Duke Edges Syracuse, 10-9, in Battle of Top-10 Teams

Saturday, March 28

Durham, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Syracuse

Duke Edges Syracuse, 10-9, in Battle of Top-10 Teams

3/28/2015 4:51:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Sixth-ranked Duke came out on top in a back-and-forth battle between a pair of top-10 teams Saturday afternoon, defeating No. 7 Syracuse 10-9 at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils rebounded from a loss last weekend at Virginia to collect their fourth victory in ACC play and improve to 10-1 overall for the spring.

“Our whole theme today was that we have to win the little battles and we have to be willing to stay engaged in each of those battles throughout the entire game,” said head coach Kerstin Kimel. “We expected this kind back-and-forth, neck-and-neck game. That kind of non-physical part of the game was the most important part of the game and I thought we did it well. I didn't think we did it well at Virginia last week.”

A pair of early markers by freshman Maddie Crutchfield enabled Duke to jump out to a 3-1 lead in the first 15 minutes of play. The Blue Devil defense also kept the Orange (8-4, 1-2 ACC) off the board for over 21 minutes after an initial goal by Riley Donahue, with junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea posting three saves in that span.

The visiting squad broke through for three consecutive scores inside the final seven minutes of the period, but senior Taylor Trimble converted from the eight-meter with three seconds remaining to give Duke a 5-4 lead at the break.

The Blue Devils held a 7-3 advantage at the draw during the first 30 minutes, led by six from senior Kerrin Maurer.

Senior Brigid Smith netted the second of her three goals in the opening minutes of the second half, pushing the margin back to two. Taylor Poplawski and Kayla Treanor then strung together back-to-back tallies for Syracuse to knot the game at 6-all. The teams swapped a quick succession of scores over the next five minutes, with Smith's third coming on a feed from freshman Kyra Harney at the 18:35 mark.

A save by Duryea set up Katie Trees on the offensive end, giving Duke a two-goal margin with just over 17 minutes remaining. The Blue Devils put together another defensive stand to keep it at 10-8 in their favor before Taylor Gait of the Orange once again made it a one-goal game.

Duke generated a good look at the goal on its next offensive possession, but was stopped by Syracuse goalkeeper Kelsey Richardson. Teammate Erica Bodt picked up the ground ball, giving the Orange a chance to take the ball the other way with just over three minutes left on the clock. However, Trimble checked the ball out of Brenna Rainone's stick on the Syracuse clear attempt, and after turnovers by both sides, the Blue Devils ran out the clock for the 10-9 win.

“At the end of the game when they got the ball back, we really forced their defenders to have to handle the ball,” Kimel said. “And we blocked off their most important people so they couldn't advance the ball easily. Ultimately, Taylor Trimble's caused turnover there was just huge to get us possession back.”

Smith recorded her fourth hat trick of the season and Crutchfield logged a season-high three points and added three caused turnovers. Maurer matched a career-high with eight draw controls, although the Orange held a slight 11-10 advantage in the category at the end of the contest. Syracuse also led in shots, 22-17, but was held to just 1-of-5 on free position attempts by the Duke defense.

Duryea totaled nine saves in the victory to three by Richardson of the Orange.

The Blue Devils face a quick turnaround next, traveling to in-state opponent Davidson Tuesday, March 31 for a 6 p.m. matchup.

#GoDuke