Women's Lax Ready To Go

Prolific Blue Devils Hope The Goals Continue To Flow In Philly

PHILADELPHIA - The best offensive attack in women's lacrosse undoubtedly resides in Evanston, Ill., where two-time defending NCAA champion Northwestern leads the nation in scoring for the third straight year as the end of the 2007 season approaches.

But keep an eye on the flashy stickwork of the Duke Blue Devils, who this weekend join the Wildcats in the final four for a third straight year. Duke has become perhaps the nation's best attacking team that doesn't wear purple. The Devils have put together the highest team scoring average in program history this spring and trail only Northwestern in the Division I goals-per-game rankings.

Seeded second in the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils will attempt to shoot their way into their first national championship game when they meet Virginia in the semifinals Friday night at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Top-seeded Northwestern plays Penn in the first game of the doubleheader beginning at 6:00 p.m. The two winners will play Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. for the crown.

Northwestern enters the final four averaging 16.58 goals per game, a mark that would set a national record should the Wildcats maintain it through the weekend. (The current record is 16.18, set 10 years ago.) Duke ranks second nationally in scoring at 15.42 goals per game, well ahead of its school record pace of a year ago.

A record-breaking assault on opposing nets this season might not have been forecast by some observers, given the fact that Duke graduated its all-time leading goal scorer, All-America Katie Chrest, off last year's team. Chrest was the ACC player of the year her last two seasons, the national player of the year as a junior, and scored 216 career goals, over 50 more than any other player in program history.

But for all of her offensive panache, Chrest was not a one-woman wrecking crew. Duke scored 311 goals last year, the fifth best total in NCAA history, and Chrest was the only one of the top nine scorers from that squad who did not return this year. Coach Kerstin Kimel's lineup features a profusion of weapons and the flow of goals has continued unabated.

“I didn't think in losing Katie that we would lose out in scoring,” Kimel explained. “Where I thought we would miss her was between the 30s, with her midfield play, because she was so talented in getting the ball from one end of the field to the other, or in getting the ball back.

“There are only so many touches in a game. You can only share the ball so much, and I think our team shares the ball very well. So when Katie leaves, Caroline Cryer steps in to that spot. When Kristen Waagbo and Leigh Jester leave next year, we've got Megan Del Monte and Jessica Adam ready to step in, as well as freshmen coming in. We recruit to find players who will fit into our system.”

Kimel's system features motion offense, which, as in basketball, is predicated on reading and understanding defenses, then moving and creating scoring opportunities with and without the ball. The aforementioned Cryer, Waagbo and Jester are the top three scorers on the club and have accounted for just over half the team's goals this year. Waagbo and Jester are seniors who have started virtually every game for four years. Cryer, a junior who shares the national lead in goals scored with 67, has played in every game for the last three years.

So Duke does not lack for experience, or confidence, on the offensive end of the field.

“We've been playing together for a long time now, so we have a lot of chemistry,” said senior midfielder Rachel Sanford, another three-year starter. “We have Cryer and Waagbo, who are huge offensive threats, but everybody can fill in and score more goals, so everyone out there is in the mix for scoring.”

Just about every member of the team's offensive nucleus has been a starter or integral regular since 2005, when Kimel installed the version of motion offense that her team is now using. Their comfort level in the system has increased annually since then, as has their productivity. The 2005 team averaged 13.62 goals per game, fourth in the country. Last year the average was 14.81, which was third in the country. This year, so far, it's the robust 15.42 figure that ranks second to Northwestern.

“As Rachel said, the core of this group has been playing together for so long and they have such chemistry,” Kimel noted. “They know where people are and they know the kind of passes people can handle. They know where people are going to challenge the cage. That's invaluable, and that's been years in the building.
“The majority of this group has been doing this for three years now, with very talented players, and the end result is what we have ? a really, really prolific offense.”

That three-year period of incremental development by the offensive attack coincides neatly with the program's three consecutive final four berths. The two previous trips ended in the semifinals, with a 15-13 loss to Virginia in 2005 and a dramatic 11-10 double overtime loss to Northwestern last year.

The Blue Devils hope the third time is the charm, but the No. 1 Wildcats likely will be favored this weekend as they have posted a 60-2 record over the past three years. Of course, no one is conceding a third straight trophy. Duke delivered the first of those Northwestern losses, last year during the regular season, by a 16-10 score ? and stayed with the Wildcats until the bitter end in the national semis, with their offense just missing on a couple of golden opportunities to stage the upset. ACC member North Carolina contributed Northwestern's other defeat, 9-8, in this year's season opener.

Virginia, Duke's Friday night foe, seemingly brought out the best in the Blue Devils' attack during the regular season, when Duke won on the road 19-18 in double overtime. Kimel would love to see a similar flood of marksmanship from her sticks in Philadelphia, but there's also the possibility this final four will be determined by defense.

Northwestern, for all its firepower, also leads the country in scoring defense at just 5.96 goals allowed per game, while its semifinal opponent Penn ranks second (6.29) and Virginia fifth (7.90). Duke has given up 9.98 goals per game but has demonstrated some defensive grit when needed. Last weekend, spearheaded by junior Aiyana Newton's tenacity, the Blue Devils limited the nation's No. 2 point producer, Johns Hopkins' Mary Key, to just four shots and only two late goals after the quarterfinal match was under control.

Duke's veterans retain vivid memories of their previous two final four trips, especially last year's semifinal, which some have called one of the best women's lacrosse games ever.

“Everybody was like, ?If I didn't make that pass or if I took a better shot, it could have gone either way,'” recalled Sanford. “But it was really a battle from the first whistle to the last. It was just unfortunate that we ran out of time.

“It was definitely a heartbreaker and leaves a sour taste in your mouth. We were waiting a year to be back in the postseason. We definitely have a hard path in front of us, but we've been there. We have experience and we learned from last year, so we are really ready to go.”

Players Mentioned

Jess Adam

Katie Chrest

Caroline Cryer

Megan Del Monte

Leigh Jester

Aiyana Newton

Rachel Sanford

Kristen Waagbo

Duke information