No. 15 Duke Falls on the Road at LSU, 1-0

 

September 13, 2015

 

BATON ROUGE, La. – The 15^th-ranked Duke women’s soccer team concluded a two-match road trip Sunday with a 1-0 loss at Louisiana State, which was played at the LSU Soccer Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.

 

With the defeat, Duke dropped to 5-2-1 on the season, while LSU improved to 5-1-2.

 

Coming off attempting a season-high five shots Friday evening, senior Kara Wilson took Duke’s first shot of the match less than four minutes into the contest that went high over the crossbar. 

 

LSU attempted the next shot and then the Tigers were awarded a penalty kick opportunity, after a Duke player had a handball in the box.  LSU’s Jorian Baucom fired an attempt that went off the post and the Blue Devils were able to keep the score even, 0-0. 

 

The Blue Devils then started to go on the attack as freshman Taylor Racioppi and junior Toni Payne sent shots that went wide and were saved, respectively. 

 

LSU went on to take the final two shots of the first half and held a 4-3 advantage in shots over the first 45 minutes of play.  Duke was held without an attempt for the final 21:18 of the first stanza. 

 

The three shots for the Blue Devils in the first half matched a season low for Duke, which also took place versus Penn State and Southern California. 

 

After back-to-back attempts by LSU early in the second half, the Blue Devils went on the attack attempting six straight shots.  During the stretch, Payne took three in a row but Duke was unable to get anything past the stringy LSU defense.

 

In the 73rd minute, LSU’s Baucom was tripped in the box and the Tigers were awarded a second penalty kick.  Baucom stepped up and put LSU ahead, 1-0, with her eighth goal of the season.

 

For the third straight match, Duke found itself trailing. 

 

At the 77:30 mark, the Blue Devils thought they evened the score, 1-1, as Christina Gibbons drained the goal, but Duke was called for offside. 

 

Duke continued to try to even the match adding three late shots, but ended up being shutout for only the second time this season, 1-0. 

 

For the match, the Blue Devils outshot LSU, 13-8, and held a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal.  Payne led Duke with four shots, while Racioppi added three on the day. 

 

Sophomore EJ Proctor played the entire 90 minutes in goal for Duke and finished with one save on the afternoon. 

 

Duke will return home to close non-conference action Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7:00 p.m., against Appalachian State. 

 

#GoDuke