Blue Devils Open Spring with 17-8 Victory at Elon

Saturday, February 7

Elon, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Elon

Blue Devils Open Spring with 17-8 Victory at Elon

2/7/2015 3:23:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

ELON, N.C. – The eighth-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team featured nine different goal scorers and put up a solid defensive front to top Elon, 17-8, in the program's season opener Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.

Seniors Katie Trees and Taylor Trimble each posted a hat trick in the contest, with Trimble also adding three assists to match her career-high in points. Fellow senior Kerrin Maurer, junior Maddy Acton, sophomore Hayley Shaffer and freshman Kyra Harney also chipped in multiple goals on the day in a balanced offensive attack. The Blue Devils registered assists on nine of their 17 goals, led by senior Brigid Smith's four helpers.

Defensively, Duke forced the Phoenix into 16 turnovers. The Blue Devils also controlled the draw for much of the game, winning the category by an 18-9 margin. Maurer led all players on the draw with five and Trees added four.

“Over half of our goals were assisted – I think that's awesome,” said head coach Kerstin Kimel. “Our defense did really well for most of the game. We made it very difficult for them to do anything that they wanted. I thought we came up with a lot of those second-chance balls, and to clear the ball 100 percent in the first game of the season is pretty great.”

Duke started the game on a three-goal run, with Trees netting the first score of the season on a feed from Smith. Shaffer added a tally just minutes later and the defense forced a Phoenix turnover which Smith capitalized on at the other end.

Elon's Molly Garrigan put the home squad on the board midway through the period, successfully converting on a man-up opportunity. The Blue Devils continued to dominate at the draw, and caused a couple of turnovers on the defensive end to fuel another scoring burst. Maurer recorded two scores during the run while classmates Erin Tenneson and Trimble added one each to put Duke up, 7-1.

After Nicole Sinacori put away a second goal for the Phoenix at the 6:27 mark, the Blue Devils wasted little time in responding on the offensive end. Trimble fired her second score and Trees buried a pass from Smith just 30 seconds later to increase the margin to 9-2. Smith picked up her career-best fourth assist on the play.

Shaffer, Acton and Trimble all found the net inside the final four minutes to lift the Blue Devils to a 12-2 advantage at the half.

Elon broke inside for a pair of goals in the second period but had difficulty slowing the Duke attack. Acton, junior Emma Lazaroff and Trees provided scores to keep the lead in double digits and junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea made a stop on a free position attempt by the Phoenix before the home team rattled off two consecutive markers to cut it to 15-6 with 6:39 to play.

Harney came on to collect the first two goals of her collegiate career late in the contest. Elon added two markers as well inside the final five minutes as the two teams combined for a total of 25 goals.

“Elon typically does a pretty good job on the draw, and I thought we dominated for the most part,” Kimel said. “I felt like we came out a little slow in the second half, and that was a point of emphasis for us, so to not do that was kind of disappointing. But it's early in the season. We were happy that we played a lot of kids, and we're looking forward to a Friday-Sunday series next weekend.”

On the day, the Blue Devils outshot the Phoenix, 37-16, and won the ground ball battle by a 15-13 margin. Duryea and sophomore defender Maura Schwitter picked up three ground balls apiece and senior Gabby Moise added two caused turnovers. Duryea also finished with three saves in the net.

Duke will play its first home contests of the 2015 season next weekend, hosting Richmond at Koskinen Stadium Friday, Feb. 13 and Navy Sunday, Feb. 15.

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