Blue Devils Hang Tough, But Fall 13-7 To No. 1 Northwestern

Friday, April 3

Evanston, Ill.

8:00 p.m.

Duke University

Northwestern

Blue Devils Hang Tough, But Fall 13-7 To No. 1 Northwestern

4/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

EVANSTON, Ill. ? The No. 4 Duke women's lacrosse team had the top-ranked Northwestern Wildcats down by their largest margin of the season, leading by three goals in the first half, but the four-time defending national champions came back to defeat the Blue Devils, 13-7, Friday night at NU's Lakeside Field in suburban Chicago.

The Blue Devils scored the game's first three goals before Northwestern began to rally, but Duke was still within one, 6-5, at the intermission. The Wildcats unleashed six straight second-half goals as part of a 12-3 run to establish control in the second half and remain unbeaten at 11-0 on the season. Duke drops to 9-3 with the tough road loss.

“I felt like obviously there were a lot of good things today ? from a defensive standpoint, we made them have to work for their goals,” said head coach Kerstin Kimel. “Northwestern is obviously a tremendously talented and well-disciplined offensive team. The big thing that sticks out to me is that we didn't take advantage of our opportunities when we had them in the second half and we got away from our game plan a little bit.”

“We wanted to play a certain pace and do certain things, and we took ourselves out of that, which was a shame. Northwestern did a great job on the draw in the second half, which made a big difference because we didn't have the ball as much. That's a strength of theirs and something we'll continue to get better at.”

The Blue Devils used a patient attack to get off to the strong start, with the game's first goal credited to sophomore Emma Hamm just over two minutes into the game. Hamm took a pass from Caroline Cryer and one-timed it into the net to get Duke on the board first. The Blue Devils went up 2-0 ? with the two-goal deficit marking the most Northwestern had trailed by all season ? as senior Carolyn Davis scored the first of her team-high three goals off a pass from Lindsay Gilbride six minutes in.

Duke's third straight goal came with 20:43 on the clock, an unassisted Davis goal after the visitors worked hard to win two loose balls and keep the ball in Northwestern territory.

Duke kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard until the 13:51 mark in the first half, when Katrina Dowd scored NU's first goal to cut it to 3-1. That score would be the first of four in a row for Northwestern, as Hilary Bowen scored the second goal to cut it to 3-2 and the Wildcats then tied it up with 6:38 to go in the first. Bowen finished with five goals to lead all scorers on the day.

Northwestern's tying goal was assisted by 2008 Tewaaraton Trophy winner Hannah Neilsen, who became the all-time NCAA leader in the category as she passed University of Maryland alum Jen Adams with 179 career assists. Nielsen added another helper later in the game to add to her record.

The Wildcats took their first lead of the game with 6:15 left in the opening frame, as Meredith Frank tallied an unassisted goal to put NU up 4-3. Gilbride answered with a free position goal to tie it at four, while Kim Imbesi continued her solid play in the cage to keep Duke in the game.

With 1:50 left, Nielsen scored her first of the game as she sent the ball into the top corner to reestablish the Northwestern lead. Davis then scored her third goal off a spin move that juked the defender as the senior tied it up at five with 58 seconds to go before halftime. But Northwestern took back the lead, 6-5, just 10 seconds later to take control into halftime.

Both team's keepers posted strong second halves, and Duke came out of the locker room holding onto the ball and trying to wait for smart shots. Hamm sent the ball in to Sarah Bullard, who tied the game, 6-6, with 25:23 on the clock as Bullard took the pass in front and sent it past NU's Morgan Lathrop.

Northwestern then scored six goals in a row to start distancing themselves from the Blue Devils. Bowen scored three during that span as the Wildcats led 12-6 with 13:47 left in the game.

Cryer posted an unassisted score to snap the Northwestern run with 7:25 left, cutting it to 12-7, but Northwestern added another with three remaining ? the game's final score to bring the final score to 13-7.

Northwestern hasn't lost at Lakeside Field since 2006 when they were bested by Vanderbilt at home. Duke has now dropped four in a row against the Wildcats.

Davis led the Blue Devils with her hat trick, while Gilbride, Hamm, Cryer, and Bullard had one each. Imbesi finished with 10 saves ? including six in the second half. For Northwestern, Bowen tallied the five goals while Dowd and Frank had hat tricks.

The Wildcats outscored Duke, 7-2, in the second half on their way to the come-from-behind victory. NU took 11 more shots than the Blue Devils and won the draw control, 15-7. Tonight's game featured the nation's top two offenses against one another, as Northwestern and Duke rank first and second, respectively, in points.

Duke will play its third straight road game next weekend, traveling to face ACC rival Boston College next Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

-d-u-k-e-