Despite staying even with No. 1 Northwestern in the first 15 minutes of play, No. 5 Duke was unable to keep up with the Wildcats, falling 19-14 Saturday at Koskinen Stadium.
The Blue Devils (10-3) only trailed by one goal, 10-9, at halftime after a 6-1 Duke run, and traded goals with Northwestern (9-0) to start the second session.
However, the Wildcats then took off on an 8-1 run and the Blue Devils were unable to narrow the lead.
“[The] game obviously was tough, and I think there were a lot of really good things that came from it,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “Northwestern is an outstanding team, and I don’t know when the last time they put out 14 goals was, but it’s been a long time.”
The Wildcats entered the game boasting the nation’s eighth-ranked scoring defense, but conceded almost double their 7.57 goals per game average.
Nevertheless, Northwestern played to its ranking on the offensive end. Coming in with an average of 17 goals per contest, the Wildcats exceeded that Saturday, even against a relatively stingy Duke defense.
The Blue Devils managed to keep the score relatively close on major contributions from junior Christie Kaestner and senior captain Lindsay Gilbride, who combined to score half of Duke’s final tally. Kaestner scored three goals and dished out four assists, while Gilbride added four scores and two assists.
“I’m happy because our offense didn’t have a great performance against Virginia [last week], but I think overall there are distinct areas of our game that we can do better defensively, so that was kind of a disappointment,” Kimel said. “We’re going to pay more attention to that in practice this week, and we’ll be in good shape heading into Boston College next week.”
Although the Blue Devils fell short Saturday, they compensated for the loss by defeating Davidson 19-6 Sunday at home. The game had 12 different Duke players score goals, the highest number of players to score for the Blue Devils all season.
“I think, given that we played a really hard game in the heat, we did a lot of really good things today,” Kimel said. “We wanted to tighten up in some areas after yesterday, and we did, so I was really pleased with the outcome and the fact that we put ourselves in the position where we got to play everybody.”
Duke started off the contest with five straight goals before allowing one goal from Davidson (5-7), quickly offset by another 5-0 run by the Blue Devils.
Duke’s momentum early in the game allowed Kimel to play with a new rotation and continue developing the team and the younger players, something she has been hoping to do since the beginning of the season. While the freshmen made the most of their opportunity, the coach was quick to credit the growth of her upperclassmen this season.
“It’s really more about our sophomores and juniors who are getting on the field for the first time,” Kimel said. “They really have grown the most out of everyone.”
And with the team gradually becoming accustomed to playing together, the Blue Devils are poised to face their next foe, Boston College.
The contest against the Eagles will be the Blue Devils’ fourth ACC contest and second-to-last game.
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