The Duke soccer team (11-7-4, 7-3 ACC) used a 4-2 advantage in penalty kicks over No. 2 regional seed Florida (19-2-3, 9-1-1 SEC) to claim a spot in next week’s NCAA Round of 16.
Duke now advances to the NCAA Third Round for the first time since 2008, which will be contested on campus sites either Nov. 19, 20 or 21st. The Blue Devils will face Oklahoma State, a 2-1 winner Sunday over Oregon State. The NCAA will announce sites, dates and times for NCAA Round of 16 action either late today or on Monday.
The two teams played to a scoreless double-overtime tie Sunday at the James G. Pressly Stadium to force penalty kicks. It was the second tie between the two teams this season, as they played to a 1-1 2OT tie in their first meeting in the Duke Nike Classic in Durham, N.C., on Sept. 17.
For Florida, it was the third penalty kick situation it had faced in NCAA Second Round action since 2006, with the Gators advancing to the NCAA Round of 16 in 2006 (0-0 2OT at Marquette, 4-3 PK) and 2007 (0-0 2OT versus UCF, 4-3 PK). Duke has been successful in advancing in its two penalty kick situations in NCAA action, with the first coming against Tennessee in the 2001 opening round.
The Blue Devils shot first when the penalty kick session began. Duke alternated shots with Florida and the Blue Devils put together four consecutive successful shots from Nicole Lipp, Meaghan FitzGerald, Marybeth Kreger and Lynnea Pappas. Florida’s first shot from junior Tahnai Annis was stopped at the post by DU goalkeeper Tara Campbell. Florida’s next two shooters –McKenzie Barney and Katie Fraine – were successful, but junior Lindsay Thompson’s shot was wide, giving the Blue Devils the final 4-2 penalty kick advantage.
What kept the Gators off the scoreboard today during the 110 minutes of play was the lack of that vital pass when potential scoring situations occurred. Those situations did present themselves and although Florida felt one would eventually get through, that didn’t happen.
“We just had to put together a series of four or five little passes because when we did that we could go through them. We had great numbers in the box and we would have a poor serve and there were times when we would have a terrific serve and not numbers in the box or we would be on the break and the pass would be just slightly behind somebody,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “Things like that are just a matter of execution. I didn’t feel that Duke was pressing and pressing and we were hanging on, I didn’t feel like that at all. I felt it was just going to come, it was just a matter of time.”
During the 2010 season, Florida claimed the Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament titles. It held top 10 national rankings in 10 of the 12 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) polls of the season, including its current high position of No. 5. The end of the 2010 season is a disappointment for this Gator team.
“Obviously that was a disappointing finish to a great season. I hand it to Duke, they defended hard, I thought that they played really hard,” Burleigh said. “We were not able to break them down enough to get good opportunities. It just seemed like we were just a little bit out of sync in terms of our passing and connecting with each other. You have to give some of that credit to Duke for doing a good job defensively.”
| Scoring Summary: | 1st | 2nd | OT1 | OT2 | Final | | PK |
| Duke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 4 |
| Florida | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 2 |
| Penalty Kicks: | |||||||
| DU: Nicole Lipp – good | |||||||
| UF: Tahnai Annis – saved | |||||||
| DU: Meaghan FitzGerald – good | |||||||
| UF: McKenzie Barney –good | |||||||
| DU: Marybeth Kreger | |||||||
| UF: Katie Fraine – good | |||||||
| DU: Lynnea Pappas – good | |||||||
| UF: Lindsay Thompson – wide | |||||||
| | |||||||
| Goalkeepers: | |||||||
| | | Minutes | Saves | GA | |||
| Duke | Tara Campbell | 110:00 | 3 | 0 | |||
| Florida | Katie Fraine | 110:00 | 8 | 0 | |||
| | | | | | |||
| Statistical Summary: | DU | UF | | ||||
| Shots | 17 | 11 | | ||||
| Shots on goal | 8 | 3 | | ||||
| Saves | 3 | 8 | | ||||
| Corner Kicks | 5 | 5 | | ||||
| Fouls | 15 | 12 | | ||||
| Offside | 2 | 3 | | ||||
Cautions: Kathryn Williamson/UF -49:19/yellow; Maddy Haller/DU – 71:33/yellow
NCAA Field (Region that contains Florida)
* - denotes host institution
| 2 | *Florida (18-2-2) | | |
| | | Florida 3-0 | |
| | Mercer (10-8-1 | | |
| | | | Duke 0-0 2OT (4-2 PK) |
| | California (9-5-5) | | |
| | | Duke 2-1 | |
| | Duke (10-7-3) | | |
| | | | |
| | Memphis (15-3-3) | | |
| | | OSU 5-0 | |
| | Oregon State (15-3-1) | | |
| | | | Oklahoma State 2-1 |
| | Michigan (10-4-4) | | |
| | | OSU 2-1 | |
| 3 | *Oklahoma State (17-3-2) | | |
| | | | |
| 4 | *Notre Dame (15-2-2) | | |
| | | Notre Dame 3-0 | |
| | New Mexico (12-2-5) | | |
| | | | Notre Dame 4-0 |
| | Illinois (13-4-1) | | |
| | | USC 3-1 | |
| | Southern Cal (12-5-3) | | |
| | | | |
| | Texas (11-5-4) | | |
| | | JMU 3-1 | |
| | James Madison (14-6-1) | | |
| | | | UNC 3-1 |
| | Jackson State (13-6-1) | | |
| | | UNC 5-0 | |
| 1 | *North Carolina (17-2-2) | | |
