No. 1 Northwestern Routs No. 4 Duke, 17-5

Saturday, April 7

Evanston, Ill.

2 p.m.

Duke University

Northwestern

No. 1 Northwestern Routs No. 4 Duke, 17-5

4/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Northwestern Wildcats (8-1, 1-0 ALC) defeated the Duke Blue Devils (10-2, 2-1 ACC) on Saturday, 17-5. The game was played under wintry conditions with the temperature in the low 30's and gusting winds making it feel much colder. The rematch of last year's NCAA national semifinal game did not nearly live up to the original, which was an 11-10 double-overtime thriller won by the Wildcats on May 26.

Duke would score the game's first goal only :38 seconds in when junior attacker Caroline Cryer scored on a pass from sophomore midfielder Carolyn Davis, but the remainder of the first half (and the game for that matter) would be dominated by Northwestern. The Wildcats would score nine goals in a span of 15 minutes after being held scoreless for the first seven to take a 9-3 lead and finish out the half up 9-4. They were led by senior attacker Aly Josephs' three goals, sophomore midfielder Meredith Frank's two goals and sophomore midfielder Hannah Nielsen's one goal and two assists The Blue Devils did not make it any easier on themselves, turning the ball over 10 times in the first frame.

The second half would be even worse for the Blue Devils, with Northwestern outscoring Duke 8-1 and thoroughly outplaying them on both sides of the ball. The Duke defense was able to hold reigning Tewaaraton trophy- winner and the Wildcats' leading scorer Kristen Kjellman to only one goal and one assist, but Josephs finished with six goals, Frank tallied four, Nielsen had two scores and four assists and sophomore midfielder Hilary Bowen also notched two goals and four assists.

Duke again turned the ball over 10 times in the second half and was only able to manage one goal. They were out-shot 28-13 for the game by the Wildcats. The Blue Devils were unable to figure out how to beat Northwestern's defense, and the only bright spots for the offense were two goals by Cryer and two assists by Davis. Sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop made seven saves to further frustrate the Devils.

"Northwestern is an outstanding team who had a very good day,”said Duke Head Coach Kerstin Kimel after the game. “We cannot expect to be competitive at the highest level when we turn the ball over on 20 of our 28 possessions. We will grow and learn from this and I am confident that we will turn things around for our next stretch of games.”

It was the largest deficit in a loss for Duke since an 18-6 defeat at the hands of Virginia on April 6, 2002. The Blue Devils have now only lost a total of four games in their history by 12 or more goals, with the first two coming in 1996, the program's inaugural season. The five goals for Duke was the lowest offensive output since a 7-4 loss to Princeton in 2005.

Duke will look to bounce back at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Sat., April 14. That ACC contest is set to start at 12 p.m. ET.

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