No. 3 Duke Rolls California, 19-7

Sunday, February 15

Denver, Colo.

2:00 p.m.

Duke University

California

Gilbride Earns ACC Player of the Week Honor

No. 3 Duke Rolls California, 19-7

2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DENVER ? The third-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team completed a perfect weekend as it rolled past the University of California-Berkeley, 19-7, in the first-ever meeting between the teams Sunday afternoon. The game was a neutral-site non-conference match-up played at the University of Denver's Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

With a 17-8 win Friday night over No. 19 Denver already in the books, the Blue Devils start off 2-0 for the eighth consecutive season.

“It's always tough to open the season on the road, but I thought we had a great opportunity to play against two really good teams this weekend,” said head coach Kerstin Kimel. “I just told our girls I'm really pleased with how we traveled this weekend, how we prepared and how we then performed. I felt we were able to switch in and out of things, regroup if we had lulls, and play with the same intensity and focus we want to play with for the rest of the year. I'm very happy with the way we opened the season.”

The Blue Devils saw a very balanced afternoon offensively, as Lindsay Gilbride and Carolyn Davis each netted four goals, the second straight time for Gilbride, while Caroline Cryer and Megan Del Monte scored hat tricks. The three-goal effort was Del Monte's second of the weekend. Freshman Kat Thomas and sophomore Sarah Bullard scored twice, and Kim Wenger added one goal.

Cryer chipped in five assists to finish with eight points in the Cal game, while Duke saw three players - Cryer, Gilbride, and Del Monte - notch 10 points on the weekend. The Blue Devils had five players come up with at least five points.

Four of Cal's seven goals came via the free position shot as the Duke defense also turned in a strong outing and was able to limit the Golden Bears' chances. In net, senior Kim Imbesi and freshman Mollie Mackler split time as Mackler saw the first game action of her career.

Imbesi recorded six stops to finish with 19 on the weekend, while Mackler came up with four saves.

Duke wasted no time getting back into the offensive flow Sunday, as Gilbride scored just 11 seconds in off a pass from Emma Hamm, after Hamm won the game's opening draw.

Davis gave Duke the 2-0 edge with a goal at the 27:35 mark, taking a pass from Del Monte on the play. The Blue Devils held control of the ball for the majority of play at the start, keeping the ball in the offensive end. Del Monte found the scoring column moments later as she converted on an unassisted score for the 3-0 lead at 25:17.

Cryer played a big part in getting the Blue Devils off to a 9-0 lead in the first half, as she scored a goal and added four helpers in the first 11 minutes of play. The Duke defense did not allow a goal until the 13:22 mark in the first half, when the Golden Bears got on the board with a free position goal by Elizabeth Jahp. Cal's second goal also came via the free position, when Lauren Johnson made it 10-1 with seven minutes before the break.

The freshman Wenger netted the first goal of her collegiate career, as Cryer found her streaking through the eight-meter arc and the pair connected for the Blue Devils' 10th goal of the day. Cal added a third free position goal with 2:40 remaining the first to make it 10-3 at the break.

Gilbride got Duke rolling again after halftime, adding two more goals in the first two minutes. Her first was a wrap-around shot as she started behind the cage and fooled the keeper for the hat trick. She then added her fourth goal of the game off a pass from Cryer.

The Golden Bears got their first traditional goal of the day when Alex Tickner converted to make it 12-4 in favor of the Blue Devils with 26:45 left in the contest. Davis put in a second-chance shot to give her the hat trick at 25:00, followed by a Cryer goal off an assist from Hamm on the right side for the 14-4 advantage.

After Cal scored twice in a row to make it 16-6, Davis tallied her fourth goal with 7:12 to play off a spin move in the arc, before Thomas netted two in a row as time ran down. The Bears found the net once more with under a minute to play to make it 19-7 at the final whistle.

Duke held the 31-22 edge in the shot column.

Next up for Duke will be a pair of home games next weekend, as the Blue Devils welcome Richmond to Koskinen Stadium for the home opener on Fri., Feb. 20 at 7 p.m., followed by a tilt William & Mary on Sun., Feb. 22 at 3 p.m.

Both games will be part of double-headers with the men's lacrosse team.

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