DURHAM, N.C. – Led by two second half goals, the No. 1 seeded and third-ranked Duke women’s soccer team defeated Ohio State, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon to advance to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the fourth time in school history.  

The Blue Devils improved to 20-3-1 on the season and will next take on the winner of the Long Beach State vs. San Diego match on Friday, Nov. 25 at 7:00 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.  Duke’s 20 wins continues its school-record tally and became just the third program in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) history to reach the 20-win mark (Florida State and North Carolina).

Duke had plenty of chances to score in the first half but couldn’t get anything past Ohio State goalkeeper Katie Baumgardner.  In the seventh minute, sophomore Laura Weinberg blasted an attempt off the crossbar, while the Blue Devils had four shots in the opening 27 minutes.  

Ohio State took advantage of its first shot attempt in the 29th minute as Tiffany Cameron sent a great cross to Paige Maxwell, who finished her fifth tally of the year.  Ohio State’s 1-0 lead marked only the sixth time this season Duke has trailed in a match.

The Blue Devils continued to put pressure on the Buckeyes but were unlucky as senior Chelsea Canepa hit the crossbar on a left-footed shot from the left side.  

At the end of the first half, Duke outshot Ohio State, 8-2.  

In the second half, the Blue Devils were able to get on the board at the 53:22 mark, after a foul on the Buckeyes gave Duke a free kick from 22 yards away on the right side.  Junior Nicole Lipp fired the ball into the box and it ended up at the feet of freshman Kelly Cobb, who rocketed it through the legs of Baumgardner.  

A native of Chugiak, Alaska, Cobb netted her 11th goal of the season, which is a new single-season freshman record.  She also extended her freshman school record for points with 30.  Her 30 points also ranks as the seventh-most for a Blue Devil in school history.  

Duke continued to attack the Buckeye defensive line and almost went ahead in the 64th minute as sophomore Natasha Anasi fired a shot at the Ohio State goal that was saved by a Buckeye defender off the line.  

In the 80th minute, another OSU foul gave Duke a free kick from 40 yards away.  Lipp, who is out of Lake Forest, Ill., sent a long pass to a leaping sophomore Kaitlyn Kerr.  A product of Bensalem, Pa., Kerr timed the header perfect and slipped the ball just inside the far post to put Duke ahead, 2-1.  

The tally for Kerr was her fourth of the 2011 NCAA Tournament and fifth overall in NCAA play in just two years.  The 5-5 midfielder now owns 10 goals on the year and six game-winning tallies.  

Ohio State had a chance very late on a ball that bounced out of Duke goalkeeper Tara Campbell’s hands but Anasi cleared the ball away from the goal.  

Campbell, who is from Cincinnati, Ohio, played the entire 90 minutes and didn’t have any saves.  Baumgardner added eight saves in the net for the Buckeyes.

Duke outshot Ohio State, 12-0, in the second half and 20-2 for the match.  Weinberg led the Blue Devils with five shots on the day, while Kerr added four and Cobb chipped in three.  

Lipp’s two assists on the afternoon was a career high and gives the 5-9 midfielder a career-high four on the year.    


Blue Devil Notes:

•  Duke advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for only the fourth time in school history (1992, 2007, 2008).

•  The Blue Devils held a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.

•  Duke improved to 5-0 all-time against Ohio State.

•  The Blue Devils have scored 10 goals in the three NCAA Tournament matches in 2011, which is the most in school history.

•  Duke improved to 8-0 all-time in NCAA matches at home and is now 13-0-1 on the year at home.  

•  Duke allowed only its sixth goal at home this season.  

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Duke vs. Ohio State Quotes
November 20, 2011

Head Coach Robbie Kerr

On the talk at halftime:
"I give Ohio State credit. I thought they had a great game plan. I thought they worked extremely hard. They battled for every ball, they got the break, they had their opportunity and they finished it. This tournament is a long tournament; you’ve got to win a lot of different ways. I'm not saying I was happy that we were behind, but it was interesting that we were behind, and I was looking forward to how we would respond. I know the heart and the character of the people in that locker room, so I really wasn't that concerned. I felt we'd come back. It wasn't long ago in one of our last regular season games that Maryland did the same thing. We were down at the half and then we came back, scored three goals in the second half, and they didn't have a shot in the second half with it. So I've seen us do that before. I've seen this group since August and I knew they were very capable. Everybody was calm. We didn't change anything tactically, we didn't change any players, we just had to keep playing our game; it was coming. The goalkeeper for Ohio State made three absolutely fantastic saves. So it's just like the great Jimmy Valvano quote, "You've just got to survive and advance," and that's what happened, so we move on to Friday."

On the teams physicality in a win or go home atmosphere:
"I am happy with our physicality because we are a finesse team, we are a possession team, and some of the knocks on the past teams at Duke have been if you get physical with them they're going to back down and they're going to go high. People have tried that with us during the course of the year, and not only can these girls play one way, they can be strong and they can be competitive and they can be able to really negate that style of play that some of these teams have played. Ohio State played hard, they challenged for everything and it's just a fantastic win for us. Maryland is a really physical team in our league, Virginia Tech is a very physical team. There are a number of physical teams, and our league has really prepared us for this. We knew what was coming. They had nothing to lose, they got in the tournament late, they've been playing like that and they've gotten great wins playing like that. It's one of the more spirited warm-ups I’ve seen; every time I tried to talk I could hear them over there, so I knew they were ready to play and they would challenge us. Beside the goal, we conceded I'm very happy with how we played."

