The women's lacrosse team took no time securing the lead in its win over No. 18 Richmond Sunday, scoring just nine seconds into play to kick off an 18-8 victory.
In the win for Duke (2-0), senior Katie Chrest tied the Blue Devils' career goal record. Her six goals in the contest tied Tricia Martin with 161 career goals.
"Neither she nor I even realized she had tied the record," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "We were just really happy, and she's probably one of the best, or the best, player our program has had."
Chrest's effort was part of an overall strong performance by Duke's offense, which had a 42-22 shot advantage for the game over the Spiders (0-1).
"Any time Katie has a day like that means our whole offense had a great day," Kimel said. "Our whole unit played really well.... We kept it unsettled and out-of-transition and read each other well, which I think resulted in the bulk of our goals."
The Blue Devils took control off the first draw, and junior Michelle Menser scored nine seconds into the game. Richmond came back fighting, scoring 46 seconds later. The teams then scored two goals apiece, including Chrest's first, to tie the game, 3-3.
"It was an intense game, truthfully, it was what we expected from Richmond," Kimel said. "They're going to give us a fight for 60 minutes."
Duke took charge of the game from there on, though, dominating the rest of the half with a 6-1 run to lead 9-4 after 30 minutes. The Blue Devil offense outshot the Spiders, 24-12, in the half.
"We really moved the ball well down the field and pushed the tempo," Kimel said. "It was a big step forward from our last game, and a great step towards our game against Maryland at the end of the week."
The second half opened with Duke in control, as Chrest scored an unassisted goal only 47 seconds into the period. Her goal was the first of a 5-1 Blue Devil run over the first 13 minutes. Sophomore Rachel Sanford and junior Kristen Waagbo each scored, and Chrest contributed two more to put Duke up 14-5.
Although Richmond's sister duo of Mandy and Ashley Friend put two goals past Blue Devil goalie Megan Huether to cut the Duke lead to seven, it was not enough to salvage the game for the Spiders.
The Blue Devils finished the game off with a 4-1 run, highlighted by two goals from freshman Megan Del Monte in her second collegiate contest.
"Meg had two really great goals,"Kimel said. "We played a lot of freshmen, which was great. We have a lot of talent in that class, and we want to get them experience so they can get time later on in the season."
Freshman goalie Kim Imbesi made her collegiate debut, clocking 3:58 minutes and recording one save.
Duke's defense, anchored by a strong performance through 56 minutes by senior goalie Huether, who had five saves, struggled somewhat throughout the game.
"I wasn't as pleased with our defensive transition, and our effort could have been better," Kimel said. "They were able to bring the ball up the field more easily than we would have liked. We had some breakdowns defensively, but we have some youth and inexperience back there, so we just have to live with it and improve."
The Blue Devils host No. 4 Maryland Saturday in their home-opener and first ACC contest.
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