Chicago Cubs second baseman Ernie Banks once said, "It's a great day for baseball; let's play two." The same could be said this weekend for the women's lacrosse team.
The fifth-ranked Blue Devils (7-1) sent No. 11 Georgetown (3-3) home as an 11-9 loser on Saturday, then dismantled Notre Dame (5-3) on Sunday by a count of 19-5, both at the Duke Lacrosse Stadium.
Going into the match, Duke was 0-2 versus the Hoyas, losing two years ago 18-2 and last year 12-6. This time it was a different story altogether.
Duke jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but Georgetown managed to pull within one goal at intermission. Georgetown looked to continue its dominance of the Blue Devils by scoring the opening goal of the second half to tie the score at 5-5. But instead of panicking and losing momentum to the Hoyas, Duke answered with three consecutive goals to push the lead to 8-5.
"An important thing for us is staying focused because we are a young team," coach Kerstin Kimel said. "The fact that [we] didn't panic is a real tribute to the kind of people we have on our team. They're smart players, they're controlled and they're focused."
Georgetown closed the deficit to two goals at 9-7 before the Blue Devils received a boost from freshman Courtney
Georgetown fought until the end, making the score 11-9 with 3:46 remaining in the contest, but the Blue Devils' defense held strong until the final megaphone siren.
"Our goal was to play hard and play disciplined, and we did that," Kimel said. "It was a great game for us because the last two years Georgetown really handed it to us."
Duke was led by freshman Kate Soulier's three goals and four assists and sophomore Tricia Martin's three goals. Overall, seven different Blue Devils tallied goals, as Duke outshot the Hoyas 30-28.
The Blue Devils pulled out the victory despite outstanding performances by Georgetown's Sheenan Stanwick, who found the back of the net five times, and goalie Chris Lindsey, who collected 14 saves.
After Saturday's big win, Duke was able to relax a little against visiting Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish, in only their second season of existence, were not much of a test for the Blue Devils, whose 19-goal performance set a school record.
Duke used runs of 7-0 and 5-0 to start each half to quickly end Notre Dame's chances of an upset win. The Blue Devils opened the game with two goals in the first minute, and they had their seventh score by the 19:16 mark.
Notre Dame held Duke scoreless for the final 19 minutes, while also netting two goals of its own for a 7-2 score at the half.
"I wasn't concerned because I knew we were better than them," Kimel said. "I was concerned about having a mental lapse like that, though... At halftime I didn't say a whole lot to them. They knew what we needed to do."
Duke remained consistent the entire second half, scoring the first five goals to extend its lead to 12-2. The Blue Devils cruised to victory the rest of the way.
Duke was led by Martin, who played the roles of both Karl Malone and John Stockton, scoring four goals and dishing out four assists. Rodgers and sophomore Keri Dunn added three goals apiece, while freshman Amy Noble handed out three assists. Ten different Blue Devils netted goals in the win.
"The sign of a good team is that they can play a game like the one yesterday, and then come out and do what we did today," Kimel said.
The difference between this team and the teams of the past two years appears to be confidence. When the Hoyas made a run at Duke, the Blue Devils remained aggressive and did not stray from their game plan. Duke kept the pressure on Georgetown for sixty minutes.
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