Duke Awakens to Thwart Upset Bid by BC
from press release
DURHAM, N.C. -- Despite a sluggish start, the
fourth-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team was able to come from
behind to grab a narrow, 12-11 victory over No. 19 Boston College
Saturday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium.
Duke, who trailed by as many as four goals in the second half,
moves to 11-3 on the year picks up its first home conference win of
the season to move to 2-2 in the ACC. Boston College falls to 8-4
overall and 1-3 in the ACC.
The game was a tale of two halves for the Blue Devils as Boston
College outshot Duke 17-13 in the opening period and only committed
two turnovers to control possession. Duke's defense came through in
the second half, however, limiting the Eagles to only four shots
while forcing eight BC turnovers.
"First of all, Boston College played a great game," head coach
Kerstin Kimel said. "I felt like our team did not come ready to
play. We were able to flip a switch at halftime and we were able to
play the way we are capable of playing in the second half; we hit a
point where we really started to buckle down and control the game.
I was really proud of our girls that we were able to do that. This
is a good lesson for our players; that we've got to play 60
minutes, not 30. Now we're looking forward to getting ourselves
ready to play UNC on Wednesday."
The Blue Devils entered the game having never lost to the Eagles in
seven meetings, but Boston College caught Duke off guard in the
first minutes of the opening half to take an early 5-1 lead. Sarah
Bullard opened the scoring to put Duke up 1-0, but the Eagles
answered with five straight goals as Lauren Costello and Kristin
Igoe netted two apiece in that span.
Two goals in nine seconds, one from both Amanda Jones and Kat
Thomas, brought Duke within two at the 8:39 mark, but the momentum
shifted back in Boston College's favor as the Eagles put together a
3-0 run to extend their lead to 8-3. Bullard, who led Duke with
four goals on the afternoon, tallied her second score on a free
position shot with 1:19 left in the half to cut the margin to four
heading into the intermission.
After the break, Kim Wenger converted a free position shot to
narrow BC's lead to three, but Boston College responded with an
unassisted goal from Costello. Duke again pulled within three on a
Thomas goal, but another Eagle score, this time from Peyton
Killeen, stalled Duke's comeback efforts.
Down four with 13 minutes left to play, the Blue Devils began to
break down the Eagles' defense, starting with a score by Danielle
Kachulis, assisted by Christie Kaestner. Less than a minute later,
Bullard's third goal brought the Devils within two.
Boston College netted a goal with 11:29 to play, but could not hold
off the Duke attack. Lindsay Gilbride tallied back-to-back goals to
cut the deficit to one, and Bullard tied the game at 11-all at the
7:57 mark. Duke took the lead, its first of the game, with 7:23 to
play as Thomas capped off a hat trick with an unassisted goal for
the game-winner.
The Blue Devils close out the ACC regular season schedule this
Wednesday, April 14, at North Carolina with a 7 p.m. contest.
