No. 7 Duke Outlasts Pitt, 15-14

Thursday, March 10

Durham, N.C.

6 PM

Duke University

7-1 (1-1ACC)

Pittsburgh

3-4 (0-3ACC)

PITT

Duke

Photo by: DANA GENTRY

No. 7 Duke Outlasts Pitt, 15-14

3/10/2022 9:56:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

DURHAM – The seventh-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team outlasted Pittsburgh, 15-14, in tough ACC action Thursday evening in Koskinen Stadium.

With the victory, the Blue Devils improve to 7-1 (1-1 ACC) and stay undefeated at home as the Panthers drop to 3-4 (0-3 ACC) in their inaugural season.

Junior Olivia Carner paced Duke offensively with a career-high five points from three goals and two assists. A handful of other Blue Devils collected two goals, including graduate student Abby Landry with three points (2G, 1A) and Katie DeSimone (1G, 2A).

Duke was first on the board, taking a 3-0 lead after the opening 15 minutes of action as Maddie Jenner, Katie Keller and Carner got Duke rolling. Carner assisted on Keller's goal for two early points in the outing.

Eva Greco tallied her seventh goal of the season off a nice pass from Landry less than two minutes into the second quarter before Pitt found its rhythm. The Panthers outscored the Blue Devils 5-0 over the next 12 minutes and took the lead, 5-4, heading into halftime.

After regrouping during halftime, Duke came out firing on all cylinders to go back up three goals at 8-5. Carner tallied two straight free-position goals one minute apart to make it 7-5 in favor of the Blue Devils before Jenner tacked on her second goal of the day at 10:41. The Panthers responded to tie it up just before the two squads exchanged goals with 4:05 remaining in the third. With under two minutes remaining, senior Anna Callahan tallied a goal and dished a dime to Veronica Hineman as Callahan continued to be a big spark off the bench. After 45 minutes of action, Duke held a narrow two-goal lead (11-9).

Through three quarters, Duke's dynamic scoring duo of Catriona Barry and DeSimone were completely scoreless. That changed early in the fourth on Barry's man-down tally from DeSimone at 11:21. Pitt responded with three-unanswered goals to once again tie the game with eight minutes left to play. Duke pushed its lead back to two (14-12), including an extra-man opportunity from Landry at 5:38. The Panthers refused to go away and for the fourth time of the evening, the Pitt tied the contest at 14 with three minutes remaining. Jenner won the ensuing draw control, her eighth of the evening, to allow Duke one final score, which Barry connected on with 1:51 remaining for the 15-14 lead. The Blue Devils captured another critical draw control which ultimately led to Duke's seventh win this season.

The Blue Devils were flawless on clears (14-of-14). Carner led the way with three caused turnovers, two ground balls and three draw controls. Junior Kay Conway also grabbed a team-high three ground balls.

In goal for Duke to start was senior Sophia LeRose with four saves.

The Panthers were led by Kate Elam with four points off of four goals, while goalkeeper Paulina DiFatta registered nine saves.

Duke closes out the weekend against Penn Sunday at noon in non-conference action.

For more information on Duke women's lacrosse, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeWLAX.

#GoDuke