No. 4 Duke Edges No. 10 Notre Dame 11-10 on Sunday at Koskinen Stadium

Sunday, April 9

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

Notre Dame

No. 4 Duke Edges No. 10 Notre Dame 11-10 on Sunday at Koskinen Stadium

4/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

Durham, N.C. - No. 4 Duke played its second game in three days and pulled out an 11-10 victory over No. 10 Notre Dame on Sunday at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils defeated two top-10 teams on the weekend, including No. 1 Northwestern, to improve to 11-1 while the Fighting Irish fell to 10-2 on the year.

Duke was the first to crack the scoreboard in this one as Katie Chrest found the back of the net just nine seconds into the contest to give the Blue Devils the lead. Notre Dame answered with three straight goals over the next five minutes to take the lead. Leigh Jester and Kristen Waagbo scored 32 seconds apart to tie the game at 3-3 with 15:03 remaining. The Fighting Irish held the Blue Devils to just one goal the rest of the half while scoring three to take a 6-4 lead into halftime. It was the first game this season that Duke found themselves trailing at the half. Carol Dixon held the Blue Devils in check with 11 saves in the first half.

The Blue Devils came out and scored right out of the gate in the second half. Carolyn Davis took the draw control and drove in for an unassisted goal with just 10 seconds coming off the clock. Chrest then fed Caroline Cryer for the tying goal 34 seconds later. Notre Dame would not go away, however, bouncing back with two straight goals of their own to regain a two-goal lead at the 25:15 mark. Duke's defense tightened up and did not allow a goal over the next 15 minutes as they were able to go on a 5-0 run to gain an 11-8 advantage. The run was capped off by a goal from Rachel Sanford as she caused a turnover and then picked up the ground ball and scored. Crysti Foote scored her game-high fourth goal of the game at the 10:30 mark to cut the lead to two and Jill Byers cut it down to one with a goal at the 4:58 mark. Duke would play strong defense the rest of the way, holding on for the 11-10 victory.

Duke held a 44-25 advantage in total shots in the game and won the battle of the draw controls, 14-9. The Blue Devils controlled the draw in the second half, winning nine of the 12 chances. Jester led Duke in scoring with three goals. Sanford had a strong overall performance with two goals, four ground balls, four draw controls and two caused turnovers. Waagbo tallied a pair of goals and Megan Del Monte came off the bench with two assists. Megan Huether recorded nine saves in the cage to go along with three ground balls.

Foote finished with four goals and an assist for the Fighting Irish and three other players each scored twice. Dixon finished the contest with 18 saves.

The Blue Devils will hit the road for their next game when they travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to face Boston College at 1 p.m. on Saturday.