Women's lacrosse happy with exhibition results

The women's lacrosse team proved why it is a preseason favorite to win the 2003 national championship as they ran the tables at an all-day exhibition event, the South of the Border Tournament--which was hosted by Duke and North Carolina, respectively.

The Blue Devils played against several teams with varying styles of play, ranging from more passive, less talented squads in Richmond and Connecticut, to an upcoming power in Northwestern, to preseason-ranked powers in No. 7 Vanderbilt and No. 4 Georgetown.

Each game was played with a 30 minute continuous clock without a halftime period. Score was not officially kept by the coaches or referees, so Duke's play could not be rated in wins and losses. The purpose of the exhibition, according to head coach Kerstin Kimel, was to have some great competition and work out some kinks before diving into regular season play Feb. 21.

"I've been pleased with certain things," she said. "I mean, it looks like a preseason tournament...I'm a little happier with the way our offense has performed than maybe our defense. It's kind of disappointing because our defense is more experienced and I think that we're just not being very disciplined; our body positioning and our checking are a little wild and a little out of control right now."

As Kimel noted, Duke's offense was impressive throughout the day, particularly against Vanderbilt, as the Blue Devils amassed five goals from five different players. The most impressive score of the contest came from senior Jessica Bennett. As Duke was running through its motion offense--the movement and goals of which involve players weaving in and out of the area in front of the goal-Bennet received a pass about 12 feet from the net. She proceeded to deliver a laser into the top right corner of the goal, an angled shot that was so impressive it drew applause from a few Vanderbilt defenders.

And though their play was far from flawless, the Blue Devils--led by four preseason All-Americans as selected by Insider Lacrosse magazine-dominated against every opponent but Georgetown, the defending national runners-up.

"I don't think that we competed with as well with them as I would have liked to have," Kimel said. "I felt like we got beat to some balls behind the balls that are possession balls, and we can't to do that...Good thing it doesn't count and we get ready for Virginia Tech [in our regular season opener]."