AUBURN, Ala. – The fifth-ranked Duke women’s soccer team hit the road for the first time this season and dropped a 1-0 decision at Auburn on Friday night to open the Auburn Invitational in Auburn, Ala.  The Blue Devils lost for the first time this season, falling to 4-1, while the Tigers improved to 3-1. 

Duke opened the match with two shots off the legs of sophomore Gilda Doria and junior Nicole Lipp and went on to take nine out of the first 11 attempts, but couldn’t get anything past the Auburn defense.  Tiger goalkeeper Chandler Hillen made six saves on those 11 shots to keep the score even.

Auburn added one other shot, while Doria chipped in another attempt over the final minutes of the first half that saw Duke taking a 10-4 shot advantage to the lockerroom. 

“We had chances, no question,” commented Duke Head Coach Robbie Church.  “We had some people roll balls right at the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper kicked saved a couple and we hit the goalkeeper.  That wasn’t all the factor.  The disappointing factor was we were not able to deal with what we did on Sunday.  We were not able to come out and sustain the kind of work, concentration, desire and hunger we had on Sunday.  That was the disappointing part.  If we would have had all of that the entire period of time we would of found a way to score a goal.”

To start the second half, Auburn took three out of the first four shots and received the only goal of the match in the 61st minute as Bianca Sierra headed in a corner kick from Mary Coffed to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

“They scored the goal on a set play, but you could feel the goal coming,” said Church.  “They were winning the first balls, second balls and we were not connecting passes.  It is disappointing.”

Duke came back with three straight shots from sophomore freshman Kelly Cobb, Mollie Pathman and sophomore Kaitlyn Kerr that went wide, blocked and high.  The Blue Devils kept putting the pressure on the Auburn defense but couldn’t get anything in the net.  Duke attempted the final six shots of the match but without success.

The Blue Devils played the match without standout defenders redshirt junior Ashley Rape and sophomore Alex Straton due to injuries.  Staring junior defender Erin Koballa saw action in a season-low nine minutes off the bench due to injuries as well.  Redshirt sophomore Kim DeCesare made her first start of the season on the defensive end and played the entire 90 minutes. 

In the net for the Blue Devils, junior Tara Campbell made six saves and played outstanding in net making key saves for Duke.  Hillen added eight saves along with a team save in the second half on a shot by Cobb. 

“It is disappointing because we really wanted to build on our momentum we had from Sunday,” commented Church.  “It is disappointing how we handled a fired up team and big crowd, while playing our first game on the road.  It was definitely a winnable game.  We dominated stretches of the game, but we didn’t finish some chances.”

Duke outshot Auburn, 20-10, with 10 shots each in the first and second half.  Cobb took a career-high eight shots, while Pathman added three for the Blue Devils.  Sophomore Laura Weinberg was held without a shot for the first time this season. 

The Blue Devils will next take on Ole Miss at 12:30 p.m., on Sunday, Sept. 4 to conclude the Auburn Tournament.  Ole Miss finished Friday’s match with a 0-0 draw against Wright State in the Auburn Tournament.

“We have to move on and make sure it doesn’t happen on Sunday,” said Church.

 - d - u - k - e -