(11/21/00 5:00am)
Both swimming teams performed impressively at their first appearance in the annual NCAA Nike Cup Invitational hosted by the Tar Heels last weekend. Both teams finished fifth out of a field of 13 women's teams and 14 men's teams. The Tar Heels won both sides of the invitational, their women outscoring the second place team by over 700 points and their men, by nearly 300. In a meet filled with teams comparable to Duke, the fifth-place finish is something that everyone on the team is excited about.
(10/18/00 7:00am)
Last night, one could not help but think of Yankee-great Yogi Berra. No, this had nothing to do with baseball, but rather last night's women's soccer game at Koskinen Stadium. Berra came to mind because, among a number of famous witticisms, he once said, "It ain't over, till its over."
With 15 minutes left in regulation, it was over, or so everyone thought. But N.C. State (9-5-2, 1-2-1 in the ACC) rallied to score three unanswered goals for a 3-1 win over Duke (11-4, 4-2).
"There's been other times when we've walked off the field feeling like we deserved to win and didn't," Duke coach Bill Hempen said. "But this one will bother us for awhile."
It may sound ridiculous to suggest the game was over with 15 minutes left, but the Blue Devils had absolutely dominated the game.
Duke took the lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half when Carly Fuller set up Brigid Bowdell. Defensively, the Blue Devils did not allow the Wolfpack a single shot in the first 75 minutes.
But with just under 15 minutes remaining, after a bit of a scrum at midfield, N.C. State knocked the ball over the Duke defense to striker Lindsey Underwood, who was eight feet past the nearest Duke defender.
Underwood, clear of any resistance, beat goalkeeper Thora Helgadottir to the near-side, slipping the ball just inside the right post.
The goal did not come without controversy, though, as Underwood appeared to be offsides. Even the Wolfpack striker wouldn't deny their claim.
"I was just going with what the officials said," Underwood said. "They say that I was on, so I guess that I was on."
The Blue Devils played a flat-back four defense, which pushes the opposition out of the defensive half of the field and employs the offsides call as a key tool.
"We were playing the same defense that we played all year," Hempen said. "We weren't going to change in a 1-0 game we were dominating."
As the Wolfpack sideline erupted following the first goal, Duke players questioned the officials. The head referee met with the linesman, before finally signaling that the goal stood.
Hempen would later say he believed the linesman had initially raised his flag to signal an offsides call, and then lowered it. The coach added he would have to check the tape before drawing a definitive conclusion.
The tying goal seemed to open the floodgates for the Wolfpack.
Less than four minutes later, N.C. State scored again under similar circumstances. Collette Seville sent a ball over the Blue Devil defense just past midfield to wide-open Shannon Tully, who beat Helgadottir for the second goal.
Again, Duke protested that the Wolfpack were offsides and this time, Hempen defended his team's initial pause before pursuing Seville.
"We are not going to chase players that run behind us, because they are offsides," he said.
N.C. State put the game away with just over three minutes remaining, when Underwood netted her second goal of the night on a cross from Rachel Durr.
"It doesn't matter who has the ball more," Hempen said. "It matters what the scoreboard says, and they scored on three of their five shots."
The loss followed Friday's 2-1 victory over Old Dominion.
In that game, Duke trailed 1-0 at the half before coming back for the victory. The Blue Devils sealed the win when Sarah Pickens headed in a cross from Gwendolyn Oxenham in the 83rd minute.
"We were equally as dominating in that game," Hempen said. "We just happened to put in one more goal than we did tonight."
