Cryer And Duke Drop Denver To Open The Season Despite Wintry Conditions

Friday, February 16

Denver, Colo.

6 p.m.

Duke University

Denver

No. 1 Duke to Face No. 17 William & Mary Friday Night in Williamsburg

Cryer And Duke Drop Denver To Open The Season Despite Wintry Conditions

2/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DENVER, Colo. -- The No. 2 Duke women's lacrosse team (1-0) opened their 2007 campaign with a bang, crushing Denver (0-1), 19-6, on Friday evening. Junior attacker and Denver area native Caroline Cryer led the way with seven goals, which tied the Duke record for goals in one game set by Katie Chrest on April 12, 2005 against Loyola, Md. Cryer returned to her hometown to play for the first time since high school. She is a graduate of Cherry Creek High School in suburban Centennial, Colo. It was the tenth straight year in Duke's 11-year program that they have won their season opener.

“I was excited to get out here and play this game and show them what we're all about,” said Cryer after the win. “I had no idea I tied the record until after the game. Waagbo was feeding me passes in there and we were just connecting.”

The game time temperature in Denver was 35 degrees with light flurries and 45 mile-per-hour winds. Despite the adverse conditions, the Blue Devils' game showed no signs of being affected.

Duke started off the game by opening up a 4-0 lead, including two goals by Cryer and a goal and assist by sophomore midfielder Carolyn Davis.

After the Pioneers' Megan Carver scored her first goal of the season, the Blue Devils rattled off six straight goals and seven of the last eight goals of the first half to take a 12-2 lead into halftime. Cryer and Davis were brilliant before halftime, scoring four and three goals a piece.

The second half started out a little more evenly, as Denver scored two goals in the first three minutes to cut the lead to 13-4. That deficit did not last long, as the Blue Devils scored four straight goals, including three by Cryer, and held the Pioneers scoreless for 13 minutes.

Senior attacker Kristen Waagbo had three assists in the game. She is now tied with Tricia Martin for the all-time Duke assists record. Martin tallied 75 assists from 1997-2000 for the Blue Devils and Waagbo now has the same number only one game into her senior season. The assist that tied Waagbo for the record was also Cryer's record-tying seventh goal. Senior attacker Leigh Jester has 34 assists in her career after Friday, which is good for sixth place on the list.

Davis had an outstanding game, notching four goals, one assist, and team highs in ground balls (four) and caused turnovers (four). Senior captain and midfielder Rachel Sanford added three goals and an assist to the effort.

Karen Morton had two goals for Denver in the game, and Kristie Leggio added a goal and an assist.

“I think that Denver is a really good team,” said Head Coach Kerstin Kimel after the game. “We had a couple of goals we set as a team and I felt like we did a great job of executing them. We were able to play a lot of people and keep people fresh and the result was that we were able to score a lot of goals and play tough pressure defense the whole time.”

The Blue Devils will travel to Stanford, Calif. for the second leg of their western road trip on Sunday against the Stanford Cardinal. That game is scheduled to face-off at Stanford's Maloney Field at 2 p.m. EST.

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