Third-Ranked Duke Pulls Away From Tribe in Second Half for 18-8 Win

Senior Jaime Sellers Scores Four in Tribe's First Loss

02/24/08 4:45PM

WILLIAMSBURG - For 30 minutes, the William and Mary women’s lacrosse team went toe-to-toe with third-ranked Duke, but Christie Kaestner scored three goals and Lindsay Gilbride netted two in a decisive second half that allowed the Blue Devils to pull away for an 18-8 win over the Tribe Sunday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field.

Gilbride finished with four goals, and Jess Adam recorded six points on four assists and two second-half goals to lead Duke (4-0) to its fourth consecutive victory and ninth-straight in the series.

Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, Maine) scored four goals for the Tribe (2-1), which trailed only 7-5 at the break before dropping its first contest of the season. Freshman Ashley Holofcener (Reisterstown, Md.) scored a pair of goals and recorded three ground balls and two caused turnovers, and classmate Emily Geary (Wayne, Pa.) stopped 11 shots in goal.

The play of Sellers, Clare Dennis (Catonsville, Md.) and freshman Molly Wannen (Silver Spring, Md.) in the Tribe midfield sparked an impressive opening period for W&M. Dennis had an assist and picked up three draw controls and three ground balls, and Wannen caused a pair of turnovers and grabbed two draws and three ground balls.

Sellers scored the first goal of the game 2:46 in, but Adam ignited the Blue Devils’ potent attack only 12 seconds later with an assist on Carolyn Davis’ marker. Duke, which held an 8-5 edge in draws in the first, went back to work and took the lead on the first of Megan Del Monte’s two goals at the 22:30 mark on another Adam assist. Davis scored again, and Gilbride netted her first on an eight-meter shot with 18:36 remaining in the first to jump to a 4-1 lead.

Dennis set up Katie Rees’ (Catonsville, Md.) goal to trim the deficit to 4-2, and Geary later kept it a two-goal deficit with a key save. After the stop, Duke regained possession, but Sellers recorded one of her two caused turnovers to give it back to the Tribe. W&M couldn’t clear the zone though, as the Blue Devils’ Emma Hamm caused a key turnover of her own and then assisted on Del Monte’s second to make it 5-2.

Hamm had a strong game for Duke with four points on two goals and two assists, three caused turnovers, three draw controls and three ground balls. The Blue Devils opened a 6-2 advantage when Sarah Bullard scored on an assist from Kaestner. Kim Imbesi, who finished with nine saves, then turned away a Holofcener eight-meter shot to keep the margin at four.

Sellers pulled the Tribe back within three on a free-position goal at the 11:27 mark of the first, but Gilbride answered on another Adam assist minutes later to push the margin to 7-3.

Sellers, who now has 15 goals in three games, corralled the reset and then notched her third hat trick in three games with an unassisted tally to make it 7-4. W&M looked to gain more ground when Wannen snared the ensuing draw and put the Tribe back on attack. But, a free-position attempt by Maggie Anderson (Richmond, Va.) rocked the right post, before Imbesi turned away another eight-meter, this time by Rees, to maintain the Devils’ three-goal lead. The Tribe finally broke through when Dolly Williams (Richmond, Va.) made a strong move to goal and snuck a low shot past Imbesi to cut the deficit to 7-5.

The margin stayed at two into the break after the Tribe received a little help from the iron as well when Allie Johnson’s attempt in the closing seconds slipped by Geary but off the left post.

W&M wasn’t quite as fortunate in the second half though, as Duke capitalized on 11 second-half turnovers by the Tribe and eventually pulled away behind Kaestner, Gilbride and Adam. Under constant fire in the second, Geary kept it respectable with nine saves, while Holofcener scored both of her goals in the period.

Adam’s second goal on an eight-meter shot pushed the Duke lead to 11-6. Kaestner notched her second, and Virginia Crotty found the net less than a minute later to push the advantage to 13-6 with 19:04 remaining. Kaestner tacked on another before Bullard capped an 8-0 Duke scoring that extended the margin to 16-6.

Holofcener caused a turnover and capitalized on the miscue for her second goal, but Duke put it away with goals from Hamm and Gilbride in the final 10 minutes.

W&M will face another Atlantic Coast Conference opponent on Wednesday, as the Tribe travels across the Commonwealth to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech at 4 p.m.

Box Score | Photos