Racing and chasing with more energy than they had all season, the women's soccer team pushed for a comeback yesterday with their season on the line in College Station, TX.
But two Texas A&M goals in the middle of the game were too much for Duke to handle, and the Blue Devils (14-7-1) went home empty-handed and waiting 'til next year after a 2-1 loss to the Aggies (13-5-3) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
"We're devastated, obviously, because when you play as hard as we played--and we played as hard as we could--that's the only way you can feel," head coach Robbie Church said.
In the final minute of the first half, Texas A&M midfielder Laura Probst dallied down the left side of the 18-yard box and sent a low liner across the field to seemingly no one. But forward Suzette Devloo, a freshman who had only played in nine games all season and had sat in the Aggies' win over SMU Friday, dove out of nowhere into midair, heading the game's first goal past Duke keeper Thora Helgadottir with 36 seconds on the clock.
Then in just the second minute of the second stanza, balls were coming out of nowhere again. Kat Krambeer headed one over to fellow Aggie forward Emma Smith, who secured the ball, cradled it and booted a blazing low liner herself past Helgadottir, putting the Blue Devils down 2-0.
"We made a mistake with 30 seconds left and gave them a bad, timely goal at the end of the first half," Church said. "And then we gave up a bad goal early in the second half. Some teams would limp home and feel sorry for themselves, but we just kept on going."
Indeed, Duke pretty much dominated the rest of the second half, out-shooting Texas A&M 11-7 overall and taking six corner kicks to the Aggies' one during the period. The Blue Devils held possession for much of the next 20 minutes, pounding out four straight shots and making 1,165 Aggie fans take a deep gasp with two of them.
At 57:55, sophomore Carolyn Riggs sent a header towards an empty net, but A&M defender Linda Pearson knocked it off the goal line just in time. Then nine seconds later, Casey McCluskey pushed back with a header of her own, only to have A&M's Shannon Labhart send away a ball that came even closer to crossing the goal line.
Aggies head coach G. Guerrieri called a timeout to cool things down, but two and a half minutes later, Gwendolyn Oxenham and Carmen Bognanno had found Riggs streaking into the box. Riggs sent a curving ball up and in to bring Duke within one.
"Casey McCluskey was pretty much unstoppable in the second half, really setting things up in the midfield," Church said of the junior midfielder, who scored two goals in the Blue Devils' 3-0 victory over Stephen F. Austin in Friday's first round. "And Carolyn Riggs had runs that were dangerous; our flank players were playing really well," Church continued.
But danger was not enough to stop Texas A&M goalie Katie Jo Spisak, who made four crucial saves and one big takedown in crunch time. Bognanno had a breakaway in the 74th minute, but Spisak leapt out of the box and batted the ball away to force a corner kick.
After two headers off corners went high, the Aggies were trying to stall and Church sent in fresh-legged freshman Sarah McCabe for one final push in the 83rd minute. Not even a minute later, though, Spisak was holding the ball in the box, waiting for someone to challenge her before clearing it away. McCabe sprinted toward the goal and took down Spisak, who responded by shoving McCabe to the ground, lording over her and screaming in her face.
Yellow cards were handed out and Oxenham, playing her last career game, had Duke's final chance. The senior was left wide open at the top of the six-yard box with under three minutes to play, but she failed to put enough on the shot, a final huffing gasp to a now concluded season.
"We just didn't finish," Church said. "Sometimes the team that should have won just doesn't."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.