BOX SCORE
BOX SCORE

DURHAM, N.C. – Three first-half goals powered top-seeded / No. 3 Duke past Radford 5-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament at Koskinen Stadium.
 
Goalkeeper Che' Brown (Manassas Park, Va./Manassas Park) entered the game in the second half and came up big in her first NCAA appearance.  On Duke's first two shots on goal, Brown came up with diving stops and later made a huge diving stop to the far post on a blast from Nicole Lipp to highlight her six saves in the second half.
 
Radford's (15-6-1) best chance came from senior Maryellen Derenda (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park) who lofted a shot from the right side across the box, but hit the farside post.
 
“Duke is a well-coached team and if you make a mistake against them, they're going to punish you,” said head coach Ben Sohrabi.  “The one thing we can take away from this is how hard you play.  Every day and every game this season they stepped up and played hard and today was no different.  I'm proud to be their coach.”
 
The Highlanders had their advances, but were called offside three times.
 
Kaitlyn Kerr chipped a shot over Radford keeper Lisa Lubke (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) from a side angle into the left net to get the Blue Devils on the board in the 9th minute.  Lubke made three stops in her half of defending the net.
 
Kerr returned in the 34th minute to net her second goal of the game.  Duke would add three more goals to finalize the scoring.
 
In the first half, Radford had a promising break on a give-and-go with Big South Tournament MVP Sahar Aflaki (Gainesville, Va./Battlefield) and Julie Ruh'e (Monrovia, Md./Urbana), however, an oncoming swarm of three Blue Devils surrounded Ruh'e before she could put up a shot just before the 18-yard box.
 
Duke (18-3-1) held the commanding edge in shots, 25-1 and in corners 10-0.  The Blue Devils will face George in the next round. 
 
NOTES
- This game marked the fifth NCAA appearance for Radford and second against a Duke squad.
- The Highlanders finished the season with its fourth Big South Championship, the most in league history.