Blue Devils Open Season with 16-6 Win Over Denver

Friday, February 12

Durham, N.C.

4:00 p.m.

Duke University

Denver

Blue Devils Open Season with 16-6 Win Over Denver

2/12/2010 7:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - The Duke University women's lacrosse team opened the 2010 season with a decisive, 16-6 victory over the visiting University of Denver on Friday, Feb. 12 at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils (1-0) are now undefeated in six tries against the Pioneers, and have not lost a season-opening match since the 1999 campaign.

Captains Sarah Bullard and Lindsay Gilbride led the Devil attack on the evening. Bullard tallied four scores, while Gilbride totaled six points on two goals and career-high-tying four assists. Junior Christie Kaestner also netted two goals and dished out an assist, in addition to senior Christie Barnes tying a career high with two goals in the match. In total, 10 Blue Devils chipped in with at least one point for the total team effort.

"I think that our offensive unit is actually a little less experienced than our defensive unit," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "We know that there are a lot of kids on the field who can score for us and I'm just pleased that we had so many people wind up in the scoring column tonight. With a younger group, you kind of roll the ball out to see how you do, and you're not always sure what you can expect. But I was really pleased with how we played tonight."

The two squads battled to a 1-1 tie 10 minutes into the first half before the Duke attack began to heat up and ended the period on a 7-2 run. Sophomore Kat Thomas began the run with an unassisted goal at the 21:12 mark, followed by goals from Gilbride and Barnes.

Denver cut the lead to 5-2 and 6-3 midway through the half, but Duke was able to extend its advantage thanks to goals from Bullard, Gilbride, senior Jillian Heinz and Kaestner. The Blue Devils entered the intermission with a 9-3 lead, but the Devils' defense was the story of the first frame as Duke forced 15 Denver turnovers while only committing four.

"I thought our ride was really good, we forced them to turn the ball over a ton," Kimel added. "The only thing I would've liked to see is us capitalizing more on the turnovers we created in the midfield. I still think we generated a lot of really good looks and we shot 50 percent; you can never be upset with that."

Denver pulled within five early in the second half, but would not come any closer. Junior Virginia Crotty netted an unassisted goal at the 25:22 mark, followed shortly by a Kaestner tally from Gilbride.

Denver's Ali Flury broke up the Duke scoring attack with a Pioneer goal 20 seconds later, but three consecutive free position goals by the Blue Devils, one each from Barnes, Bullard and junior Morgan Miller, and a tenacious defensive effort that limited Denver to one goal in a 15-minute span, put the game away for the Devils. Senior Danielle Kachulis and freshman Monica DeMairo both recorded goals late as DeMairo netted her first career goal as a Blue Devil. In goal, sophomore Mollie Mackler made her first career start, totaling nine saves and allowing just five goals.

"Denver's always a really tough, scrappy team," Kimel said. "I really was just looking to see the things that we had been focusing on in practice, which is being under control on offense, defensively and on the draw. Those were the things I was happy to see. For the first outing, great job for our girls."

The Blue Devils face a challenging opponent next time out as Duke travels to No. 11 Vanderbilt to take on the Commodores Sunday, Feb. 14 at 1 p.m.

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