Carr provides a successful barricade in Duke goal

For women's soccer goalkeeper Melissa Carr, standing in front of the net with the game on the line isn't pressure. It's a good time.

"You don't think about the pressure, you just go out and play," Carr said. "You can't think too much. You just have to play and enjoy yourself."

Carr has done just that, becoming a fixture in front of the Duke goal. The senior from Spring, Texas, has started in goal for the Blue Devils since she arrived in Durham.

Carr's soccer roots didn't begin in the goal. She split time as a goalkeeper and a field player up until her sophomore year in high school, when her coach suggested she mind the net full time. It is a move she has never regretted, although she admitted it sometimes gets lonesome standing on the opposite side of the action.

"Melissa came in with very raw skills and a lot of natural talent," women's soccer head coach Bill Hempen said. "She's very athletic, a very quick player."

Senior forward Kelly Walbert has observed Carr's improvement over the past three years. Walbert has noted how making quick decisions have become second nature for Carr. Carr has also become more vocal as a team leader on the field, as Walbert can often times hear Carr screaming from the opposite side of the field.

Carr has always been the type of player on the field who wants to make a difference. And that's something she has often done from the time she arrived at Duke.

During her freshman campaign she recorded 13 shutouts, including three in the NCAA tournament as the Blue Devils advanced all the way to the finals.

"I thought I played well, and it was great playing against great competition, [including] national team players," Carr said. "You know pretty much everyone that's playing, and to play well against people like that, it makes you feel confident."

According to Walbert, her teammate on both the Blue Devils and the South squad, Carr almost single-handedly turned a mediocre South team into a bronze medalists.

"She stepped up so well [at the Festival]," Walbert said. "She made some major saves for the South team."

Later that year, Carr was a part of another great victory when she helped the Blue Devils upset perennial power North Carolina 3-2 on the Tar Heels' turf.

"That game was any goalkeeper's dream," Carr said. "As a goalkeeper you want to be able to make the difference in the game, and I think that's the biggest game for any goalkeeper on any team--playing against Carolina. You know that you are going to be bombarded with shots, and that's the game where you can show what you can do."

Carr did just that. With 12 minutes left in the game and Duke clinging to a 3-1 advantage, she suffered through, as Walbert described it, shell-shock.

North Carolina pounded the Duke goal with shot after shot. And while many of those shots were off mark, others had to be swatted away. In one instance, a shot that seemed destined to find the upper corner of the twine was punched away by Carr at the last second. That save may very well have saved the game as well, as the Blue Devils held on to win 3-2.

"I can still picture some of her unbelievable saves," Walbert said. "Her efforts kept the ball out of the net."

Still, with all of her success, Hempen doesn't think Carr is the best goalie she can be. Carr knows her starting spot isn't guaranteed, and that she needs to work to keep it. However, Hempen said she has had an excellent preseason, exerting herself on the practice field.

"Even now I feel pressure, but it's a good type of pressure," Carr said. "As a freshman, if I didn't perform well, I knew I would be taken out, because there has always been someone behind me that could play if I wasn't playing as I should.

"Even now, I'm having to try to play my best, and if I don't, I know that someone is going to be right there who might take the position."

That dedication makes Hempen very excited about what could come in the future.

"In women's soccer, it's very important to have a good goalkeeper, and I think we have one," he said.