In the last home games of the season, the No. 6 women's lacrosse team took on No. 20 Stanford and No. 9 Johns Hopkins at Koskinen Stadium this weekend. Under the leadership of senior Meghan Walters, the Blue Devils (10-4) won both contests and will use this momentum as they go into the ACC tournament.
In Friday's game against Stanford (7-6), Walters led Duke with three goals as the Blue Devils beat the Cardinal 9-5. The game had been scoreless after 15 minutes, when the Blue Devils' Lauren Kickham netted her second goal of the season. Seconds later, fellow senior Walters put Duke ahead by two. Stanford came back to even the score with two goals, but the last 10 minutes of the first half belonged to the Blue Devils, who added four additional goals.
In the second half, Stanford managed to cut Duke's lead in half, but freshmen Michelle Menser and Leigh Jester helped to push the lead back to four. With less than a minute left, Stanford's Abbi Hills put a shot past Duke goalie Megan Huether, who had 11 saves on the night; Katie Chrest promptly answered with less than 20 seconds left on the clock, regaining the four-goal lead.
"It wasn't the prettiest game, but we got a win out of it and that is what matters," Jester said. "Our defense especially in the eight meter was unbelievable.... I think [the defensive effort] definitely was the catalyst for the offense."
Sunday afternoon was Senior Day, but on the field, it looked like freshmen day as Kristen Waagbo, Menser and Jester combined for half of the Blue Devils' goals in the 10-7 winning effort over Johns Hopkins (11-2). Defenseman Meghan Ferguson kept the Blue Jays' leading scorer Mary Key, who averages 3.27 goals a game, to two goals.
"It is an important day for everyone because we wanted to go out on a good note," Jester said. "... The underclassmen wanted to do it for the seniors especially those who could not play."
The Blue Jays' Meagan Voight, who led the team with four goals, scored the first goal 40 seconds into the game and added another 4:20 into the game to give Johns Hopkins a 2-0 lead. However, the Blue Devils would dominate the game from that point forward. Less than two minutes after Voight's second goal, Kristy Dirks took a centering pass from Stefanie Sparks and put it past Blue Jay goalie Lauren Riddick for the first of Duke's 10 goals in the game. Duke kept Johns Hopkins from scoring again until 26:17 in the first half when Erin Riordan put one past Huether. However, with three seconds left in the first half Walters regained the three-goal lead, scoring off a free position shot.
The Blue Jays scored two goals in five minutes to begin the second half, cutting the Duke lead to one goal. But Jester and Kickham each scored an unassisted goal within three minutes. Johns Hopkins refused to give up, though, and Key and Voight scored their 43rd and 20th goals, respectively. With a one-goal lead and a little over 10 minutes to play, Duke's Waagbo and Menser answered back to keep the three-goal lead. Their goals were left unanswered, as Duke handed Johns Hopkins its second loss of the season.
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