Duke Jumps on Georgetown; Hangs On
from press release
DURHAM, N.C. - The Duke University women's
lacrosse team jumped out to a 6-1 lead and held on for the 10-8
victory over No. 5/6 Georgetown Saturday at Koskinen Stadium. The
Blue Devils move to 7-1 (0-1 ACC) with the win, while the Hoyas
drop to 2-2 on the year.
Duke had the edge in final score despite Georgetown controlling the
draw, 13-7, and owning a 22-19 shot advantage for the game.
However, the Blue Devil defense pressured the Hoyas into 21
turnovers, 17 caused, as Duke limited its turnovers to eight per
half.
"Obviously I'm thrilled with the win," head coach Kerstin Kimel
said. "Georgetown is a great team. We had a great first half; our
defense was fantastic. We were able to limit their two leading
attackers to four points between them, and they average a lot
higher than that. I felt like our game was made there. Overall, a
great team effort and a tough effort; that's what I care
about."
Six Blue Devils registered goals on the afternoon, led by junior
Christie Kaestner's hat trick. Kaestner also dished out an assist
to total four points and classmate Sarah Bullard matched that mark
with two goals and two assists. Sophomore Kat Thomas picked up two
goals and an assist to go along with four draw controls and senior
Lindsay Gilbride registered two points on a goal and an assist.
Georgetown's Ashby Kaestner scored the first goal of the game on an
assist from Molly Ford, but Duke's Kaestner tied the score 45
seconds later on an unassisted goal. Kaestner would add two more
goals in a 5-0 Blue Devil run that put Duke up four late in the
first half. Georgetown ended the run with 1:30 left in the period
to pull within 5-2, but Kaestner found Bullard across the middle
with five seconds remaining in the half to give Duke a 6-2
advantage heading into the intermission.
The two teams traded two scores each to open the second half as
Duke's Thomas scored twice for the Devils. Leading 8-4, senior
Danielle Kachulis extended the Blue Devils' lead to five, drilling
a shot in transition with 20:55 left to play.
Yet Georgetown would not give in, and the Hoyas responded with a
3-0 run covering four minutes to bring the score to 9-7 with 12:03
left to play.
Bullard netted a free position shot to build Duke's lead back to
three, but Georgetown cut it again to two with 6:31 left to play.
The Blue Devil defense came through in the end and did not allow a
Hoya shot in the final six minutes and forcing three turnovers in
that span.
"Our second half could've been a lot cleaner, but what you saw was
the fact that they've played three games in seven days. It showed
for Georgetown, too. We expected them to come out and really take
it to us in the second half. We could have done a much better job
of executing offensively in the second half, which is something
we're going to work on."
Freshman Kaitlin Gaiss made her first collegiate start in goal for
Duke after sophomore Mollie Mackler went down with an injury. The
rookie made six saves to pick up her first win and also collected
three ground balls and caused a turnover.
"I can't say enough about how proud I am of Kaitlin Gaiss," Kimel
added, "I'm so proud of the way she performed today, coming in as a
freshman and having not competed all year."
