The cardiac kids did it again.
The women's soccer team, after barely qualifying for an NCAA Tournament bid, upset 10th-ranked Virginia in the opening round of the tournament Saturday, 1-0.
"It's really a relief to survive and move on," Duke coach Bill Hempen said. "We felt we had the players to be able to be here. Hopefully, we've proved ourselves worthy of the bid."
Duke won behind a stellar effort from its defense. The defensive concentration came after the lone tally of the game, which occurred 2:50 into the second half. Senior Emily Studebaker took the ball deep into the corner and sent it across the field towards the Virginia goal. Junior Kari Juncker headed it home, giving the Blue Devils what turned out to be the lone and deciding goal.
The Blue Devils (10-9-3) won the game behind a "never-say-die" attitude from their defense, echoing the team's mindset throughout the season. The Cavaliers (12-7-2) pressured the Duke defense constantly for the last 42 minutes of the game, but the Blue Devils, led by senior Mandy Lehr and junior Lauren Cyran, held tough, protecting the win.
"I think our defense, in general, has a lot of heart," Cyran said. "And I know we were all nervous. There was a lot of clock-watching going on.... As nervous as I think I definitely was, I just kind of knew there wasn't going to be a goal scored."
The Blue Devils fended off numerous threats from the Cavaliers throughout the second half. Virginia freshman Lindsay Ritter sent a cross over the Duke goal midway through the stanza, and Virginia freshman sensation Angela Hucles put another open shot over with two minutes remaining. The Cavaliers amassed five corner kicks on the afternoon, but were unable to convert on any of them, despite bringing goalkeeper Megan Bochm all the way downfield to help their attack.
Virginia missed out on perhaps its best opportunity at the 18:30 mark in the second half. A high ball sent into the penalty box appeared to hit Lehr in the arm, but the referee didn't make the call that would have resulted in a penalty kick for Virginia.
"Virginia just put up an incredible fight until the end, as I knew they would," Hempen said. "It was just a great, solid effort defensively for our kids for about the last 15-20 minutes of the game-just to keep them at bay because they were really coming at us."
As much as the second half was one of chances and near misses, the first half was one devoid of offensive flow. Both teams played back and forth through the midfield. The Blue Devils had the upper hand early, but were unable to get a through pass to one of their forwards in scoring position. The closest scoring opportunity of the first half came at the 14:45 mark, when Lehr lofted a shot from 35 yards out that bounced over Bochm and then bounced over the goal.
"I thought Duke came out and played real hard in the first 20 minutes," Virginia coach April Heinrichs said. "That was their best 20 minutes of the game. They pushed the ball around a bit-they had us sort of looking like the Bad News Bears for a few minutes. They had us struggling at first... and we weathered that storm."
The win Saturday marked the end of an emotional week for Duke. Following their first-round loss to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils were uncertain whether they would get a bid to the NCAA Tournament with a .500 record. Their impressive record against top-20 teams, however, combined with three big late-season wins over Clemson, Virginia and Florida sealed the bid. The Blue Devils made sure to make the most of the opportunity.
"I think we were given a second chance," Cyran said. "We're still going-it's just the beginning, hopefully. We can't be happy with this and then say, 'Great. We got in. Ha ha. We won a game in the NCAA's.'"
The Blue Devils will continue their journey through the NCAA Tournament next weekend against ??????.
Misty Allen contributed to this story.
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