Pennsylvania has long been Duke’s nemesis on the lacrosse field. In 2008, the Quakers defeated the Blue Devils in the NCAA Final Four, while the following year the two teams met in the NCAA quarterfinals—with the same result.
This season the Blue Devils were edged by Pennsylvania on Apr. 29, 13-10, in both teams’ regular season finale. But this year, Duke got a second chance when the NCAA announced the two would meet in the first round of the NCAA Championship, and this time, it was up for the challenge.
On Saturday, the fifth-seeded Blue Devils (14-4) got their long-awaited wish in the form of a 12-9 win over the ninth-seeded Quakers (11-6) at Koskinen Stadium, propelling themselves into the quarterfinals for the seventh consecutive year.
“I was really proud of our team, and I felt like we gave it our all,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “I think the girls are really happy, particularly the seniors because in two out of their four years here, Penn has ended their season.”
Duke came out firing, as they responded to a quick Pennsylvania goal with four of their own, including two from freshman Molly Quirke. The rest of the half was also all-Blue Devils, as they outshot their opponents 18-7 en route to a 7-4 halftime lead.
After extending its lead to five early in the second half, Duke’s lead was never less than three the rest of the way.
“I think for our seniors, it meant a lot to finally beat them, and I knew we could,” Kimel said. “We really focused on us, showed up and played our game for 60 minutes, and we felt like we would prevail, and we did.”
Despite going into the match-up having a 2-3 all-time record against Penn, Duke took advantage of their break and controlled possession by winning 14 draws to the Quakers’ nine. They also were able to use many of their veteran players who had missed significant parts of the season because of injuries and illness.
“It’s been an interesting season for us, and in the last two years, we’ve incurred a lot of injuries, so I think our line-up has been musical chairs. Any time you’re striving to be a top, top team, that can be a huge challenge,” Kimel said.
Kimel attributed the difference in Sunday’s performance with the team’s play two weeks earlier to exhaustion and a lack of energy from playing too many road matches. But with the two-week rest, the Blue Devils were able to recover, Kimel said.
“We’re moving forward, and I still feel like we have a lot of room to grow. We’re putting our best foot forward Saturday against Florida, and hopefully that’ll be enough to propel us to the Final Four.”
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