GAINESVILLE, Florida –The University of Florida soccer team's season ended with a 2-1 loss to Duke in NCAA Third Round action played in front of 842 Sunday at the Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
Duke advances to the NCAA Quarterfinal Round to face the region's top seed, Stanford. That NCAA Elite Eight match is set for Friday, Nov. 27. Match time is 10 p.m. ET at the Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
| 
|
| Sunday's NCAA Results |
| No. 3 seed Duke 2, No. 2 seed Florida 1 |
| No. 1 seed Florida State 2, No. 4 seed Auburn 0 |
| Texas A&M 1, Mississippi 1 2OT (TAMU 5-4 PK) |
| No. 1 seed Penn State 4, Ohio State 0 |
| No. 1 seed West Virginia 5, Loyola Marymount 2 |
| No. 2 seed Rutgers 4, Connecticut 0 |
| No. 1 seed Virginia 2, No. 4 seed Southern California 0 |
| |
| |
| Visit NCAA bracket for all scores |
| |
Sunday's Scoring:
Both goals of the opening half came off headers. Florida scored it is earliest goal of 2015 NCAA action when freshman Sarah Troccoli headed in a corner kick from senior Lauren Smith at 20:03.
The Blue Devils scored also off a set play a bit over eight minutes later. The corner kick by Casey Martinez landed high in the box and the clearance sent it to the top of Florida's defensive third. Christina Gibbons sent a lofted ball to the far post where Rebecca Quinn's header scored just inside the post.
Duke took the lead in the 55th minute. The scoring play started when DU's Toni Payne won the ball at the top of the Blue Devil defensive third and brought it down to just above the Gator box. Her cross bounced wide off a player where Martinez gathered it and then sent it back into the box. The ball deflected off Kayla McCoy and Taylor Racioppi, located just left of her, used her right foot to one touch it in from five yards.
Worth Noting:
· Troccoli's goal was her sixth - that total ranks third among the Gators' 2015 goal scorers.
· Senior defenders Claire Falknor and Christen Westphal both played the entirety of the match for the 21st time in 2015. For Westphal, it was the 77th complete match of her career – one behind the Gators' All-Time leader Lauren Hyde (78 / 2006-09 seasons). Westphal's career tally of 8,486 minutes also is second all-time among Florida field players (Hyde – 8,595 minutes). Her 94 consecutive starts is second all-time (Karyn Hall, 100 consecutive starts, 1998-01).
· This was Florida's 11th appearances in the NCAA Round of 16. The Gators were looking for its second consecutive Elite Eight berth and sixth in the program's 19 NCAA appearances.
· Florida's 19 wins in 2015 matches the sixth-highest season total in the program's 21-year history.
· The Gators were 10-4 in matches decided by a goal in 2015.
· Florida is now 30-16-4 all-time in NCAA play. That win total stands No. 12 among the 235 Division I teams which have appeared in the NCAA Soccer Championship since it began in 1982.
What the Gators Said:
Opening Statement
“It's always tough to end the season, it never gets any easier. For me to celebrate the three seniors, Claire [Falknor], Christen [Westphal] and Lauren [Smith], it's not even about what they do on the field, which is all you guys see, but what they have done for our team and the culture of our team. That is something that is going to last way beyond this one game. We talked about on Friday the whole golf ball things and the dents, this is a dent for this program. That is something to keep in perspective too. This is going to help us in the big picture go farther.
