Weinberg Scores Two Goals to Lead Duke Past BC

Thursday, October 21

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

9-5-3, 3-4-1ACC

Boston College

10-4-1, 3-4-0ACC

#9/6 Boston College

Duke

Blue Devils Prepare for the NCAA Selection Show

Weinberg Scores Two Goals to Lead Duke Past BC

10/21/2010 10:11:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke University freshman Laura Weinberg netted two goals in less than two minutes in the first half to propel the Blue Devil women's soccer team to a 3-0 victory against sixth-ranked Boston College on Thursday evening at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

The theme for the evening was “Think Pink” as the Blue Devils wore pink uniforms, gave out free pink t-shirts and auctioned off two signed shirts by members of the Duke squad. Proceeds went to support breast cancer awareness.

With the victory, Duke improves to 9-5-3 overall and 3-4-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) action, while Boston College falls to 10-4-1, 3-4-0. The Blue Devils posted their second straight victory over a top 25 team and has outscored the last two opponents by a 6-0 margin.

“If you go back to the last three games that we've won, we got an opening goal,” said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. “With a young team, especially, we just needed something to say that all of our hard work, all our effort, all of our tactics are in place. That's what they got in those opening goals.”

Boston College came out of the gate on the attack and fired a shot by Brooke Knowlton that went right at Blue Devil goalkeeper Tara Campbell, who leaned to her right and made the stop at the 34-second mark. The Eagles went on to take four of the first five shots of the match but couldn't get anything past the Duke defense.

The Blue Devils got on the board first as freshman Kaitlyn Kerr sent a cross into the box from the right side of the pitch and two Boston College defenders ran into each other. The ball landed at the feet of Weinberg and she beat Eagle goalkeeper Jillian Mastroianni for her seventh goal of the season at the 22:20 mark.

“She [Kaitlyn Kerr] was surround by three defenders and I just happened to be making a flashing run into the box and she was able to find me,” commented Weinberg. “I just slotted it into the corner.”

In just a minute and 24 seconds later, sophomore Nicole Lipp sent a long feed down the left side of the field to a streaking freshman Mollie Pathman. Pathman, who is out of Durham, N.C., sent a left-footed cross into the box to Weinberg, who then netted her second goal of the match from right in front of the goal.

“It was definitely a pivotal goal because a 1-0 [lead] is kind of a dangerous lead,” said Weinberg. “So we were comfortable after we got that. We were able to settle down, pass around them and keep the ball. We held them off in the first half -- we didn't give up a goal so that was definitely key.”

Weinberg, a native of Boca Raton, Fla., posted the first multi-goal performance of her collegiate career and is now only two goals away from matching the Duke single-season record for most goals by a freshman, which is held by Sarah Friend with 10 in 1989.

At the end of the first half, Boston College held a 6-4 shot advantage.

“I thought that we were a little nervous to start the game,” said Church. “I thought they really had the first 10 or 15 minutes, but nothing really dangerous. I thought they controlled midfield and were a little quicker to the balls than we were. But as the game went on then we were able to connect passes, start to play quicker, took touches off and be able to change and got services in. So those things were very good. Just to finish our chances -- that is what we have been looking for. Just to finish the opportunities and the changes. Our first two finishes and then boom they are in the back of the net. You have a 2-0 lead against a team that has been struggling a little bit, so now their confidence is knocked back. Wow, it is great.”

Duke withstood an Eagle attack throughout the second half and then added another goal to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage in the 85th minute. Weinberg made a great run down the left side of the field and then took her defender up towards the box, which brought Mastroianni out of from the goal. Senior Molly Lester sprinted towards the right side of the box and Weinberg found her feet and beat a diving Mastroianni for her fourth goal of the season from 10 yards out.

Coming off a junior season where she didn't play because of an injury, Lester now owns four goals in her final year at Duke. A product of Atlanta, Ga., Lester had only taken one shot in her career prior to her senior campaign.

For the match, Boston College outshot Duke, 18-7, but the Blue Devils put away three of them. Campbell finished the night in goal for Duke with a career-high 12 saves in 90 minutes. Mastroianni added two saves for the Eagles.

“This win is huge for us,” said Weinberg. “We started off a little rocky in the ACC, so these two wins are definitely really big for us. We're excited to move on to N.C. State on Sunday and hopefully continue with victories.”

Duke will next host N.C. State on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 6:00 p.m.

“We've had chances during the year,” said Church. “We had a tough loss to Wake, a tough loss to Miami -- we could have given up and said we were too young, we are not this, we are not that. We have been practicing unbelievably hard every day -- if it is 45 minutes or an hour and a half -- we have been practicing really, really hard and its paying off for them. I don't think there are a lot of teams that have practiced as hard as we have at this time of year. Now they have taken it over from the training and into game situations. It looks like we are coming along at the right time, but we are not out of the woods yet.”

- d - u - k - e -