On Kelly Cobb's goal and boosting her confidence:
"Kelly has done a lot of things for us. She hasn't scored in a while, but she has such a presence on the field and she just dictates so many people. That's why Kaitlyn Kerr has so many goals. She takes both center backs to cover her a lot of times and Kaitlyn Kerr has just got an unbelievable knack for finding the space that it goes in. Kaitlyn plays a little more off center, but a lot of her goals are central and right down center field. But Kelly's a forward, she's a goal scorer and that's what she does, so for her to do that did nothing but build her confidence. She's been working extremely hard, she's got a lot of minutes on those legs as a young player, but she's fought through that very well."

On stopping Paige Maxwell:
"I think both of Ohio State’s frontrunners were very good, and I thought that we had to keep them off the board. Even when they scored I wasn't worried because there weren't a lot of shots coming. I didn't think they were going to score another one. They almost did at the end - it was a little shaky. But our backs did their job; they went in behind Tara (Campbell) for a situation like that in the 88th minute. Their forwards were two key players to take out of the game, and for the most part I thought we did that."

On Kaitlyn Kerr's ability to come up with pressure goals:
"It's the personality. She wants to play in the big game. She embraces the opportunity. She wants to be the person good or bad. She's not going to back down from that situation. She's a special player, I've really never had the opportunity to coach one like that. She's got four goals in the NCAA tournament from an attacking midfield spot and that's phenomenal."

On coming this far again in the tournament as a coach:
"It's great, and not only for this group. We started this journey in August during the preseason. We've done a lot of things, but we haven't played in Final Fours and we haven't played for national championships. We've been here 11 years, and our goal is to go to Final Fours. Now it's 90 minutes away but it's going to be a tough 90 minutes. This Elite Eight is always a special game; we've played two of them, we've played them on the road, and you can really see how the teams that play at home can feel that you're 90 minutes way from playing for the college cup.”


Natasha Anasi #4

On blocking the goal in the final minutes:
"Tara came out for the goal and she came out really strong, but the player for Ohio State came out really tough and got her head to it. I just knew that we've practiced when Tara comes out, someone's got to fall in behind, and I knew that was my job - to get the ball out of back of the net. Tara works hard and stuff happens, so I just knew I had to get the ball to the line because there wasn't very much time left."

On her shoulder injury during the game:
"Knocks come; I got a forward running at me and knocked my shoulder. But there's not much you can do, and I just knew I had to play through the pain and see if I could finish out the game. I had my teammates around me and they were supporting me, I had the whole bench cheering for me, so it was nice to have that pump up to get me through the rest of the game."

On keeping calm after Ohio State scored the first goal:
"I think we knew that we were dominating the game. We were connecting passes, we had a ton of opportunities, so we knew that we were in a good spot and that a goal was going to come. We had worked way to hard for a goal not to come. When we went into the halftime speech it was very calm, we knew what we needed to do to find goals and I think that's what helped us keep calm. We've been in this place plenty of times and we had the motivation to get through it and to find other goals."

Kelly Cobb #9

On how it felt to breakthrough and score:
"It's a great feeling, scoring and tying it back up when you're down one, but I think it was really a team effort and how we completely changed the game that second half and came out hard and dominated. We had so many opportunities, so it was a great comeback."

On keeping calm after Ohio State scored the first goal:
"I think it's been past experience. We were down against Notre Dame and we're able to come back, and with Maryland too. I think that we have great leadership on the team from Tara and Natasha, and as well from the coaches. The halftime speech was completely positive and said that we were the better team, and we knew that we were the better team at that moment, so we just came back out with that."

On Natasha's injury after only having given up two shots:
"It was a little bit of a panic at that moment because Natasha is such a great player, the ACC defender, but she's tough. And we knew that we have a great bench, so I knew that no matter what, whoever was coming in was going to give 100% and it wouldn't matter if Natasha was on or off because we have such a great bench."


Kaitlyn Kerr #5

On getting pressure goals:
"I just try to do anything I can to help the team win. I'm a competitor at heart and with everything I do. I really wanted to win. Coach Kerr told us before the game that he wanted to be back here because he's going off to recruit at 7:40 and leaving for Florida and if we didn't win he would be there until Wednesday and miss Thanksgiving with us and his family. So that was a big thing and a motivator for me before the game. We really want to get this team to where it belongs."

On being under pressure in close games:
"I thrive off of it. I love it, I really do. I came here to be playing in the best league in the country with the best coaches, so that's what I love. I love these games the most, not the shutouts where you beat them 5-0, it's these games I enjoy."

On keeping calm after Ohio State scored the first goal:
"It starts with our coaches, it starts with leadership. Our coaches from the start were always positive saying "We can do this" so that was left with us on the field. There wasn't one time on the field or off the field that we were down. We always knew that we could come back from it."

Ohio State Head Coach Lori Walker

On the second half after leading 1-0...
"I think we're playing one heck of a team in Duke. They battled, they're very good on the ball, every individual is very comfortable with the ball. I thought that we really made them fight and scrap for their goals. Just when we were getting back in a rhythm they scored their second goal. I give credit to our seniors for leading us to be here and we've got nothing to be sad about."

On Ohio State’s postseason run...
"This team found a second life and made something of it. We always said we wanted to advance until we met a team that is playing better than us. I hope Duke goes far and they do well."

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