Senior Day was all fun and games for the Blue Devils as they throttled St. Joseph's, 24-2, in their most lopsided contest of the season Sunday.
With top-ranked Duke (14-1) up 19-1 early in the second half, head coach Kerstin Kimel playfully gave into her goalkeeper Megan Huether's four-year wish to take the field as an attacker. After a St. Joseph's penalty, Huether blasted a free possession shot into the back of the net to push Duke's lead to 20-1.
"I've been begging coach to put me on the field the last four years," Huether said. "So that was a gift to me for senior day. I always wanted to be a field player."
"In high school, I played half and half a lot," she said. "Then, they stuck me in the goal when I got here. It's been my dream to be able to do this."
The Blue Devils' blowout victory was their second of the weekend as they crushed William & Mary (9-6) on the road Friday, 19-8. Duke was led by senior attacker Katie Chrest, who netted six goals for the third time in her career and the seventh time in Duke history.
In the net against the Tribe, Huether gave up four goals in 45 minutes of play. Against St. Joseph's (4-9), Huether improved on her Friday performance and held the Hawks scoreless in the first half while only giving up one goal on the game.
On the opposite end of the field, St. Joseph's had no answers for the Blue Devils' attack. With 18 minutes left in the first half, junior attacker Leigh Jester swung around the net and fired in one of her three goals to put Duke ahead 5-0.
The Blue Devils' run carried on throughout the first half as they scored at will on the Hawks. Even though St. Joseph's did not offer much competition for the nation's No. 1-team, Kimel said the game gave her team a chance to prepare for the ACC Championship.
"I think that it gave us the opportunity to run through some of our offenses against other defenses that don't know exactly what we are doing," Kimel said. "We were able to work on some specific things like make some adjustments coming out of halftime, and that's what we were looking to do heading into next week and the ACCs. It also afforded us the opportunity to play everybody."
When the Blue Devils came out of halftime, they continued to dominate St. Joseph's. Freshman midfielder Carolyn Davis and junior attacker Kristen Waagbo scored the first two goals of the half. The Hawks, however, finally got on the scoreboard when sophomore Christina Colangelo took a pass from freshman Karen Wiley and scored her team's first goal to make the score 17-1.
St. Joseph's only managed one more score in the half, and the Blue Devils went on to win 24-2. Sophomore Rachel Shack and freshman Jessica McBride recorded the first goals of their respective careers.
The Blue Devils' wide open lead afforded Kimel the opportunity to play many of her reserves and give her seniors ample playing time in their final regular season home game. With so many starters and reserves coming in and out of the game, the scoring was spread out as 12 players scored at least one goal.
Duke has a bye in the first round of the ACC Championship, but will resume play in the semifinals Friday. Last season, the Blue Devils captured the ACC Championship in a 9-6 win over Virginia.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.