Blue Devils Going After First ACC Championship

April 28, 2005

The Duke Blue Devils enter the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament as the top seed for the second-straight year after earning a 12-3 record overall and a 3-1 mark in the ACC. Ranked third in the latest IWLCA poll, Duke is set to play the winner of Thursday's game between North Carolina and Virginia Tech in the second semifinal match, Friday at 3:30 p.m. Virginia and Maryland meet at 1:00 p.m. in the other semifinal contest.

Head Coach Kerstin Kimel enters the tournament with a career record of 108-64 through nine-plus seasons of work. Directing an offense that is on pace to break school records for shots, goals, assists and points, Kimel has led the Blue Devils to their eighth conecutive winning season. Duke owns four wins over nationally ranked opponents this season and gave Kimel her 100th win at Duke on March 4 against William & Mary.

Coming into the tournament, the Blue Devils rank first in the ACC and third in the nation in scoring offense with a 14.0 goals per game average. Led by nationally-ranked attackers Katie Chrest and Kristen Waagbo, Duke has outscored its opponents 210-115 in 2005, including a 57-38 advantage against conference foes.

Chrest has been a dominate force all season and with a three-goal effort against Virginia Tech on April 22 she moved into a first place tie in the Duke record books with 54 goals in a season. Tricia Martin, a three-time All-America selection, also had 54 goals for the Blue Devils during the 1998 season. Chrest is currently ranked in the top five of the Duke career record books in goals (4th - 136), assists (4th - 42), points (3rd - 178) and shots (2nd - 348).

On the opposite end of the field, the Blue Devils battle equally hard to keep the opponents' attack at beigh. Duke leads the ACC and is second in the NCAA in caused turnovers with an average of 13.53 forced turnovers per game. Anchored in goal by All-American candidate Megan Huether, the defense has limited opponents to a .375 shooting percentage and an average of just 7.65 goals per game.

Redshirt freshman Rachel Sanford and senior Caline McHenry have combined for over 25 percent of the Blue Devils' ACC-leading caused turnovers (60-of-221) this season. McHenry, who has battled back from two injury-plagued seasons, anchors the Duke defense that has limited nine opponents to less than seven goals in a contest this season. Additionally, she successfully limited three of the ACC's leading scorers to two or fewer goals in each game versus the Blue Devils. Sanford ranks first in the ACC and 14th in the NCAA with 2.00 caused turnovers per game. The Greenwich, Conn., native also ranks in the top 10 of the ACC in goals (7th - 2.00), game-winning goals (t-1st - 3), shots (5th - 5.73), ground balls (t-3rd - 2.60) and draw controls (t-1st - 2.80).

Duke concludes its regular season on Sunday, May 8 with a home contest against second-ranked Dartmouth.