Duke advances to Elite 8

How sweet it is to be elite.

Sophomore KayAnne Gummersall scored in the first half and fellow sophomore Elisabeth Redmond added an insurance goal in the second as Duke (10-5-7) defeated Indiana (13-7-3) 2-0 Sunday at Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Ind. to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for the third time in school history.

The Blue Devils have not been this far in the postseason since 1994. Duke is now the only unranked team-and is one of two unseeded squads-remaining in the tournament.

Gummersall, Duke's leading scorer last year, found the back of the net for her first tally of the season to give Duke an edge in the 41st minute. The Blue Devils carried the momentum into the second half, when they came out firing to try to add to their lead. After several shots barely missed, Redmond took a pass from C.J. Ludemann, drew Indiana goalie Lauren Hollandsworth off the near post and fired a shot just out of the keeper's reach to score her team-leading eighth goal in the 62nd minute.

With the two tallies on the board, it was the defense's turn to step up and starve off the Hoosiers' attack. Senior goalkeeper Allison Lipsher and the rest of the Duke defense stopped four consecutive Indiana shots to preserve the shutout and seal the victory. After the game, Lipsher credited the team's focus for getting them through the third-round matchup.

"Both 1-0 and 2-0 are very scary leads to have," said Lipsher, who earned her seventh shutout of the season. "It's just a matter of focus and I think that we managed to stay focused throughout the entire game and throughout the second half when we had those dangerous leads."

The road to College Station, Texas, the home of this year's final four, does not get any easier now. The Blue Devils will return to the state of Indiana to face off with Notre Dame, winners over top-ranked North Carolina 3-2 Saturday.

"Nothing's been easy for us all year," head coach Robbie Church said. "The girls have fought hard all year, and I think the key thing is when your team is going to hit the stride. There's no question about it, we're playing our best soccer of the year."