The Duke women's lacrosse team has endured a season full of frustration, but for more than 45 minutes on Saturday afternoon it was able to taste true success.
When the final whistle blew, Virginia had come away with a 14-9 victory, but not after receiving the scare of its lives from the upstart Blue Devils. Virginia pulled away late by scoring six goals in the last 10 minutes, but was taken to the limit by Duke, who remained tied with the Cavaliers, at 8-8, up until the last 10 minutes.
Virginia entered the game ranked fourth in the nation with NCAA Tournament implications on the line. Duke came in just looking for a little respect. What resulted was the type of game that the Blue Devils have been striving for all year.
"Before the game I told them that I really had a great feeling about today," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "Virginia had everything to lose-national rankings, NCAA seedings. The only thing we had to lose was a little bit of pride. I think for a while, they really believed they could win. I told them that I am as proud of them as I could possibly be and that's the honest to God's truth."
"This is definitely a moral victory for us," freshman defender Laura Rooklin said. "We were playing the No. 4 team in the nation and we were beating them or tied with them for almost the entire game."
Despite having been outplayed in the first half, it appeared as though Virginia was going to take control of the game as it grabbed a 7-6 advantage on a goal by attacker Joanna Khouri at the beginning of the second half. Duke refused to cave in, however, as it kept the Cavaliers at bay for the next 10 minutes with tough defense and superb goal tending by sophomore Natalie Lamarque, who finished with 25 saves on the day.
The Blue Devils then went on the offensive, pulling even at the 17:30 mark on a goal by freshman Payton Black. Black was assisted on the score by sophomore Heather Keeney, who set up the shot with a pass through heavy traffic. Freshman midfielder Kendra Basner gave Duke an 8-7 lead just moments later with her third goal of the game.
The Cavaliers did not stay down for long, as they tied the score just 10 seconds later on another goal by Khourie, her second of the game. Duke continued to hang tough until the 10-minute mark, when Virginia midfielder Melissa Hayes blasted in a rebound to put the Cavs up 9-8. The roof then caved in as Virginia added two more goals before Duke momentarily stopped the bleeding on a goal by freshman Meghan McLaughlin, her second of the game.
The collapse then resumed as Virginia added three more goals, including a game-high fourth by Beth Potter and the third of the day for Kara Ariza.
The breakdown was sudden and complete for the Blue Devils, who had battled so valiantly for the vast majority of the game.
"We just got down on ourselves I think," Basner said, "especially when we weren't getting the ground balls, they were beating us one on one. I just felt like there wasn't the support there that there was before."
"I think we kind of ran out of gas," Kimel said. "Virginia has the luxury of having a very deep bench. They can consistently substitute in fresh, very fast legs. We don't have that luxury-what we have on the field is our best, in terms of speed. I really think that the name of this game is speed."
The game started of with a bang for Duke as Basner and McLaughlin scored the first two goals of the game. Virginia's Carolyn Papa pulled the Cavaliers back to within one, but Duke struck back like a team on a mission.
Black put the Blue Devils up 3-1 five minutes into the match with a spin move to free herself up for the close-range goal. Sophomore Amy Murnick continued the attack by adding two goals of her own. With the score 5-1, the Cavaliers were sufficiently worried to call a timeout.
"5-1, that was the best," Basner said. "I remember that timeout, we came off winning 5-1, and we just all looked at each other and were like-we are beating the No. 4 team in the nation. That was definitely a great feeling and I wish we could have it throughout the whole game."
Virginia regrouped and scored the next two goals before Basner made the score 6-3 with nine minutes remaining. The Cavaliers were then able to dominate the rest of the half as they scored the last three goals to send the two teams to halftime tied at six.
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