BOSTON - Duke was inches away from its first trip to an NCAA title game.
Caroline Cryer's shot with 18 seconds to go in regulation, which could have won the game for the Blue Devils, sailed just wide, sending the 10-10 contest into overtime. Northwestern scored during the first extra period and held off the Blue Devils, 11-10, Friday at Boston University's Nickerson Field to advance to the NCAA title game.
The Wildcats went on to beat Dartmouth, 7-4, in the championship game Sunday. Northwestern-whose only loss over the past two seasons came in an April 7, 16-10, loss to Duke in Durham this year-took home its second-straight NCAA title.
"Our team played their hearts out tonight, and you know, we were right there-we were right there," Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said after the game. "I couldn't be more proud of a team that I've coached in 11 years".
Top-seeded Duke (18-3) and the fourth-seeded Wildcats (19-1) went into halftime tied 6-6, and the score remained locked at 10 apiece with time winding down in regulation.
With under two minutes to go, Duke had the ball in Northwestern's half and held for a final shot. After working the ball around the perimeter, Leigh Jester found Cryer inside and Cryer's bounce-shot went wide of the net, sending the game into overtime.
Northwestern took control off the first draw in overtime and slowed down the pace of the offense until, with 37 seconds remaining in the first of the two three-minute extra periods, fifth-year senior Sarah Albrecht sprinted in through the right side of the Duke arc and spun by two defenders to fire the game-winning goal past Duke goalie Megan Huether's left hip.
The Blue Devils' Katie Chrest had an opportunity to score with 1:53 remaining in the second overtime, but her shot was saved by Northwestern goalie Morgan Lathrop, allowing the Wildcats to gain possession until the final buzzer.
"I had my defender pinned on the other side of the crease and I went around, not really my best shot," Chrest said. "She made a good save, and [my shot] wasn't good enough."
In a back-and-forth game that saw eight ties and seven lead changes, the Blue Devils, who had beaten every team that reached the tournament's quarterfinals, scored first when Jester found Chrest for a score a little more than two minutes into the game.
Duke took a 4-3 lead on Kim Pastrana's goal with 10:53 to go in the first half, but the Wildcats then went on a three-goal run over the next 4:13 to shift the margin to 6-4 in their favor, spurring Kimel to call a time out.
"To win a national championship you have to beat the best team, and we played one of the best teams today," Huether said. "They're going to find ways to score. You can shut down options, but they kept fighting, and I give them a lot of credit for that."
Duke regrouped after the time out and in response to the Northwestern run, the Blue Devils racked up two goals in 11 seconds to knot the game at 6-6 going into the break.
Duke's momentum continued into the second half and the Blue Devils took an 8-6 lead with 24 minutes to play. Again, Northwestern fought back and went on a 3-0 run to lead, 9-8.
"Unfortunately, we gave them too many easy looks when we took away maybe the first and the second thing they really wanted," Kimel said. "Then, the third and fourth [tries] they were able to take advantage of pretty easily, too often."
Duke bounced back and scored two goals in nine seconds to take a one-goal lead at 10-9 before the Wildcats' Kristen Kjellman bounced the ball past Huether to send the contest to overtime, the first semifinal game to have extra periods since 2002.
Even though they did not pull off the overtime win, Duke set school records for wins in a season and wins over ranked opponents.
"It's a game of inches, and I think that's what sports are all about," Kimel said. "The loss, to be honest, is hard, because all season long... myself and our players had to shelve a lot of emotion. And to their credit, they used all of that emotion to get us where we've taken this team this year.
"I can't express how proud I am of our team for how they endured."
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