WRAL Sports Fan

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W LAX: Duke Welcomes Maryland Saturday Afternoon

Feb 28, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. --- The Duke women’s lacrosse team faces its stiffest test of the early season on Saturday when the Maryland Terrapins visit Koskinen Stadium at 12 p.m., in a clash of two top-five teams. The Blue Devils will be defending a 16-game home winning streak that began on April 7, 2006. Admission is free to all regular season home games at Koskinen and the match can also be seen live an on-demand on ACCSelect.com.

The Blue Devils:

Duke is off to a 4-0 start this season after four big wins over two weekends. The Blue Devils are coming off a 16-4 record in 2007 that included their third consecutive trip to the NCAA semifinals and fourth overall in school history. The trip to the NCAA tournament was the 10th straight appearance for the Blue Devils. The team returns 23 letterwinners and seven of 12 starters while bringing in 10 new freshmen.

On attack, Duke is led by three players: senior captain Caroline Cryer, junior Megan Del Monte and freshmen Christie Kaestner. Cryer was a 2007 Tewaaraton Trophy finalist and is Inside Lacrosse’s and Lacrosse Magazine’s 2008 Preseason Player of the Year. She scored two goals and dished out three assists against Denver on Feb. 15. She was injured in that contest and her playing status is on a game-to-game basis. Del Monte has become a starter after coming off the bench in her first two seasons. She has six goals and six assists through Duke’s first four games. Kaestner has become an immediate starter as a freshman and has seven goals and four assists.

The Blue Devils have depth at midfield, with senior Allie Johnson and junior Carolyn Davis leading the way and junior Jess Adam, sophomore Lindsay Gilbride and freshmen Sarah Bullard and Emma Hamm in support. Johnson has scored four goals this season and has been solid on draws, picking up 18 draw controls to pace the team. Davis returns after suffering an ACL tear in the final game of the 2007 season and leads the team early in the season with 13 goals and seven assists. She earned ACC Player of the Week accolades on Feb. 18. Adam has been very active in the early stages of the season, recording five goals, five assists, eight ground balls, 10 draw controls and causing four turnovers. Gilbride has netted 10 goals and added four assists this season. Bullard and Hamm have played extremely well in their first collegiate season. The duo has combined for 15 goals, eight assists, 16 ground balls, 17 draw controls and 10 caused turnovers. Hamm also leads the team caused turnovers with seven.

The defense is the most experienced position for Duke. The leadership roles belong to senior Aiyana Newton and junior Christina Germinario. Newton has four ground balls and four turnovers caused while Germinario has produced three caused turnovers and picked up six ground balls. Senior Sarah Kirchhofer has done a solid job early in the season, with two starts, three ground balls and two draw controls.

The Blue Devils will have junior Kim Imbesi starting in the cage for the second consecutive season. Imbesi has posted an 8.50 goals against average and a .493 save percentage through four games while starting and playing all 240 minutes.

The Terps:

Maryland is 2-0 to start the 2008 campaign and 1-0 in the ACC. It returns eight starters and 23 letterwinners from a team that went 16-4 overall and 4-1 in earning a share of the ACC regular season title with Duke. The Terrapins reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Maryland is led by head coach Cathy Reese, who is in her fourth season at the helm. Former Blue Devil standout Katie Chrest is in her first season as a volunteer assistant coach with the Terps. Chrest was the 2005 Tewaaraton Trophy winner as a junior and led Duke to two NCAA Tournament semifinals’ appearances.

Series History:

Duke is 6-9 all-time against Maryland. The Terrapins are one of only three teams that hold more than a one-game series advantage over the Blue Devils, with the other two being Princeton (6-9) and Virginia (6-15). Prior to last season’s 19-18 loss in College Park, Md., Duke had won four straight in the series. In last year’s contest, the Blue Devils received three goals from Cryer and Gilbride and two each from Davis and Johnson.

Rankings:

The Blue Devils are currently No. 3 in the weekly IWLCA poll and No. 5 in Inside Lacrosse’s media rankings. The Terrapins are No. 5 and No. 3 in those two polls, respectively.

Last Time Out:

Duke ran away from William & Mary on the road in the second half on Feb. 24, winning 18-8. The Blue Devils got four goals and one assist from Gilbride, two and four from Adam and nine saves by Imbesi.

Maryland trounced ACC foe Boston College, 23-10, on Feb. 24 in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The Terps were led by ACC Player of the Week Kelly Kasper with three goals and six assists and had five goals each from Lauren Cohen and Dana Dobbie.

On the Horizon:

Duke will take its only long distance road trip in the month of March on Saturday the 8th to take on No. 7 Princeton at 3:30 p.m.