Women's Soccer Upends Missouri, 3-1, on Friday

Friday, August 27

Chapel Hill, N.C.

4:00 p.m.

Duke University

Missouri (Chapel Hill, NC)

Women's Soccer Posts 1-1 Draw With No. 6 Maryland

Women's Soccer Upends Missouri, 3-1, on Friday

8/27/2010 7:44:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The 19th-ranked Duke women's soccer team registered three second half goals on its way to posting a 3-1 victory over Missouri on Friday to open the Nike Carolina Classic at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.

With the win, Duke improved to 2-0 overall, while Missouri fell to 0-2. The Blue Devils will next take on No. 2 Stanford on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 11:00 a.m. The game will be played at Fetzer Field on the campus of North Carolina.

"The second half was fantastic," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church. "It was one of the best halves that we have had all year. I am just so proud of the kids. There wasn't really anything that was said [at halftime]. We talked a little bit tactically, but we talked about Duke soccer and what we had to do."

The Blue Devils took two out of the first three shots of the contest but the Tigers were able to get on the board first.

In the 20th minute, Missouri's Alysha Bonnick got behind the Blue Devil defense near the endline and sent a cross in front of the Duke goal. Krista Kruse was in the right place at the right time and hit the top left of the Blue Devil net. It was the first goal allowed in 2010 for the Blue Devil defense.

The Blue Devils took a total of nine shots in the first half with senior Gretchen Miller coming off the bench to lead Duke with three.

Duke came out in the second half and put the pressure on the Tigers with three shots over a two minute span before evening the score in the 50th minute. Freshman Laura Weinberg made a great run down the left side of the field and fired a left-footed shot at the Missouri goalkeeper, Jessica Gwin. Gwin dove to her left to make the stop but couldn't hang onto the ball. Blue Devil senior Molly Lester sprinted towards the ball and hit the back of the net for her second goal in as many games.

"All the credit goes to Laura on that one," said Lester. "We talked about the goalkeeper pushing balls so we were told to follow the shots. I was there to put it in the back of the net."

The Blue Devils stayed on the attack and took their first lead of the match in the 55th minute after freshman Natasha Anasi sent a shot at the Missouri goal that was batted outside the box to Duke senior Marybeth Kreger. Kreger, a product of Noblesville, Ind., settled and hit the right side of the net for her sixth career goal.

"It felt good to get out there and just be all over it in the second half," said Kreger. "We got roughed up a little bit in the first half, came out flat and got beat to a lot balls. We were really hungry in the second half and were all over them."

Duke controlled the rest of the contest and added an insurance goal in the 88th minute from redshirt freshman Callie Simpkins. A native of Concord, N.C., Simpkins took a pass from Lester and beat the Missouri keeper for her first career tally.

"Everybody on the field and everyone on the sidelines -- the sidelines were so much into that game," said Church. "They were so much of a factor to keep the intensity up on a hot afternoon. We ended up winning 50-50 balls [in the second half]. In the first half, we lost the first and second balls. In the second half, we won those balls, we put the ball on the ground, changed our point of attack and we got forward. It was just a fantastic half."

For the game, Duke outshot Missouri 22-13. Sophomore Tara Campbell played the entire 90 minutes in goal for the Blue Devils and finished with six saves. Gwin finished with nine saves for Missouri.

"Molly [Lester] followed up a great performance at Georgia with another goal here because it was a hustle play," commented Church. "She put herself in a position where if the goalkeeper dropped it she was right there. That was a key goal because we were creating opportunities. We really had them pinned in but we weren't finishing them. We needed the first one to go in and Molly did that for us. Then it opened up the gates pretty well."

Lester, who is from Atlanta, Ga., had been sidelined with injuries as a freshman and junior, but has started the first two games of the 2010 campaign. The 5-4 midfielder now has two goals this season on five career shots.

Notes:

Duke came out in the second half with four freshmen in the lineup - Mollie Pathman, Laura Weinberg, Natasha Anasi and Gilda Doria.
Freshman Kaitlyn Kerr made her collegiate debut and played 30 minutes.
A total of 21 Blue Devils saw action in the contest.
Freshman Laura Weinberg suffered a broken nose in the second half and didn't return.

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