CHAPEL HILL -- Losing on penalty kicks is a tough way to end a season.
That would be the consensus view of Duke women's soccer players after the team's loss to the Florida International Golden Panthers Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The two teams scratched, clawed, and battled each other to a 1-1 tie over 120 minutes. But each team's fate was decided by five shooters and a goalkeeper.
"At that point, it's flip-a-coin," Duke head coach Bill Hempen said. "Anybody can win in that situation. Unfortunately, we didn't today."
Trailing 3-2 after the first four kicks, Kelly Walbert needed to make the Blue Devils' fifth penalty kick to have a chance to push the contest to sudden death penalty kicks.
Walbert shot to her left. Sue-Moy Chin, the Panther goalie, dove and got a piece of the ball. She had guessed correctly, and in doing so, ended the Blue Devils (12-6-3) season.
It was only fitting that a spectacular play by Chin capped off the victory for FIU. She had been spectacular all afternoon in thwarting the Duke attackers and helping FIU earn a second round matchup with the No. 1 seed, North Carolina, which emerged from the region with a 3-0 victory over FIU, Sunday.
"We had a lot of opportunities to go up," Hempen said. "Sue did a good job of keeping it to the point where they could get to penalty kicks."
Chin's one mistake in regulation came on the first Duke shot of the afternoon. A magnificent lead pass by Cara Lyons dropped over Katherine Remy's left shoulder. Chin came rushing out to cut down the angle of Remy's attack, but she was too late. Remy calmly lofted the ball over the onrushing Chin to give Duke a 1-0 lead at the 27:38 mark.
But the two talented teams, both fighting to play another day, quickly created a wide open, fast-paced soccer game, full of breakaways and great plays.
With about 27 minutes left in the second half, FIU's Cindy Greenman was able to turn the corner on the Duke defense. She fired a shot that Duke keeper Melissa Carr was able to block. The ball rebounded out to the middle of the penalty box where Panther Catherine Liller poked the ball back towards the goal.
Duke defender Christi Monroe illegally stopped the ball with her hand in a desperation effort to prevent a goal. Monroe was issued a red card, and the Panthers were granted a penalty shot. Lisa Bliskis put the ball past Carr and into the left side of the net to tie the score.
Duke needed to find a way to regain the lead while playing the rest of the game at a one-player disadvantage. The Blue Devils responded with some of their best, most aggressive soccer of the season. Monroe's ejection forced the team to step up its level of play, and the Duke players proved they could do it by dominating the remainder of regulation and overtime.
"We put our hearts into it, our bodies, our souls, everything," Duke goalkeeper Melissa Carr said.
Realizing the game would likely be decided by penalty kicks, Hempen unsuccessfully tried to make a substitution during the waning minutes of overtime. To take a penalty kick, a player must have seen some action during the game.
"In practice, we had penalty kick contests," Hempen said. "A couple of our kids that aren't on the field are some of our better penalty kickers. We didn't get an out of bounds [to make the substitution]."
Both teams made their first kicks. Then, Chin saved shots by Duke players Missy Durham and Heidi Durham.
FIU proceeded to build a 3-2 lead that the Blue Devils were unable to overcome as Walbert could not convert.
"It's very disappointing," Duke forward Katherine Remy said. "I think most of us are still in shock that its actually over now, until next year."
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