. “We came out more aggressive. We knew it would be a game of two different styles -- unfortunately their style was better than our style. They got into their style more than we did. We gave up a goal off as set play and that really cost us the game.”

After the attempt by Quinn, the Tech defense held strong and only allowed Duke one more shot for the rest of the match. Redshirt senior Ashley Owens started in net for the Hokies and made one save while recording her eighth career shutout. Duke's Powers made two saves in the loss.

The Blue Devils were outshot for the match, 11-7. Sophomore Meaghan FitzGerald registered a team-best two shots on the afternoon.

Duke enters the ACC Tournament struggling on offense as the Blue Devils have been shutout in three out of the last four matches. Over the last five matches, Duke has notched only one victory to go along with two ties.

“We have to get more offense,” said Church. “We are just really struggling offensively right now -- creating shots, creating opportunities and finishing shots. We have to get quicker offensively. Defensively we are playing well but offensively we have to get back to where we were playing earlier in the year.”

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