After downing No. 10 Vanderbilt 10-5 in the first round of the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship May 9 at Koskinen Stadium, the No. 9 Blue Devils (10-8) ran into a brick wall Sunday, and fell to the top-seeded Georgetown Hoyas 11-4 in Washington D.C.
Georgetown (16-1) opened the game with an impressive offensive effort, as seven Hoyas combined to score eight first-half goals. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were only able to net two of their own. Duke first struck on an unassisted Claire Sullivan goal, and Kelly Dirks also scored on an assisted shot from Erin O'Shaughnessy at 16:28 to bring Duke within two of the Hoyas, 4-2.
After that, however, it was all Georgetown as it reeled off four straight to put the game nearly out of reach.
The second half was much more of a defensive battle than the first, with Georgetown scoring just three goals and the Blue Devils tallying two. Duke's Meghan Miller scored on a free position shot and teammate Lauren Gallagher also found the net in the waning minutes.
"I definitely don't think it was our best showing," Duke coach Kerstin Kimel said. "In the first half we had some defensive problems and our offense had no groove. In the second half I felt our defense stepped up. We did a really good job taking Georgetown out of their rhythm."
The first round of the NCAA tournament against Vanderbilt (10-6) was a much different contest for the Blue Devils. After a hard fought first half in which Cheryl Lynn Horton scored with 18 seconds left to give Duke 5-4 lead at the break, the Blue Devils came out firing following the intermission.
In the span of less than a minute, Horton scored once and O'Shaughnessy twice to blow the game open, as Duke led 8-4 with about 25 minutes left in the half.
The Blue Devils defense then began to run out the clock, but the Commodores answered with a goal of their own at the 13 minute mark. After about seven minutes passed, and Dirks and Gallagher responded with more two tallies of their own to give Duke a commanding five-goal advantage with 3:16 left to go.
The loss to the Hoyas ended the Blue Devils' season.
"When you look at the big picture, I think we had a good season," Kimel said. "[With all the problems we had] we learned a career full of experience in one season."
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