The Duke women's lacrosse team came away with its second win of the season on Saturday with a 10-7 victory over Stanford in Nashville.
The game was the second of a two-game series for the Blue Devils in Tennessee that began with a contest against the host school, Vanderbilt, on Friday. Duke was not so lucky against the Commodores as it fell 13-11.
The weekend started off well for the Blue Devils as they jumped out to a 5-4 halftime lead against the Commodores, highlighted by the strong play of freshman Meghan McLaughlin, who finished the game with four goals. Duke could not maintain its lead, however, as Vanderbilt was able to take advantage of the Blue Devils' mistakes in the second half. Also leading the way offensively for Duke were sophomores Heather Keeney and Kristin Lonergan, who scored two goals each.
"In the second half we made poor decisions in the little things," head coach Kirsten Kimel said. "A team like Vanderbilt just pounces on that and capitalizes on those little mistakes, and that's basically how we lost the game. It wasn't just attack, it wasn't just defense and it wasn't just our goalie-it was everybody, so it was very frustrating.
"We outshot them almost 2-1.... We got quality shots off, we just did not place them real well. Then you tend not to come up with the rebound off the goalie or the ball behind the key."
Friday's game also marked the debut of freshman attacker Payton Black, who had just joined the team after the conclusion of the basketball season. Kimel inserted Black into the game in the second half.
"We put Payton in against Vanderbilt because we felt she could provide us with an offensive spark, which she did," Kimel said. "She did very good things, she basically gave some other people some rest. She kind of felt like she didn't really know what was going on out there which is understandable, [since it was] her first game."
Black also admitted the situation seemed new to her.
"I was a little nervous because I had only been practicing with the team for that first week," Black said. "I hadn't played lacrosse since last spring in high school. I was a little nervous about how I was going to stand against other collegiate players, since they had been practicing all year long. I felt like I was kind of going to be under a magnifying glass and everyone was going to be watching what I did."
In Saturday's win over the Cardinal, Black seemed to have conquered her anxieties as she scored twice.
"I think that I got all of my jitters out in the Vanderbilt game, it gave me a chance to get used to the players, how each of them plays on the field," Black said. "In the next game I felt like I was a little more involved in the game and the other players knew what I was going to do and I knew what they were going to do."
Saturday's game saw the majority of the Duke roster enter the game as the Blue Devils were bothered by fatigue from Friday's game and a general lack of execution.
"It was more like people needed to be pulled out of the game, and other people who'd worked hard all season were given a chance," Kimel said.
"The Stanford game was a sloppy game. We won, but it wasn't a good game for us," Black said. "It's really hard to come in off of the bench when you are subbing in for a star on the team. They stepped up when we needed them to and gave us that little extra lift."
Duke was led on the offensive end by junior Jodie Taylor who tallied three goals and two assists on the afternoon. McLaughlin and sophomore Amy Murnick added two goals a piece, while sophomore Lorrie Meyercord rounded out the scoring.
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