Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Duke
No. 6 Tigers Fall to No. 2 Duke in Women's Lacrosse, 13-11
March 12, 2006 | Women's Lacrosse
March 12, 2006
Box Score
Coaches in almost any team sport talk about how important those first few minutes of the second half are in the eventual outcome of a game. On a rainy Sunday at Princeton Stadium, the No. 2-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team took that advice to heart.
Duke scored the first five goals of the second half in less than a five-minute span to break open a close game, then held off a Princeton rally late to defeat the No. 6 Tigers 13-11 in one of the games of the early season in Division I.
Princeton (1-2), which never led in the game, scored three times in the final four minutes to make it close, including the first two career goals for freshman Holly McGarvie in the final three minutes, but fell to the undefeated Blue Devils (6-0) for the first time since 2003.
"Duke really came out and controlled the game early in the second half," said Princeton coach Chris Sailer. "We just didn't have enough time to come back getting down the way we did."
Duke took a 7-6 halftime lead with 19 seconds left when Kristen Waagbo scored, then went on its game-changing run beginning seven minutes into the second half. Katie Chrest scored twice in 13 seconds to give the Blue Devils a 9-6 lead, and Rachel Sanford then scored with 20:38 left to make it 10-6.
The Blue Devils then scored twice in a 1:09 span, with Carolyn Davis giving the Blue Devils a 12-6 lead with 18:29 left on an unassisted goal.
Princeton made it 12-8 on Katie Cox's goal in front with 14:56 left, but Davis then scored again with just under six minutes left to make it 13-8 Duke. Cox, McGarvie, Katie Lewis-Lamonica and Kristin Schwab each scored twice for Princeton, which was outshot 30-25 but got 11 saves from sophomore goalie Meg Murray.
Davis had a game-high four goals for Duke, while Chrest had three goals and two assists and Kristen Waagbo also had three goals. The Blue Devils had 23 ground balls compared to 18 for Princeton.
The first half was a seesaw affair in which neither team had more than a two-goal lead. Duke took a 3-1 advantage on Chrest's first goal 8:35 in, but the Tigers then scored twice in a 1:13 span midway through the half to tie it at 3-3. The teams then traded goals after that, with the Tigers tying it a final time at 6-6 on Schawb's goal with 3:59 left, before Waagbo's goal gave the Blue Devils a halftime lead.
Princeton won 17 of the game's 26 draw controls, with McGarvie grabbing six and Schwab and Lewis-Lamonica each controlling four.
The Tigers visit seventh-ranked Penn State next Saturday at 3 p.m.