“I know it's really easy to just look at it as an ending of a season, but for me I look at the progress that this team made throughout the course of the year and the progress that our culture had made through the course of the year. It's exciting to see things in the future, and the difficult part of it is to have to do it without the three seniors, who have given so much to us.” – Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh
Congratulations to the Blue Devils:
“I want to say congratulations to Duke. Robbie [Church] has been a good friend of mine, I think I've known him since I was 17 years old. He's a great guy and they have always had a great program. I'm excited for them to take part in the Brain Bowl next week against Stanford.” – Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh
On today's match:
“Duke is a great team, and they played very well defensively. You could tell that they were very prepared to play us, and they stopped a lot of our attack. I'm really proud of our team and how we fought through the entire game. We were still fighting in the last three seconds trying to get a shot off. So I'm really proud, and like Becky said it's going to be a lot different without the seniors. But looking back on this year and seeing where we started and the expectations that people had for this team, and seeing how far we've come, I'm really proud of everyone, especially our three seniors and what they've done for us.” – junior forward Savannah Jordan
On the defensive plan going into the match:
“They were playing low pressure against us, so we had to start the offense. We were just trying to find channels to play in, and Duke made it really difficult because they kept compacting the space. We just kept trying to find feet and send it through the midfield to our forwards.” – senior defender Claire Falknor
On whether or not Florida could get an equalizing goal:
“I thought we could. We've seen where this team has been so resilient, it's kind of the hallmark for this team. I always feel like we've been here before and I though even Kaylan [Marckese] might get a header when she was in the box. I will never count this team out for a second.” – Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh
On the positives that they will take from this season:
“I really do feel like there are so many positives. I hate to harp on this but I really do owe that to the seniors because this was a challenging year. Half of our team was brand new, so we were a whole new group coming together. To be able to make that happen in the short period of time we have in the season is such a credit to the seniors. They reached out, made it feel like a really inclusive environment for everyone, and allowed people to make mistakes while they grew. That's something that is going to be a part of our program from this point forward.” – Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh
What the Blue Devils Said:
Opening statement:
"Wow. First of all, congratulations to the University of Florida. They have an outstanding, outstanding, outstanding team as you all saw today. We seem to be in this position a lot, playing them. Becky [Burleigh] and her staff just do a fantastic job. That was down to the last second. It could have gone both ways. I'm just very, very proud of our team to come and win on Florida's home field.
“It's been a journey all year, and it hasn't been easy times, especially early trying to decide on different lineups and personnel and offensively, but we just kind of all hung in there, and we all hung in there together. At this time, we're playing really, really good soccer. We seem to play our best when it's big games. We've had some big games, being fortunate to be in the ACC. When those games come, we would really bring it.
“I thought today we were really good on both sides of the ball. I thought we were really, really good offensively. We moved the ball. We moved the ball well. We attacked at speed. Two great goals, especially the final one, the game-winning one, was a great service and great finish by Taylor [Racioppi]. I thought we defended really well. Obviously we kind of went a little bit on the defensive side at the last 15 minutes or so. I thought EJ [Proctor] was just tremendous. She has been all year in the goal. We're very, very proud and we're very fortunate to be moving on." – Duke head coach Robbie Church
On what to take from this game heading into the Elite Eight to face Stanford:
"It's just another part of the journey. We have goals, obviously. A national championship is our goal and to this group, it becomes another part of our journey. We're just taking -- I know it's clich? -- just one game at a time. We're confident. We won at (North) Carolina this year, we played Florida State very well at our place and we were close with Virginia at their place, so we've been in big games at big venues. We've won on the road, and we have to take that. Stanford is a fantastic team, so we have to take that. But we're very confident right now. We believe in each other, and we're working extremely hard for each other. It's definitely a game that we feel that we can go there to win, and we're looking to do that." – Duke Head Coach Robbie Church
On containing Florida's offense:
"I think a big part too, was the timing of the goal that we got back. Florida scored, and eight minutes later, we got the equalizer back. I think that was really, really big. I think if the game would have gone on a little bit longer or we got to half being down one, we would've had to make some different adjustments. Getting that goal, being even at half, we can come out and play like we wanted to play and like we had game-planned to play. I think it was critical when we scored that goal to bring the game even." – Duke Head Coach Robbie Church
On what he said to the team at halftime:
"I thought we played great. We were up 8-2 in shots and the only shot on goal went in. I thought we were playing very, very well. Let's just keep doing what we were doing. I thought they were finding some place in between our lines. They were finding some place between our backline and our midfielders, so we talked about condensing that space and keeping our lines tight and not letting them turn as balls get played in there. We talked about pressure and we talked about the counter. That was one of the things that we really talked about. Toni Payne was very, very good at winning balls and running at players and getting them on their back foot.
