Thomas' Four First-Half Goals Carry Duke over BU
from press release
DURHAM, N.C. -- The fifth-ranked Duke
University women's lacrosse team jumped out to an 8-3 halftime lead
and held off No. 7/9 Boston University in the second half for
the 10-6 win Wednesday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium.
The Blue Devils, who improve their record to 6-1 (0-1 ACC ) on the
season, were led by sophomore Kat Thomas' four first-half goals,
while the Terriers' (3-1, 0-0 America East) top scorer, McKinley
Curro, had two goals and an assist. In addition, junior Christie
Kaestner had a game-high four points, netting two goals and dishing
out two assists. Classmate Caroline Spearman turned in her first
multi-goal game of her career with two scores and junior Sarah
Bullard and sophomore Amanda Jones both chipped in with one goal
apiece.
For the game, Duke outshot BU, 24-17, but the two teams were evenly
matched otherwise as the Devils held a narrow edge in ground balls,
14-13 and draw controls, 10-8.
Duke jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on back-to-back goals from
Thomas to start the match before the Terriers put together a 2-0
run of their own to knot the score with 26:07 left in the opening
half. Thomas again came through for the Devils to break the tie
three minutes later on a free position goal, but Boston
University's Hannah Frey responded with a goal of her own at the
22:26 mark.
The Devil defense took over the rest of the way, limiting the
Terriers to just four shots to close out the opening half and the
offense responded with five unanswered scores to extend Duke's lead
to five at the intermission.
BU's Curro and Duke's Spearman traded free position goals to start
the second frame before the Terriers' Traci Landy brought Boston
University within four with 23:10 to play on an unassisted goal.
Duke had the answer, however, as Kaestner connected on a free
position attempt.
Boston University again cut the lead to four, this time on a goal
from Kristen Mogavero, with 16:38 remaining, but would come no
closer as Duke controlled the time of possession and held BU to
just one shot attempt the rest of the way.
"BU is a fantastic offensive team and I am thrilled that we were
able to hold them to three goals in each half," head coach Kerstin
Kimel said. "I would've liked to have had better offensive
production in the second half, but circumstances dictated
otherwise. It's a great win for us and we're looking forward to
facing Georgetown on Saturday."
Duke takes on No. 5 Georgetown at Koskinen Stadium this Saturday,
March 13 at 1 p.m. before traveling to Virginia Tech for a 1 p.m.
match on March 27.
