Defending national champion Northwestern handed Duke its second loss of the season, fighting windy and wet conditions to beat the Blue Devils 13-5.
Coming off a close 17-13 victory at Richmond Friday afternoon, No. 5 Duke (3-2) returned to Koskinen Stadium to face the No. 1 Wildcats (2-0) Sunday. Despite tying Northwestern in draw controls, the Blue Devils’ lack of offensive execution led to fifteen turnovers and only fifteen total shots. The Wildcats capitalized on Duke’s sloppy play on the offensive end and converted on more than half of their shots on goal.
“I’m disappointed because we completely lacked discipline on our offensive end,” Blue Devil head coach Kirsten Kimel said. “I know our offense is young, but we don’t have seven freshmen out there. We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”
Duke not only lacked a potent offensive attack, but also an answer for Northwestern’s two leading scorers. Senior Shannon Smith and junior Erin Fitzgerald combined for nine goals on the day, including all five of the Wildcats’ first-half scores.
Smith, Lacrosse Magazine’s preseason player of the year, jump-started Northwestern’s offense early in the game, scoring an unassisted goal nine minutes into the game. Fitzgerald netted her first score of the day less than two minutes later.
The Blue Devils responded with their first goal with 14:20 left in the half, but then Smith took over. The senior scored three more times in the first period, including two unassisted goals, and led the Wildcats to a 5-3 lead going into halftime.
“We had a couple of different plans for [Smith],” Kimel said. “I felt like we did some of those things really well. But others I think we could have [done better], and we clearly did in the second half because we limited her more.”
Despite negating Smith in the second half, Duke could not contain Fitzgerald and the rest of the physical Northwestern offense. The Wildcats scored three goals in the half’s first 9:55 and the Blue Devils never could close the gap. While converting all six of its second-half clearance opportunities, Duke’s offense could only muster two goals against Northwestern goalkeeper Brianne LoManto and the rest of the experienced Wildcat defense.
Although the score was lopsided, Kimel noted some positives considering the tough opponent and the unusually wet playing conditions.
“At least in the first half, I felt like we did a pretty good job of keeping them in check,” she said. “Then in the second half the fact that we cleared the ball really well under those conditions I thought said a lot about the team.”
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