By Brandon Ehrhart
and Michael Gutknecht
GREENSBORO - The women's soccer team traveled to Greensboro Tuesday night. Looking at the matchup on paper, one might have thought that Duke would simply come out and dismantle UNC-Greensboro. After all, the Blue Devils were not exactly in the most gracious of moods since Nebraska had just upset Duke less than 48 hours earlier. But then the rain began to fall in Greensboro.
And weird things happened. The No. 23 Spartans took the lead. Duke head coach Bill Hempen was ejected. When it was all over the No. 21 Blue Devils (0-3 on the season, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) had fallen 2-1 to the Spartans.
"It is shocking," junior co-captain Lauren Cyran said. "We're obviously very disappointed. We know that there is going to be a lot of stuff said about us on campus. So we need to put things together."
Duke started the game like everyone thought it would. Twelve minutes into the game, sophomore Kristy Whelchel gave the Blue Devils the early lead. From the left side of the box, Whelchel fired a shot that careened off the left post and past Spartan goalie Paula Domitrovits for the 1-0 cushion.
Despite the early goal, Duke could not seize the momentum. Neither team could retain possession of the ball long enough to form any significant offensive surges. And then things became physical in a hurry. After several Spartan take downs on Blue Devil players, Duke head coach Bill Hempen received a yellow card.
"We've never had a game like this before," Hempen said. "[The rough play] all happened right in the first half. We got crushed and [the referee allowed play to continue]. And once the kids see that, [we're thinking] 'Let's go.' That's a shame because [UNC-G] is a good team."
With the physical play favoring the Spartans' style, UNC-G forward Kati Kantanen knotted the score at 1-1 with an unassisted goal. Then the game began to slip away from the Blue Devils.
With seven minutes remaining in the first half, UNC-G caught Duke out of position. Consequently, the Spartans found themselves on a three-on-one breakaway with the one being Cyran. Cyran slid to her right, thereby cutting off the passing lane and blocking the subsequent shot.
Less than one minute later, however, UNC-G would find the back of the net. Standing ten yards outside of the Blue Devils' penalty box, UNC-G Danica Baker kicked a high, looping shot that sailed over the head of Duke goalie sophomore Dana Piper. The Spartans took a 2-1 lead into intermission.
"I think we got a little helter skelter in the first half," Hempen said. "The goal that beats us is a shot that will probably never happen again. That's the kind of luck that we have been having all year."
As the second half began, Duke focused its energy on controlling the action with tighter passing than it displayed in the first. It paid off as the Blue Devils generated several scoring chances. The second half also welcomed the return of Duke senior defender and co-captain Mandy Lehr. Lehr, who missed Sunday's game against Nebraska with a knee injury, played sparingly in the first half against the Spartans. Even playing through pain, it did not take Lehr long to make an impact. Lehr's leadership and physical presence seemed to solidify Duke's defense. She also received a yellow card for discussing matters with the Spartans.
While the Blue Devils seemed to be picking up momentum, the Spartans continued their hacking style. Seven minutes into the second stanza, Hempen received his second yellow card and subsequent ejection from the card. It was Hempen's first red card since 1993.
"It was really unsportsmanlike in my mind," Hempen said. "We went to throw the ball in. A [UNC-G] player came off of the field to stop our player from her run up. That was right in front of me. That's a shame. But the bottom line is the calls that the referees make are not going to put the ball in the back of the net."
The Blue Devils continued their peppering of Domitrovits throughout the second half to no avail. Duke outshot UNC-G 11-5, and the Spartans led in fouls 9-8. As time wound down, the Blue Devils increased the pressure, while the Spartans were content to fall back and protect their goal mouth. With under a minute remaining, Duke tallied one of its ten corner kicks. But the Spartans cleared Duke's last chance and stormed the field in celebration.
"[After the game], we decided that we had two choices [for the rest of the season]," Lehr said. "We could lie down or we could come up fighting. We all decided to come up fighting."
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