For the second time this season and the second weekend in a row, No. 5 Duke played in a set of Friday-Sunday matchups. And yet again, the team earned a pair of wins on the weekend, beating Richmond 17-9 Friday and William & Mary 16-9 Sunday.
“I intentionally set up Friday-Sunday matchups because it’s like a championship setup,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “Like in the championships, we’ve had our tougher matchup on Sunday both times this year.”
Kimel acknowledges that this is an extra challenge for Duke during game preparation because the players have to be ready to scout and play another team in just two days. Still, the lessons learned from these difficulties now will be an asset as the season progresses, as it prepares a Blue Devil team with high hopes of progressing deep into postseason play.
Against Richmond (0-2), the Blue Devils (4-0) were able to jump out to an early 10-4 halftime lead as junior Sarah Bullard scored all five of her goals in the first half en route to a career-best seven points, and senior Jillian Heinz added two of her own. After the intermission, Duke’s scoring became more balanced as five Blue Devils found the back of the net in the first six minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach for the Spiders.
“We had a lot of different people score. That will bode well for us as we move forward,” Kimel said.
The coach’s words were more prophetic than she could have known at the time. Two days later, nine different players scored for the Blue Devils in a win against No. 20 William and Mary (1-1). Despite trailing the Tribe 6-4 at halftime, Duke managed to blow the game open early in the second period. After giving up a seventh goal to the Tribe in the first minute, Duke went on a 9-1 run over the next 13 minutes to take a 13-8 lead. Kimel attributed the second-period goal haul to the halftime break itself.
“We just had time to collect ourselves and get our composure back. We needed that time to be together as a team, to look each other in the eyes and to go out and put that effort into the second half,” Kimel said. “Even though we’ve got juniors and seniors in a lot of places, we don’t have a whole lot of experience on the attack. That inexperience shows up at times.”
The Blue Devils were still able to get big plays from some of their experienced players Sunday. Duke was led by senior captain and returning all-ACC midfielder Lindsey Gilbride, who had four goals and an assist in the game. Sophomore Kat Thomas, who played in 20 games as a freshman, had three goals and an assist, as well. But Kimel emphasized the team’s balanced attack.
“We have lots of kids who can be threats, and the opponent has to be prepared for that,” she said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.