It was a Maalox masher, for just over a half anyway.
But in the end, the fifth-ranked women's lacrosse team, propelled in part by stifling team defense and a career performance by Kelly Dirks, proved to be too much for No. 18 Vanderbilt (2-4), as the Blue Devils (4-2) rebounded from their earlier upset loss at Princeton to defeat the Commodores 13-7.
As upsets abound in the month of March, the team was again determined not to be a part of the trend yesterday. Duke fell behind 7-5 early in the second half, but with nearly 25 minutes to play in the contest, the Blue Devils began flexing their muscles. Duke reeled off eight unanswered goals to deny Vanderbilt of its first road win this season.
In a contrast as great as night and day, the Blue Devil defense rose to the occasion in the second half. The defense, porous in the first half, shut down the Commodores for most of the
"We came out flat and unenthusiastic in the first half," Duke coach Kerstin Kimel said. "In the second half, we decided to go out and give our kind of effort, give Duke lacrosse effort. And that's why the score ended up being [13-7]."
In addition to increasing the defensive pressure, Duke did a better job of picking up the 50-50 balls, something that Vanderbilt coach Cathy Swezey was keenly aware of.
"This team [Vanderbilt] has struggled with ground balls," Swezey said with a chuckle. "I don't know how to explain it. [Duke] just had one leg up on us in the second half and it showed.
"Our girls stumbled under [Duke's] midfield pressure in the second half, and we just couldn't regroup after that. Once we'd get onto offense and not connect on a shot, we just started to break down."
Still, you can't spell victory without an "O", and Dirks certainly provided plenty of offense in the match.
The sophomore from Annapolis, who has struggled as of late to finish off scoring opportunities, found the back of the net five times, coming just one goal shy of current teammate Tricia Martin's school record of six.
"I'm really happy for Kelly," Kimel said, "because Kelly has struggled shooting-wise lately. She had a lot of good looks in our game against Princeton, but she just didn't have a lot of success. She didn't take time to change the level of her shot and get the ball past the goalie.
"I wouldn't say that she was in a slump, but she has definitely been struggling with her ability to score and I think that this game probably helped her a little bit."
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