GREENSBORO-Coming off their biggest win of the season over the previously second-ranked Clemson Tigers, the women's soccer team expected to roll through a UNC-Greensboro squad that had struggled all year.
But on a stark autumn evening in which the temperature dropped into the low 40s, Duke (10-3) lost 2-0 to the Spartans (6-6-1), failing to capitalize on the momentum from last Saturday's big win.
Coach Bill Hempen sensed his team was ripe for the upset even before the game started.
"In warm-ups I just had a feeling that we weren't going to be sharp tonight," he said.
His premonition quickly materialized into a legitimate fear, as Kate Dylag scored on a breakaway in just the game's seventh minute. After a Blue Devil turnover at midfield, a streaking Dylag timed her run perfectly to beat Duke's offside trap and receive a perfectly placed pass from teammate Cheryl Stewart. One-on-one with Duke's starting goal keeper Isis Dallis, Dylag fired a hard shot into the lower right-hand corner of the net.
"When the goalkeeper didn't come off the line for the ball, I just thought, 'Take her far post,'" Dylag said. "That's the only thing I thought of, and I did it and took care of business."
Greensboro added an insurance goal in the second half, as Jenny More also scored on a breakaway, chipping a shot over Duke substitute goalie Thora Helgadottir.
Following Dylag's early goal, Duke immediately tried to counter. Despite a multitude of quality scoring opportunities, however, the Blue Devils couldn't find the back of the net as Kathryn Clewley-Greensboro's starting goalie and a member of the Canadian Under-20 team-made a couple of great saves.
Clewley's finest moments of the first half came when she charged out at Duke's Sarah Pickens twice in five minutes. Superbly cutting off any angle for a shot, Clewley stopped Pickens' blast from only 10 yards out and forced a second shot from a similarly close position to go wide right.
The loss was especially disappointing for Pickens, a Greensboro native who attended Greensboro County Day School, where she scored 138 goals. After the final whistle, Hempen could only shake his head.
"Teams that had a win like we had are most vulnerable in the next game, and they jumped on us," he said. "They deserved to win."
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