Top-Seeded Blue Devils Advance to ACC Finals with 19-9 Victory Over No. 5 Maryland

Friday, April 28

Baltimore, Md.

5:30 p.m.

Duke University

Maryland

Megan Huether Records 13 Saves in No. 3 Duke?s 6-4 Victory Over No. 8 Dartmouth

Top-Seeded Blue Devils Advance to ACC Finals with 19-9 Victory Over No. 5 Maryland

4/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

Baltimore, Md. - No. 1 Duke (15-1), the top seed in the ACC Tournament, tallied 11 goals in the second half to advance to the ACC Championship game with a 19-9 victory over fourth-seeded Maryland (12-6) on Friday at M & T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. The Blue Devils will have a rematch with Virginia in the ACC Championship game. Virginia is the only school to hand the Blue Devils a loss in the 2006 season.

Sunday's game will be the fourth appearance in the finals for Duke. They won their first title in the championship game last year with a 9-6 victory at M & T Bank Stadium. The first two appearances were a 15-12 loss to Maryland in 2001 and a 17-7 defeat against Virginia in 2004.

The Blue Devils scored the first goal in the game when Katie Chrest found the back of the net with 2:24 off the clock. Maryland came back to score back-to-back goals by Kelly Kasper and Delia Cox to take the lead. However, Duke answered with a 5-0 run over a span of 7:30 minutes to regain the advantage, 6-2. Cox would lead the Terps back to within two goals when she netted a hat trick over the final 14 minutes to give her four of Maryland's five first-half goals. Leigh Jester sent the Blue Devils into halftime with the lead when she connected for her second score of the game with 1:36 left in the half to give Duke an 8-5 halftime lead.

Maryland won nine of the 12 draw controls in the opening stanza but the Blue Devils forced eight turnovers, had a 21-13 advantage in total shots and Megan Huether recorded seven saves to help Duke take the three-goal lead into halftime.

Chrest led the Blue Devils to a fast start out of the gate in the second period. She scored the first goal at the 27:30 mark to record her 200th career goal, becoming just the fifth player in ACC history to score 200 goals. Chrest also tallied her 150th career ground ball. She went on to tally two goals and an assist on Duke's first three goals of the second half as the Blue Devils outscored the Terps 7-1 over the first 18 minutes. Maryland tallied three of the next four goals in the half, with all three coming on free position shots, including two by Katie Doolittle. Duke ended the game with a 3-0 run to make the final score 19-9 as 10 different players scored goals for the Blue Devils. It was Duke's fourth win this season over a team ranked in the top-five.
Megan Huether led the defensive effort for the Blue Devils with 13 saves in the game. She also recorded her 600th career save in the contest and now has 604 in her career. Chrest tallied a team-high four goals to go along with an assist while Kristen Waagbo also recorded five points with two goals and three assists. Caroline Cryer and Leigh Jester also each tallied hat tricks. Cox finished with a game-high six goals for Maryland.
The ACC Championship game will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday. It will be televised regionally on Fox Sports Net South, SunSports, Comcast SportsNet and New England Sports Network with Dick Edell handling the play-by-play duties.