Duke played 220 minutes of soccer this weekend, but both of its games were decided by a single shot.
Scoreless play marked the Blue Devils' NCAA College Cup matches this weekend through two sets of double overtime periods-until both games went into penalty kicks.
Advancing after a first-round 6-5 win over No. 22 Louisville Friday, the Blue Devils (9-8-4) fell 4-3 in overtime penalty kicks Sunday to 23rd-ranked Tennessee (12-6-4) in the second round of the College Cup in Knoxville, Tenn. The loss marks the end of Duke's up-and-down season.
"They laid everything out there on the field," head coach Robbie Church said. "They just know that when you get down to penalty shots anything can happen. And that's what happened-Friday night we advanced and today we didn't."
Against Tennessee, Duke utilized the same lineup for penalty kicks that went 5-5 against Louisville Friday before freshman CJ Ludemann scored the goal that put the Blue Devils ahead, 6-5.
Junior Darby Kroyer started off Duke's penalty shots against Tennessee, but Lady Vol goalkeeper Jaimel Johnson stopped her strike. Tennessee connected on its first penalty kick, and freshman Elisabeth Redmond found the net on Duke's second chance. The Lady Vols missed their second shot to knot the score at 1-1.
Sophomore Christie McDonald's shot went wide on Duke's third chance, and Tennessee scored on its next attempt to put the Lady Vols ahead, 2-1. Duke and Tennessee both made their remaining two penalty kicks.
"It was a huge advantage for them when Jaimel stopped that [first] penalty kick," Duke goalkeeper Allison Lipsher said. "It certainly got the momentum going a little bit. It made it a tough shootout for us. I'm really proud of everyone. We've been practicing penalty kicks and everyone came through when we needed them to. I think that was about as good as we could have done."
Outstanding play from Lipsher, who made a career-high 11 saves in the match, buoyed the Blue Devils' defense while the offense fought to create scoring opportunities.
Duke, which received an at-large bid to the College Cup after a first-round loss to Florida State in the ACC tournament, outshot the Lady Vols 8-1 in overtime. Church said his team created several quality scoring chances but could not capitalize-a problem the team encountered all season.
"We came together for the second season and played with heart and as a team," freshman forward KayAnne Gummersall said. "It just hurts so much to go out this way. Tennessee played a great game. We both had our chances. We didn't finish, and neither did they. To go to a shootout hurts just so much more."
The loss marked the end of Duke's run in the tournament as well as the final match of its season. Sunday was the second time the Blue Devils needed penalty kicks to decide a match against Tennessee in the College Cup-Duke advanced in the first round of the tournament over the Lady Vols, 4-2, in 2001.
"We played at a very high level," head coach Robbie Church said. "For us to travel to Tennessee and play them on their home field in front of their home crowd-I can't say how proud I am of our team. Of course we'd like to go to Chapel Hill, but we're going home with our heads held high."
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