Eighteen minutes into the game against Virginia in Charlottesville, the women's lacrosse team seemed unstoppable. The Cavaliers had not scored since the first minute of play, and what was supposed to be a heated battle between conference rivals was a secure 7-1 Duke lead.
But then, things got interesting. Freshman star Katie Chrest found herself ejected from the game for a hard foul, and senior Kate Kaiser, who scored four of the Blue Devils' first seven goals, followed suit soon after. With two of their highest scoring players on the bench, the Blue Devils appeared vulnerable to a Cavalier attack.
However, third-ranked Duke fought off No. 4 Virginia's bids for a comeback and pulled out a 12-7 victory over the Cavaliers Sunday afternoon. Head coach Kersten Kimel said she could not have been more pleased with her team's effort in the win.
"I knew we were totally capable of this," Kimel said. "It was such a complete team effort, and we knew this game was going to take a complete team effort. Every single person on the defensive end really stepped up and contributed to shutting down [Virginia's] offense."
Virginia had trouble handling the Devils' pesky defense, scoring only two goals in the first half. The Cavaliers' leading scorer, Lauren Aumiller, was held to a pair of goals for the game--though her second set a Virginia record for career goals scored. Goalkeeper Meghan Huether also had an impressive showing for Duke, with 15 saves.
The second half saw an attempted comeback by the Cavaliers, but Duke's defensive pressure and senior Lauren Gallagher's five goals were too much for Virginia to overcome.
"Everyone came out with the desire to win," said junior Meghan Miller, a defender. "We've been working toward playing a full 60 minutes all season, and I think we finally did that today."
Chrest avoided being defensive about the call against her, focusing on the team's compensation for her absence.
"[The call] definitely wasn't under my control," she said. "But I think the whole team responded by taking the initiative to play well. I'm really proud of them."
The win gives Duke some important momentum after a four-game road trip, which included an 8-6 loss to No. 20 Vanderbilt last Wednesday. Kimel attributed the team's rebound from that defeat to better leadership.
"Our leaders didn't step up and prepare the team to play Vanderbilt," she said. "The team really turned around and did a good job getting ready to play today. I feel like they played really smart today."
Duke will get some rest over the coming week, then play Notre Dame on Friday at home. Though the Devils played as well as they ever have this season, Miller said they can still work on some aspects of their game, including transition between offense and defense.
But Chrest emphasized that she would like the team to see the Virginia game as a performance to model in all of their remaining games this season.
"This game has kind of set the standard for us, showing us how we need to play and what we need to do," she said. "I think together, we can accomplish amazing things."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.