For the first time in the last five years, Duke will not be playing in the Final Four as its championship aspirations ended Saturday.
Coming off of a thrilling overtime victory last weekend against conference rival Virginia, the Blue Devils could not repeat the feat as they lost in extra time to Pennsylvania 10-9 in the national quarterfinal.
This marks the second straight season that the No. 4 Quakers (15-2) knocked Duke out of the tournament as last year the teams' semifinal matchup yielded a similar result.
"I definitely want to congratulate Penn-they played a hell of a game," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "I'm also really proud of our girls. We dug ourselves a really good hole in first half, but we chipped away and put ourselves in position to win both at the end of regulation and in overtime."
Though the No. 5 Blue Devils (15-6) did not win the game, effort was certainly not the reason that Kimel's squad did not advance to the next round.
After not getting into its offensive rhythm early, Duke fell behind 4-0 as Penn dominated time of possession and managed to find the holes in the Blue Devils' defense.
Duke ended a scoring drought of nearly 15 minutes that started the game when junior Danielle Kachulis netted a goal off a pass from sophomore Emma Hamm in transition.
Junior Lindsay Gilbride added another score on the ensuing possession to make the score 4-2, but the Quakers tacked on three more goals before the first half ended and Penn's offensive spurt increased its lead to 7-2.
The Blue Devils simply could not get into a groove on the attack and suffered from some defensive lapses in the first half.
Rather than give up, the Blue Devils came out on an offensive tear, scoring the first seven goals of the second half to take a 9-7 lead.
The team received scoring from its usual suspects with Gilbride's four goals leading the way. Fellow junior Kachulis also had two scores, while senior captains Caroline Cryer and Jess Adam along with sophomore Sarah Bullard each added one tally.
Penn stormed back, however, and managed to even the score at 9-9 at the end of the second half. Though the Blue Devils had not played an overtime game the entire season, they were forced to do so for the second straight week.
With eight seconds left in the first extra period, Duke had an excellent opportunity to take the lead when Gilbride fired a hard shot, but it was blocked by the Quakers' goalie.
In the second extra session, Penn won the opening draw and nearly put the game away at the 1:50 mark, but senior goalie Kim Imbesi made the save.
The game remained tied until 5 seconds before the second extra period ended, when Penn's Becca Edwards sent the game winner past Imbesi, leaving the Blue Devils no time to try and respond.
"We just couldn't finish," coach Kimel said. "This is a tough way for our senior class to end."
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