CHAPEL HILL - In front of a packed crowd at Fetzer Field, the Blue Devils looked as they did earlier this season-finding scoring opportunities but not the back of the net.
Several bizarre missed chances in the second half, ranging from Kendall Bradley's consecutive caroms off the crossbar to Gretchen Miller's late shot that sailed wide of an empty Tar Heel net, doomed Duke to a 2-1 loss to No. 11 North Carolina on a clear, chilly Thursday evening in Chapel Hill.
Their failures to score as time wound down overshadowed an otherwise strong performance in the final 45 minutes for the Blue Devils (7-3-3, 2-2-1 in the ACC), who have now dropped three in a row to their archrival dating back to the 2005 ACC tournament.
The night's scoring took place entirely within the first half, which the Tar Heels (10-3-0, 4-1-0) dominated with physical defense and efficient ball control. After halftime, however, Duke regained its swagger, giving the defending national champions all they could handle by creating opportunities on offense and stiffening on defense.
"I thought we were okay in the first half, and against Carolina, you've got to be better than okay," head coach Robbie Church said. "In the second half, the way we just took them on heads-up, I thought we were the better team out there."
Duke goalkeeper Alison Lipsher made numerous saves to keep her team in the game, most notably a diving parry of Yael Averbuch's 69th-minute free kick, but in the end, her efforts could not produce a victory, as Bradley, Miller, and Kelly Hathorn missed opportunities in the last 30 minutes.
Bradley perhaps had the best chance to tie the game in the 55th minute, but after her three-yard shot ricocheted off North Carolina goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris and then off the crossbar, the freshman's subsequent header hit the bar again. Bradley's third attempt on goal came to rest on the goal line before being snatched by Harris.
"I don't know how the heck it stayed out," Church said of the sequence.
With just 7:18 remaining, Harris charged well out of the box after a loose ball, leaving her net unprotected. Miller corralled the ball and took dead aim from 25 yards out, but her shot tailed off to the right of the goal.
The Tar Heels seized an early 1-0 lead just 3:26 into the game, when Whitney Engen took a feed from teammate Nikki Washington and deflected it past Lipsher into an empty net, sending the energetic crowd of over 4,000 into a frenzy.
Duke equalized in the 16th minute when midfielder Lorraine Quinn found forward Elisabeth Redmond, who shimmied between two North Carolina defenders and fired a curving 18-yard strike that found the top right corner of the goal. The Tar Heels would reclaim the lead for good, however, on a strike by forward Casey Nogueira nine minutes later.
"It is not a moral victory," Church said. "We are knocking on the door with elite teams, but we have to be able to knock the door down."
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