Gilbride, Del Monte Lead No. 3 Blue Devils Past Denver in Opener

Friday, February 13

Denver, Colo.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Denver

Gilbride, Del Monte Lead No. 3 Blue Devils Past Denver in Opener

2/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DENVER ? Junior Lindsay Gilbride tallied four goals and senior Megan Del Monte and sophomore Sarah Bullard each had a hat trick to lead the No. 3 Duke women's lacrosse team to a 17-8 win over the 19th-ranked University of Denver Pioneers in the 2009 season-opener Friday evening at the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

After getting off to a slow start in the contest, which included snow flurries at the outset, the Blue Devils came out firing in the second half, turning in an 11-2 scoring run that included five straight goals after the break ? four of which came in the first four minutes.

Behind the output from Gilbride, Del Monte, and Bullard, Caroline Cryer and Carolyn Davis had two each while Jess Adam, Emma Hamm, and Kat Thomas each scored once. Del Monte added a pair of assists for the five-point effort.

“I think given that we had less than ideal playing conditions for our first game, I'm pleased with our overall hustle and the effort we gave,” said head coach Kerstin Kimel. “There were times in the game where we needed to maintain our composure a little better, and we will work on that as we go.”

The Pioneers' Steph Coyne scored first in the game, less than minute in, to give Denver the early lead. After being forced to play a man down with an early yellow card, the Blue Devils weathered the threat and answered back on Del Monte' first score of the day off an assist from Gilbride. Gilbride had been awarded a free-position chance but deferred the shot and found the senior wide open on the top left for Duke to tie it up.

Denver went up 2-1 before a goal by Adam evened the score again. Duke then took its first lead of the game, 3-2, with 16:39 on the clock on Hamm's first score of the season, after she juked her defender and found the shot from the right side. Denver would tie it on a goal by Karen Morton, but Duke's next score ? a free-position attempt for Gilbride which she sent into the bottom right corner ? gave the Blue Devils the lead at 4-3 which they would never surrender.

Duke began to pull away with three consecutive scores before halftime, first an unassisted tally for Bullard, followed by a Del Monte free position goal and a one-timer from Cryer in front with 16 seconds to go in the first. That made it 9-5 in favor of the Blue Devils heading into the locker room.

Kim Imbesi ? who finished with 13 saves ? came up with some big stops in the second to go along with a Duke offense that came out on fire. After the Blue Devils netted the first five goals of the second half, Denver snapped the 11-2 run to make it 14-6.

With 16:23 to play, Thomas connected on her first collegiate goal as she took a pass from Del Monte. Gilbride then added her fourth of the day off a pass from Hamm before another Pioneer goal. But Duke closed out the contest with a free-position chance for Bullard, who sent it into the back of the net for the 17-8 advantage with just eight seconds left on the clock to give the Blue Devils their first victory of 2009.

For the Pioneers, Becca Steinberg and Ali Flury posted two goals each. Katie Gold came up with nine saves in net for Denver.

The Blue Devils are now 13-1 in the season's first game, having won 13 straight openers after losing the first in the program's history in 1996. Last season, Duke opened with a 16-11 victory over the Pioneers Feb. 15 at home in Durham, N.C. Duke improves to 1-0 while Denver fell to 0-2 on the early season.

“I think for our first game we came out really well, really took it to them, and did better on the draw, which was a main goal,” said Davis after the game. “Our offense played amazing, especially in the second half ? we were very dynamic ? and the defense did a good job executing the game plan, so overall we're really happy. It does point out some things we need to work on, but we're excited about the season getting going.”

Duke will return to action Sunday afternoon to face California at 2 p.m. EST in a neutral-site match-up at DU's facility as the squad stays put in the Mile High City. The game will be the inaugural meeting between the programs. The Golden Bears are 1-0 on the season after a 19-0 rout of Frenso State on Feb. 7.

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