On the icy shores of Lake Michigan, the clock struck midnight on Duke's Cinderella ride through the NCAA College Cup.
Thanks to a game-winning goal in the 78th minute from defending National Player of the Year Kerri Hanks, No. 11 Notre Dame edged the visiting Blue Devils 3-2 Friday night in a quarterfinal match that had all the trappings of an instant classic-plenty of goals, thrilling momentum swings and two evenly matched teams fighting for their tournament lives.
After falling behind 2-0, Duke conjured up yet another batch of its postseason magic with back-to-back goals in the second half. Kelly Hathorn tapped a deflected corner kick into the net in the 58th minute, and just over four minutes later, C.J. Ludemann connected with a driving 22-yard strike, equalizing the score and stunning the Fighting Irish (19-4-2).
In the end, though, Duke (10-6-7)could not withstand Notre Dame's three-pronged offensive assault. Forwards Brittany Bock and Michele Weissenhofer, who join Hanks to form one of the nation's premier attacking trios, each registered a goal to end Duke's improbable tournament win streak at three.
"It really was a magical run," head coach Robbie Church said. "Our girls played with an extremely big heart.but I think we've got to look at what it's like to play in big-time games."
Game-time temperatures in South Bend plunged into the teens as a frigid Midwestern wind forced both squads to bundle up. The bitter cold seemed to freeze the Blue Devils into place during the first 45 minutes, allowing Notre Dame to maintain the majority of possession and generate several scoring opportunities. Duke managed just two first-half shots, in stark contrast to the Fighting Irish's nine.
"We were very tentative," Church said. "They came out and put us under pressure like we haven't seen for four or five weeks, and I didn't think we handled that pressure very well."
But as they have all season, the Blue Devils put together a valiant late-game effort, staging counterattacks that took the Notre Dame defense by surprise. A halftime epiphany stoked Duke's resurgence.
"Everyone realized that there was nothing left to lose out there," Hathorn said. "We needed to come out and just go after them."
"We said, 'Why are we concerned? We've got one of the best goalkeepers in the country [Allison Lipsher] behind us, so we can be more aggressive and get at them,'" Church said.
In her final game, Lipsher did all she could to keep her team's hopes alive, bailing out defensive miscues with several acrobatic saves. It was the one that got away from her, however, that eventually proved to be the fatal blow, as Hanks' game-winner skipped just over Lipsher's outstretched arms as the Duke keeper dove to her right.
Although the Blue Devils were understandably heartbroken, the team kept the loss in perspective, knowing that it had given one of soccer's juggernauts all it could handle.
"We really did make a great comeback tonight," Hathorn said. "There's only so much you can do against a great team like Notre Dame."
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