Four years, four Final Fours.
The Blue Devils continued their recent streak of reaching the semifinals of the NCAA tournament by upsetting No. 3 Maryland 9-7 Saturday in College Park, Md. The unranked squad will play No. 2 Pennsylvania Friday at 8:30 p.m.
And although reaching the Final Four is nothing new for the Blue Devils, this year's arduous regular season may have made this run that much sweeter for Duke.
"This Final Four definitely means a lot. Not a lot more, but it's very gratifying to know that we really had to work to get here," junior goalkeeper Kim Imbesi said. "We had an up-and-down season. We're a very young team, we had And once again, it all came down to Imbesi's performance in the net.
"Kim played out of her mind," head coach Kerstin Kimel said.
After Duke went on a 3-0 run in the second half to take a 9-6 lead, the Terrapins rallied back, forcing a Blue Devil turnover to take possession with seven minutes left in the contest. But every time a Terrapin launched a shot, Imbesi was there. The junior goalie recorded six of her 13 saves in a four-minute span late in the period.
"The only thing I was thinking was the longer I could hold them from scoring, the more time ticked off the clock," Imbesi said. "There was a moment of elation with a save, but I just had to get back into the mindset and get ready for them to come down again."
Despite Duke only earning four controls to Maryland's 18, it held the Terrapins to their most paltry home scoring output of the season. The Blue Devils cracked down on Maryland's high-energy attack, as three of the Terrapins' top offensive threats-Kelly Kasper, Dana Dobbie and Lauren Cohen-were held to one goal each.
"Maryland is so talented and somewhat unpredictable because they freelance a lot," Kimel said. "You can't just prepare for exactly what they're going to do, just prepare for the tendencies. The girls did a great job of staying focused and really anticipating what Maryland was going to look for."
Although Duke depended on its defense late in the game, it was the offense that sparked the team in the opening minutes of the match. After five minutes of scoreless play, senior midfielder Allie Johnson found the back of the net off an assist from senior Jess Adam. Duke would add two more goals to extend its lead, as junior attacker Carolyn Davis and sophomore midfielder Lindsay Gilbride each scored unassisted to pull the Blue Devils ahead, 3-0.
Any notion of a Duke blowout, however, was soon erased after Maryland regrouped and responded with a four-goal run of its own. The teams entered their locker rooms deadlocked at four.
Junior attacker Megan Del Monte led all scorers with two goals and two assists, including two points during the Blue Devils' game-changing run late in the second half.
Now, Duke has another shot at reaching the national championship game that has eluded them for the past three seasons. The Blue Devils will face off with the Quakers at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Md.
Penn knocked off Boston University 8-5 in the quarterfinal to reach the Final Four. The Quakers defeated three-time defending national champion Northwestern 11-7 April 27.
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