Cal women lose to Duke in NCAA first round

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The California women's soccer team struck first against Duke on Friday, but could not hang on and lost, 2-1, to the Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Florida's James G. Pressly Stadium.

Sophomore Betsy Hassett scored the first goal of her career in the 45th minute. Duke scored in the 71st and 72nd to tie the game and pull ahead for good. The Blue Devils (11-7-3) move on to face host Florida in the second round on Sunday while the Golden Bears' season concludes at 9-6-5.

Betsy Hassett scored with eight seconds to go in the first half. Alex Morgan passed the ball to her from the middle with the keeper Tara Campbell creeping out. Hassett tapped it in to the back right lower 90 from eight yards out.

With 18:42 to play, Ashley Rape took a free kick. Kaitlyn Kerr headed it in for her fourth goal of the season with 18:40 on the clock.

Less than a minute later, the Blue Devils followed it right up with another score. Laura Weinberg had the ball on the near side and crossed it into Gilda Doria. Doria, from five yards out, shot it to the back right corner to give Duke its first lead with 18:08 remaining in regulation.

The Bears are now 13-18-1 in the postseason.

Betsy Hassett scored the first goal of her career, and by default, her first postseason score.

Alex Morgan had her third assist of postseason play. She dished out the assist on Lisa Kevorkian's gamewinning goal in the 2-1 overtime victory against Auburn last year. She also had an assist in the 2-0 first-season win over Santa Clara as a freshman in 2007.

This year's trip to the NCAA Tournament marked head coach Neil McGuire's fourth of his career. He is now 2-3-1 in the postseason.

The Bears play in their first neutral-site game of the 2010 season. They are now 0-1-0 in 2010 at neutral sites.

This is the seventh straight season for Cal with an NCAA Tournament appearance, the 12th time in the last 13 seasons and 19th in program history.

At the half, the Bears were outshooting the Blue Devils, 7-1.

Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick registered the first shot of the game with the freshman midfielder firing high from 30 yards in the sixth minute.

Betsy Hassett's shot at 32:28 missed just wide left, ever so narrowly missing the goal post.

Jesolva tried to fire off a shot but it was immediately blocked out of bounds, giving Cal a corner from the far side. The Duke defense cleared it, but barely for Danielle Brunache and shot, but it went wide.

Kim DeCesare tried to get a shot off but Danielle Brunache blocked it. Lynnea Pappas collected the rebound but it sailed right and out of bounds.

Cal looked promising with 2:07 remaining in the first half, when Alex Morgan, flanked by two Blue Devil defender, missed left.

A foul by Maddy Haller on Alex Morgan gave the Bears a direct free kick, which the team's best striker took. The kick curved right towards the near side, but Campbell stopped it and fell on the ball to prevent a Cal corner kick.

Duke's second shot of the game came with 38:14 to play in the half from Canepa on the near side, with Brunache at her back. Kruger was there to make the incredible diving save. Kruger made her second save of the game when Lester fired off a dribbler from the middle of the box.

Kerr took another shot with 14:22 on the clock, but it went just high, landing on top of the net.

Emily Shibata shot with just under 12 remaining, but Campbell keenly punched it out.