Canes Drop Overtime Thriller to No. 2 Duke
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – TheUniversity of Miami women’s soccer team used a last-minute goal from AvaAmbrose to force overtime against second-ranked Duke, but the Blue Devils leftCobb Stadium 3-2 winners on a sudden victory goal seven minutes into the extraframe.
Down twice in the contest, the Hurricanes fought backvaliantly with a balanced offensive attack. Ambrose scored her first two careergoals for head coach Tom Anagnost’s club, who looked far from overmatchedagainst one of the nation’s premier sides. One year after being shut out 3-0 bythe Blue Devils, the Hurricanes gave themselves a chance to win Sunday with oneof their most gutsy performances of the season.
“I think anyone that’s seen us play, I think theone thing they can always say is we’re a pretty tough team and that we don’tquit,” Anagnost said.
Duke’s Cassie Pecht opened the scoring 10 minutes beforehalftime on a strike from just outside the 18-yard box that sailed past theoutstretched arms of sophomore goalkeeper Emily Lillard. After struggling tobreak through on offense in the first half, freshman Jasmine Paterson nearlyevened it up with a shot off the crossbar in the 73rd minute.
Ambrose provided some magic when she connected on a headerpast Tara Campbell in the 79th minute. The Nebraska native, whobecame the fourth freshman this season to tally a goal, converted with helpfrom seniors Ali Brennan and Kim Hutchinson during a scramble inside the box.
Duke looked to have picked up a certain victory when Kim DeCesarefinished a header of her own with less than two minutes to go, but theHurricanes fought back to tie the game up once again. Ambrose finished offanother wild scramble in the box off a corner kick with less than 30 secondsleft in the game, giving Miami a chance to win in overtime.
“We threw numbers in there. We work on setpieces and we’ve done a good job this year on scoring those,” Anagnost said. “Ava had her chances and she put them in.”
His team might never have had the opportunityif it weren’t for a strong showing from Lillard. The sophomore keeper madeeight saves in the contest, many of them of the miraculous variety, to keep theCanes in the game. The Kansas native left her feel on several occasions to makediving stops, including one on reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year NatashaAnasi in the first half, to help stifle a talented Duke offense.
“The ACC is the most unbelievable, competitiveconference in the United States and you get the best of the best every singleweek – it tests you,” Anagnost said.
The Hurricanes wrap up their four-game homestand on Friday when they take on visiting UT-San Antonio. Kick-off for the game is set for 7 p.m.
NOTE: Senior TinaRomagnuolo was carted off the field during the first half with a leg injuryresulting from a collision. Play was stopped for trainers to come onto thefield, where they helped the midfielder in obvious pain. She did not return,and was under further evaluation from UM medical staff.
