Neither rain, nor sleet, nor hail, nor even snow could stop the women's lacrosse team from recording its third victory of the season, a 17-3 drubbing at Davidson.
The fourth-ranked Blue Devils, coming off their 10-6 upset of Maryland, looked as if they might suffer a letdown against the Wildcats in the opening minutes of the game. Davidson remained within striking distance at the start of the first half before Duke decided it was time to make this one a blowout.
"We're still a young team," coach Kerstin Kimel said. "It did not surprise me that we suffered a bit of a letdown for the first 10 minutes of the game. Then we started to blow it open."
The Blue Devils were without the services of Keri Dunn and Kendra Basner due to injury and illness, but other players stepped up to fill the void. Freshman Amy Noble led the Blue Devil offensive attack with four goals and two assists. Freshmen Courtney Rogers and sophomore Tricia Martin also had solid performances, with Rogers recording two goals and three assists while Martin chipped in with four goals and an assist.
"I didn't want our team to panic, and I think for a couple of minutes we did," Kimel said. "The second part of the first half we got it together really well."
Duke owned a 10-2 lead at halftime, despite the New England-like weather conditions. By the beginning of the second half, snow began to fall, as did the Wildcats' chances of a win.
Duke completely shut down Davidson throughout the second half, highlighted by a superlative defensive performance from senior Karen Sutton, who held the Wildcats' biggest offensive threat to a goose egg.
Sophomores Katie Regan and Emily Hickman were forced to play more in the midfield due to the aforementioned injuries. This obviously did not slow down the Blue Devils, who added a touchdown in the second half for the 17-3 final.
The highlight for the Wildcats was the performance of goalkeeper Lisa Benjamin, who recorded 16 saves, one fewer than Duke scored.
"It was on the road and under some tough conditions," Kimel said. "I'm happy; even though we didn't play that great, we won."
The Blue Devils, who finished the season at .500 last year, had no trouble reinforcing their No. 4 ranking against Davidson. This ranking, which was earned with a 10-6 victory over the top-ranked Terrapins last Friday, is easily the highest in the program's three-year existence. Kimel , however, does not rely too much on what the polls say.
"There are three groups of people that our performance matters to: our team, the coaches and the NCAA selection committee," Kimel said. "That poll doesn't hold too much weight in our minds."
The Blue Devils will be out to defend their No. 4 ranking when they travel to play top-10 Princeton on Sunday, where snow may be in the forecast.
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