“Our final ball in the first half wasn't great. We did a lot of work until we got down there and then we kind of took an extra touch. That was one of the big things we talked about on the offensive side was just play it a little bit early. We'll win it, let's eat up some space and then let's play it a little bit early, that final ball. Let's just keep doing what we're doing. We were focused, we were making good decisions with the ball, so let's just keep going." – Duke Head Coach Robbie Church
On how much momentum this win provides for the trip to Palo Alto:
"I think a lot, to be able to come here. Obviously with our seed, we understand we have to travel. We do that in the regular season. I think we're a very good team on the road. We've proven that game in and game out with big games on road. We're very confident we can play anybody now, if it's at our place or now it looks like we're going to California. Not a bad place for Thanksgiving, so we'll head that way." – Duke Head Coach Robbie Church
On her game-winning goal:
"Everyone was just going forward. We had the ball out wide. We had talked a lot about getting numbers in the box and really pressing into them. I think that I had just happened to be in the right spot at the right time, and put it in the back of the net. It was a great ball and a great deflection, I think off of Kayla (McCoy) too. Just pretty lucky. It came across pretty quick, so I barely reacted on it. It was just pretty fast-moving across the box." – freshman midfielder Taylor Racioppi
On countering Florida's offense:
"Obviously in our scouting report, we went over what were their biggest threats, and we knew that a big part of that would be slowing down Savannah [Jordan] and shutting down the opportunities that she likes to have. It was definitely a very impressive offense. They get numbers forward at a quick pace, and I think our backs just did really well adjusting to that and making sure the midfield was where they need to be in order to slow down their counters and really preventing them from getting any good opportunities." – sophomore goalkeeper EJ Proctor
On not making the NCAA Tournament last season to reaching the Elite Eight this season:
"It was difficult coming off of last season not making the tournament, but I think what was different from this year is just having that true belief that we can win this tournament and that we're a good enough team. Maybe we haven't gotten exactly the results we wanted throughout the regular season with some games, but we know that we can show up for huge games and we've shown that throughout the season.
“I think now's the time that we're doing it, and we're really in stride and we're scoring when we need to and our defense is solid. I think it's all just coming together at the right time and it's really exciting. The belief is there, which is something that wasn't there before." – junior defender Rebecca Quinn
On her equalizing goal:
"I just thought it was a good opportunity to get a second-phase ball in. That was a great service. Just finishing it off, I think that's critical for us, and it has been in the past few games, so just finishing the chances that we can get and creating those chances -- that's all we need to do." – junior defender Rebecca Quinn
Records:
Florida: 19-4-1, 8-2-1 SEC
DU: 13-5-4, 4-3-3 ACC
Rankings:
Florida is ranked No. 5 on the November 10 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll and Duke is No. 20.
No. 2 regional seed Florida (19-4-1, 8-2-1 SEC) versus No. 3 regional seed Duke (13-5-4, 4-3-3 ACC)
Stadium: Donald R. Dizney Stadium (1,012)
Weather: 64 degrees, 83% humidity, cloudy, winds 10mph
| Goals by Period | 1 | 2 | Total | | |
| Duke | 1 | 1 | 2 | | |
| Florida | 1 | 0 | 1 | | |
Scoring Summary:
| No. | Time | Team | Goal Scorer | Assist | |
| 1. | 20:03 | UF | Sarah Troccoli | Lauren Smith | |
| 2. | 28:25 | DU | Rebecca Quinn | Christina Gibbons, Taylor Racioppi | |
| 3. | 54:12 | DU | Taylor Racioppi | Kayla McCoy, Casey Martinez | |
`
Shots: Florida 9; DU 16
Saves: Florida 5 (Kaylan Marckese 5); DU 0 (EJ Proctor 0)
