Duke Blasts BC; UNC Up Next
from press releases
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The No. 5 Duke women's lacrosse
team received four goals from junior attacker Lindsay Gilbride,
while the Blue Devil goalkeeping tandem of Kim Imbesi and Mollie
Mackler made a combined 15 saves to lead third-seeded Duke past
Boston College, 16-7, Thursday afternoon at Virginia Tech's
Thompson Field in the quarterfinals of the 2009 ACC
Championships.
The Blue Devils will face local rival North Carolina, the
tournament's two-seed, tomorrow, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. in the
semifinals, looking for revenge after dropping a close one to the
Tar Heels last Friday, 9-7, at Koskinen Stadium in regular-season
action. UNC enjoyed a first-round bye.
Duke improves to 12-4 on the season. The Blue Devils have now won
their first tournament game in five of the last six seasons.
Today's win marked Duke's second over BC this season.
"I'm very proud of how we played - I felt like we had some specific
things we wanted to accomplish and we took care of them on both
ends of the field," said head coach Kerstin Kimel. "Both
offensively and defensively, I'm really proud of our team. Boston
College played a very nice game and was a tough opponent. We're
very excited to face North Carolina tomorrow."
Duke outscored the Eagles 7-2 in the first half, with Carolyn Davis
and Emma Hamm each scoring two in that frame to get the Blue Devils
out to a rolling start. Despite 18 BC shots, the Eagles were held
to the two first-half goals thanks to the strong play of Imbesi,
who stopped five before halftime.
Davis opened the Duke scoring on an assist from Jess Adam, before
BC answered on a goal from Maura Mahoney - who finished the day
with three goals to lead her team. BC kept things close until an
Adam score with 10:21 left in the first sparked four straight Blue
Devil goals to close out the half, giving Duke the five-goal edge
heading into the locker rooms.
Duke added three more in a row after the break in adding to the
lead, on goals from Jillian Heinz, Gilbride, and Del Monte to make
it 10-2 with 24:59 remaining.
Duke added another four-goal run halfway through the second, which
included a behind-the-back goal for Gilbride from the right side of
the fan. Freshmen Kat Thomas and Amanda Jones added to Duke's lead
late in the game as the Blue Devils kept BC 10 goals behind despite
a goal for Mahoney with just seven ticks left on the clock.
Gilbride's four led all scorers in the game, while Davis, Hamm, and
Thomas finished with two for Duke and Caroline Cryer, Del Monte,
Adam, Bullard, Jones, and Heinz all found the scoring column for
the Blue Devils. Cryer added two assists.
Imbesi finished with eight saves, while Mackler stopped seven shots
in under 10 minutes of action as BC fired 36 total shots in the
game.
Caroline Spearman and Hamm each grabbed three draws, while Heinz
picked up three ground balls in the contest as Duke totaled 15 in
that category. Duke committed just 10 turnovers.
Tomorrow's game will be broadcast live via ACC Select. The other
semifinal game will be played at 4 p.m. between top-seeded Maryland
and Virginia - which advanced with a win over the host Hokies
Thursday. The winner of each of tomorrow's contests will square off
in the ACC Championship on Sunday, April 26, at 1 p.m. on Fox
Sports.
The game against UNC will give the Blue Devils a chance to win back
½ of the Carlyle Cup point it surrendered to the Tar Heels
with the regular-season loss. Last Friday night's game was a
back-and-forth affair between the cross-town foes, with UNC coming
out with the win despite 12 saves for Imbesi and two goals apiece
for Davis and Bullard. Duke still holds an 11-10 all-time series
record against UNC.
