Grant Guides Duke To 7-1 Victory Over No. 18 Villanova

Tuesday, October 11

Durham, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

Villanova

Grant Guides Duke To 7-1 Victory Over No. 18 Villanova

10/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? The No. 3 Duke field hockey team returned to high-scoring fashion Tuesday, downing No. 18 Villanova, 7-1, at Williams Field. For the second time this season senior Katie Grant matched a career-high four goals to lead Duke to its third seven-goal game and improve to 10-3.

“I thought we had a really good passing game,” said head coach Beth Bozman. “We still need to work a little bit on finishing, but we're headed in the right direction. As a team, we controlled the ball very well.”

The Blue Devils got on the scoreboard early, netting two goals in the first nine minutes of play. Duke was awarded its second penalty corner five minutes into the first half, and senior Nicole Dudek's pass to junior Amy Stopford was cleanly sliced from near the top of the circle to the back of the net.

The Wildcats made their first attempt to bring the ball to the other side of the field, but Dudek stopped the attack and carried the ball up the field, where it eventually found Grant in the circle. Grant waited for the right moment and knocked the ball past Villanova keeper Erin Scott at the 8:51 mark.

Villanova was awarded its first shot attempt on a penalty corner 20 minutes into the game. Megan Foster converted the team's only corner opportunity into the Wildcats' lone goal of the game with help from Lauren Campanelli and Sara Schmidt to put the score at 2-1.

The Blue Devils bounced back quickly, and on their sixth penalty corner of the game, they struck again. With less than five minutes left in the half, junior Cara-Lynn Lopresti deflected a hit from Stopford into the goal to give Duke a 3-1 halftime advantage.

Duke controlled the second half, taking 19 shots and holding Villanova to only one. Grant scored the next three goals for the Blue Devils, all within a span of 15 minutes. Junior Hilary Linton assisted on the third with 13.5 minutes to play. Stopford and Lopresti teamed up once again on the final scoring play, converting the Blue Devils' 16th penalty corner into a goal with 5.5 minutes left.

Duke out-shot Villanova, 40-3, and took 16 corners to the Wildcats' one. Sophomore Caitlin Williams played the full game in goal for Duke, earning one save on Villanova's three shots. Wildcat goalie Erin Scott stopped 14 of the Blue Devils' shots.

Grant now leads the team with 13 goals this year. Her eight points in Tuesday's game brings her career total to 190, just ten shy of the top slot on Duke's all-time points list. Stopford's seven goals rank third among Blue Devils in 2005.

Duke now turns its attention to the weekend, when it will travel to Norfolk, Va., for contests against William & Mary and No. 8 Old Dominion. The Blue Devils will face William & Mary for the first time this year at 1 p.m. Saturday on Old Dominion's field and will play a rematch with Old Dominion Sunday at 1 p.m.

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