Duke falls in NCAA second round to North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL -- As they faced the media, Sarah Pickens and Thora Helgadottir looked out at the crowd of reporters with sullen eyes and weary faces.

After winning a quadruple overtime thriller against No. 23 Tennessee in a penalty shoot-out Friday night, and then, 36 hours later, losing 2-0 against top-ranked North Carolina (21-0) in the second round of the NCAA tournament, the two Duke stars appeared utterly drained, both physically and emotionally.

Duke Coach Robbie Church could not have been more impressed.

"The first thing I want to say is just how proud I am to be the women's soccer coach at Duke University, and how proud I am of these young ladies for all that they've been through this year," he said.

"For them to play 150 minutes of soccer Friday night, and come back to give a performance like that is unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. We played as hard as we could."

Although the Blue Devils' (8-10-1) season ended in disappointment Sunday against their archrival, their weekend began with a euphoric upset over the favored Volunteers (11-6-1).

During the regular season, Duke lost all four of its overtime contests, and were eager to avenge the many difficult defeats. However, the Blue Devils were not expecting to play an additional 60 minutes after regulation.

"It was pretty ridiculous," Carly Fuller said. "We were like, OFour overtimes? There's no way it can go that way.'"

Duke's reward for surviving Tennessee was to face the three-time defending national champion Tar Heels in front of a huge crowd at Fetzer Field, where UNC has lost just three times in 20 seasons.

Physically spent after such Friday's grueling affair, the Blue Devils held the explosive Tar Heels to two first half goals. The final margin could have easily been five or six, but Helgadottir made several spectacular saves.

Although Helgadottir made save upon save, she shifted to the striker position with her team down 2-0 and five minutes remaining, tenaciously scrambling around the field, and impressing North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance.

"She's not only a remarkable goalkeeper, but obviously they feel like she can do some damage up top," he said. "There's a reason she was first team All-Conference."

Before Helgadottir's move forward, Pickens nearly pulled Duke to within a goal.

Seeing UNC netminder Kristin Deplatchett out of net, Pickens blasted a 30-yard shot towards goal, only to see her effort strike the crossbar. After coming so close to cutting the deficit in half, the Blue Devils senior dropped to her knees in anguish.

"There's this wonderful paradox in soccer," Dorrance said. "It's the ease and difficulty of scoring. Invariably you can dominate a game, and then have that kind of shot tuck under the bar, and then it's a real game again."

While watching Pickens' shot sail over the head of Deplatchett, Dorrance's stomach churned.

"It would have been absolutely harrowing [had it gone in]," he said.

With Duke trailing 2-0 at the half, most of the packed stadium expected Duke to wilt under North Carolina's relenting pressure. The Blue Devils' held strong, however, summoning enough energy to scare the mighty Tar Heels.

In the aftermath, Pickens, having just concluded her Duke career, described her team's attitude as it returned to the field to give one final effort.

"Coming out of halftime, we were two down, and basically the feeling was that it was either the last 45 minutes of our season or we would push it and continue our season," Pickens said. "Either way, you just run yourself into the ground."