Duke holds off Maryland in ACC showdown

The Duke women's lacrosse team downed Maryland in its home opener Saturday, using an 8-0 run to erase a three-goal deficit to defeat the Terrapins, 9-7.

"I think we got lucky in a lot of ways." Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "Had Maryland not bobbled a few balls, or had they shot the ball a little better this game could have gone a different way."

Fifth-ranked Maryland (2-2, 0-1 in the ACC) came out strong, winning the first draw and scoring off a free position just 16 seconds into the game. No. 2 Duke (3-0, 1-0) came back on the next draw, however, with sophomore Rachel Sanford taking the ball down the field and scoring an unassisted goal to tie the game at one.

Over the next nine minutes, Maryland went on a 3-0 run, slowing down the play on offense and dominating the midfield with a quick and effective transition.

"You always have to have that gut check when they come out and score a couple of quick goals," Duke senior goalie Megan Huether said. "You just have to stay focused and erase what just happened and focus on the next shot and on the game ahead."

The Maryland offense took control of the pace of the game during its scoring spurt, passing the ball around Duke's half of the field and driving hard to the goal.

"I thought our defense basically won us this game today," Kimel said. "I was really proud of their effort, but overall I was disappointed with our team effort in general. I just felt that we didn't show up today, a lack of ability to execute our offense and keep our heads in the game. I just feel like we just didn't perform up to our ability at all."

After the Terps goal that brought the score to 4-1-a quick-stick shot by Brooke Richards-Kimel called a timeout to straighten things out with her team.

"I thought our kids did an awesome job in that part of the game," Kimel said. "We expected them to potentially pull out, try to possess, and try to go at us hard once they had the ball, try to kind of catch us on our heels a little bit.... But I thought our kids were really well prepared for that, and they did a great job sticking to the game plan in terms of not giving them what they wanted."

Huether also boosted the defensive effort with several key saves down the stretch. The senior recorded 11 saves during the game and opened the second half with two saves within the first 10 minutes on Maryland shots from just outside the crease.

"I think it was a team effort all around," Huether said. "I know we struggled in certain areas, and I think that defense definitely did step it up a lot.... We drilled a lot of these things this week, so I think that really paid off and obviously when the defense is playing well that really helps me out."

With just 10 minutes left to play and the Terps trailing by five, the Maryland offense came alive again, scoring two goals in less than two minutes to cut the Duke lead to three.

The Terps added another goal with less than four minutes to play and had two more runs at the goal, but could not convert either time as the final whistle blew with Duke holding a 9-7 advantage.

"I felt our guys did a really good job adjusting [to Maryland's style of play], and I felt that we knew their personnel really well," Kimel said. "Overall, I thought our kids were really ready and anticipated what certain players were looking for and the general tendencies of their offense."