Completed Event: Women's Lacrosse at #4 Florida on May 15, 2025 , Loss , 9, to, 11
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Women's Lacrosse Storms To The Top
4/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
By John Roth, Blue Devil Weekly
DURHAM, N.C. - The contrast is unmistakable. While the men's lacrosse team remains embroiled in front page headlines, the Duke women quietly have become the No. 1 team in the country. The ascension has been quiet only from the standpoint that the Blue Devils have remained buried in small paragraphs in the sports pages. On the field, it's been anything but quiet.
After romping past Saint Joseph's in their final game before the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils owned a 14-1 record and a 4-1 conference mark. They are the defending champs of the ACC Tournament and hold the No. 1 seed by a series of tiebreakers.
Duke's only loss this year has come to nemesis Virginia by an 11-10 count, but the Devils followed that with their most impressive victory of the season, 16-10 at home over Northwestern. The Wildcats, the defending NCAA champs, had won 31 games in a row dating back to their undefeated 2005 season, which included a 16-11 victory over Duke when the two programs were ranked No. 1 and 2 in the country.
The Blue Devils had hoped to meet Northwestern in the NCAA final last year, but Virginia foiled those plans by upsetting Duke in the semis. Duke entered this year's game with Northwestern at No. 4 after the loss to Virginia.
The Northwestern conquest didn't merit even a mention in the local newspaper the morning after, but it was noticed in lacrosse circles nationwide. The Devils followed it up with a Sunday afternoon victory over Notre Dame and were voted No. 1 in the next poll, displacing the Wildcats.
It was a most impressive display as Duke scored early and often, jumped out to an 11-4 halftime lead and was never really threatened. The Wildcats, playing their fifth straight road game, seemed a step behind the Devils all night ? something Duke coach Kerstin Kimel could understand. Last year when her team lost in Evanston, it was the final stop on a six-game road trip.
But it would have been difficult for any team to beat Duke on this night. With so much negative attention focused on the men's team, the women clearly were riding on a lot of pent up emotion.
“This has been a tough time for them and for us,” Kimel said. “I'm not going to lie; I'm not surprised whatsoever that this is how we performed and that we performed with that kind of heart because that has just been building up. We generated a lot of energy from all the unfortunate circumstances that are going on here right now.”
Kimel said she had tried to keep the week of practice between the Virginia loss and the Northwestern showdown a light one because the atmosphere everywhere else on campus was anything but light.
“We have one of our girls whose brother is on the team, we have a former player whose brother is on the team, we have kids who known each other their entire lives on the men's team,” she noted. “We share a facility, a field and a hallway. There's no escaping it. I think our kids have done an outstanding job of keeping their focus through it. They've managed the tough emotions that have come along with it, feeling really disappointed for (the men), the kind of anger that has surrounded maybe how the kids have been drug through the mud and treated on campus.
“There was a lot of pent up energy and I think we used it well. And that was part of our goal. Let's not be over-emotional, let's make sure we utilize all the emotion we've got right now and use it in a focused channeled way, and I thought we did great job of that.”
“It's been tough, but it's also been very motivating for us,” said star senior Katie Chrest, who scored four goals against Northwestern. “It became very apparent that we needed to take the focus off everything else and put it on ourselves. All the events with the boys are very unfortunate, but it was also a reminder to us to stay focused on ourselves. On the field is definitely the place to get away from it.”
But bottled-up emotion wasn't Duke's only fuel for Northwestern. This was a game the Blue Devils had circled on their calendars from the moment the schedule was announced.
“Katie Chrest said before the game that they are the barometer in lacrosse right now. We want to be the barometer, and the only way to do that is by beating them,” said Leigh Jester, who had one of her better games with two goals and four assists.
“Our loss to Virginia was a huge wake up call for our team,” added Chrest. “We knew if we wanted to compete for a national championship and keep going on the right track, we were going to have to come together and be much more of a team. We came out with a lot of energy and camaraderie and it was great.”
Duke was back on the field to face No. 10 Notre Dame less than 48 hours after the Northwestern game, a weekend turnaround that simulates what the Blue Devils would face in the ACC Tournament if they can reach the final. After Duke knocked off the Fighting Irish 11-10, Chrest was named the ACC player of the week and Kimel the national coach of the week. The team's move to the top of the poll marked its first turn at No. 1 since 2002. That was also the only other season in which the Devils defeated a No. 1 team (Kimel's alma mater Maryland).
Duke then dominated at BC with a pair of 9-0 runs to win handily. The Devils defeated No. 17 William & Mary, 19-8, on Apr. 21 and St. Joseph's, 24-2, on Apr. 23. The ACC event in Baltimore is set for Apr. 27-30. Duke, Virginia and North Carolina all posted 4-1 marks in ACC play during the regular season, while Maryland also is a top-10 team.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's LacrosseM
/ Women's LacrosseKerstin Kimel James Madison Postgame Press Conference 5-9
Friday, May 09
Kerstin Kimel Media Availability 5-7
Wednesday, May 07
Kerry Nease Media Availability 5-7
Wednesday, May 07
Madison Beale Media Availability 5-7
Wednesday, May 07
