Saturday’s late-season meeting between two traditional women’s lacrosse powerhouses held even more significance than usual.
Duke—which has made 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances under head coach Kerstin Kimel—had won two of their last three games against ranked opponents, but needed to keep the momentum going to solidify its postseason resume after a dismal March. And after winning a record seven national championships in the past 10 years, Northwestern entered Saturday’s contest with just one top-25 win under its belt. Both teams desperately needed a victory to cement their spot in the NCAA tournament.
As has become a trend this season, the Blue Devils could not deliver when they needed it most, marking two months since they last won back-to-back contests.
Despite a seven-point performance from junior All-American Maddie Crutchfield, No. 20 Duke fell to the 18th-ranked Wildcats 12-10 at Martin Stadium in Evanston, Ill., Saturday evening. The Blue Devils knotted the score from behind four different times and took a one-goal lead midway through the second half, but Northwestern used a five-goal onslaught in the final minutes of the game to secure the victory.
“This game ended up being about the last 12 minutes,” Kimel told GoDuke.com. “We did not stick to the gameplan and made too many mistakes on the defensive end and in transition. Northwestern was able to capitalize.”
Duke (7-7) pulled in front for the second time of the contest after junior attacker Grace Fallon scored on a Crutchfield assist with 17:51 left on the clock. But the Wildcats did not allow the Blue Devils to pull away, with senior Danita Stroup securing a hat trick and drawing her team even at 8-8 with 13:15 to go.
Northwestern (8-7) kept its foot on the gas pedal from there, netting four more goals in the next 10 minutes while silencing Duke’s offense during the same span. Although Crutchfield—who matched her career high with five goals on the day—found the back of the net with two free-position shots on back-to-back trips down the field in the final four minutes, her late efforts were not enough to keep up with the Wildcats’ five-goal burst.
“I give Maddie a lot of credit. A couple of weeks ago, she was not in a great place and we really challenged her,” Kimel said. “To her credit, she has literally stayed after every single practice to work on various aspects of her game…. She really converted on a lot of those opportunities that were created for her, and again, hard work pays off.”
Despite struggling in many phases of the game prior to their matchup, the Blue Devils and the Wildcats have both excelled on the draw throughout the season. Duke sophomore Olivia Jenner—who sits at second in program history with 189 draw controls in her career and ranks 10th in the nation in draw controls per contest—faced the fifth-ranked player in that category in junior Shelby Fredericks Saturday afternoon.
With the physicality and intensity of Saturday’s contest, the matchup of these two stars in the draw circle did not disappoint. Northwestern barely edged the Blue Devils 14-12, and Fredericks posted a game-high eight draw controls on the afternoon. Jenner pulled in four of her own, with senior defender Maura Schwitter contributing two more to keep Duke competitive at midfield.
“We did a really good job for most of the game battling on the draw.... We went into the game expecting a very physical game, and we talked about the need for us to be able to handle the physicality and maintain composure,” Kimel said. “At times I thought we did a really good job of that and I think at times it got the best of us.”
With just two games left in the regular season, the Blue Devils will need to recover quickly from their most recent loss in order to round out their schedule on a high note. They will return to Durham to face Presbyterian Monday night at Koskinen Stadium before hosting No. 2 North Carolina Saturday afternoon.
Unless Duke can pull off the upset of the season against the reigning champion Tar Heels, it will remain on the NCAA tournament bubble heading into the ACC tournament in two weeks.
“We have a very quick turnaround for our game on Monday, which is our number one priority,” Kimel said. “And then obviously we have North Carolina at the end of the week. It’s good that we’ll have a number of days to get ourselves prepared for them.”
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