Women's lacrosse scores early, often

Fifteen seconds was all the time Duke's fourth-ranked women's lacrosse team (7-2, 1-1 in the ACC) needed to take control of No. 12 William & Mary (4-4) Saturday. That was when junior Kate Kaiser scored the first of her game-high four goals, leading the Blue Devils to a 16-3 rout of the Tribe.

"We are pretty happy," Kaiser said. "Everybody played well, and that gives us lots of confidence for the second part of the season."

The game began with a non-stop offensive attack by the Blue Devils, who made 20 shots on goal in the first half while holding the Tribe to only two. The relentless assault led to 11 unanswered scores for Duke, including three from Kaiser and two from junior Kelly Dirks.

Dirks expressed her team's eagerness to face the Tribe, a team who has beaten several good clubs, including perennial ACC power Virginia, a squad that Duke has never in its history managed to defeat.

"We came out prepared to play," Dirks said. "They'd beaten some good teams in our conference, so we were pretty fired up for them. We came out on offense right away, and stayed on offense the entire first half."

Despite its 11-0 deficit, it was the Tribe who came out fast in the second half. Senior Tara Hannaford scored the Tribe's first goal 25 seconds after play resumed, but could not ignite a comeback for her dispirited team.

The rest of the game progressed at a much slower pace, as both teams worked to develop their offenses. Although the Tribe took 15 shots in the second half, Duke's goalkeeper Kristen Foster came up with nine saves and gave up only three goals while the Blue Devils scored five more of their own to seal the victory.

The only real moment of concern for Duke came with 12:10 left in the game, when freshman Cheryl Lynn Horton turned her ankle and had to be helped off the field. Fortunately the injury was mild, and coach Kerstin Kimel expects Horton to be back at practice tomorrow.