In sports, revenge is always sweet. But it's even sweeter when the winner moves on and the loser goes home. Today, Duke's women's lacrosse team will have its chance at payback when it hosts Georgetown in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament with the hopes of avenging a 9-8 loss earlier this season.
The Blue Devils (13-5), ranked fifth in the latest IWLCA poll, suffered their only home loss at the hands of the No. 8 Hoyas (11-4) in late March. At the time Georgetown was ranked second in the nation.
"We are really excited with our draw," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "The opportunity to play Georgetown again is something we are looking forward to, and I think it will be a great game on Thursday."
In the first meeting of the season the Hoyas jumped out to an early 5-1 lead on the heels of two goals from senior Anouk Peters.
Katie Chrest closed the gap to just three goals at halftime with one of her two goals in the contest. The sophomore finished the regular season as Duke's leading scorer with 40 goals, placing her fifth in the ACC.
In the second half of the loss to Georgetown, the Blue Devils were forced to play catch-up. Freshman Leigh Jester had two goals to help close the gap to 7-6. The Hoyas reclaimed a three-goal lead, however, and Duke fought back, only to come up just shy as time ran out on their comeback attempt.
Since that early season matchup, the Blue Devils have gained valuable experience against the nation's best competition. They finished the regular season with 13 victories, tied for second highest in school history, and eight of those came against nationally ranked opponents.
Georgetown had an equally impressive season, going 6-0 in conference play en route to its fourth straight Big East Championship.
Led by two-time Big East defensive player of the year Michi Ellers, who leads the nation with 58 forced turnovers, the Hoyas will put strong defensive pressure on Duke's attack. The Blue Devils have struggled with ball control against the nation's stronger teams at times this season. Recently, in a blowout loss to Virginia in the finals of the ACC Championships, Kimel's squad committed 20 turnovers, allowing the Cavaliers to control the tempo of the game.
Sarah Robinson, the Hoyas goalkeeper, boasts a slightly better save percentage than All-ACC performer Megan Heuther. However, Heuther has averaged better than nine saves a game this season and had 11 stops in the teams' first meeting to Robinson's five.
On the other side of the ball, attacker Sarah Oliphant earned her spot on the Big East first team as the junior netted 29 goals to lead a well balanced Georgetown attack. The Hoyas have averaged 12 goals per game, over two goals more than the Blue Devils.
Georgetown also has the advantage in regards to NCAA tournament experience. The Hoyas are looking to return to the National Title game for the third time in four seasons after a one year absence. The Blue Devils were ousted at home in the first round of last year's tournament by Ohio State while Georgetown faired only slightly better, advancing to the next round where they fell to eventual runner-up Virginia.
Statistical comparisons aside, the game promises to be close. Duke feels a sense of urgency to perform well in order to validate one of the best seasons in program history. At the same time, Georgetown wants to reclaim its place among the nation's best teams.
The winner of Thursday's contest at Koskinen Stadium will face the winner of third-seeded Maryland and Temple Sunday. The Terrapins, who lost to the Blue Devils earlier in the season, are heavily favored in their first round matchup and would host Sunday's contest if they prevail Thursday.
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