Duke Downs Richmond, 17-4, in Home Opener

Friday, February 13

Durham, N.C.

4:00 PM

Duke University

Richmond

Duke Downs Richmond, 17-4, in Home Opener

2/13/2015 7:12:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Seniors Kerrin Maurer, Brigid Smith and Taylor Trimble combined for nine goals and a total of 10 different players scored for Duke in a 17-4 victory over Richmond Friday in the Blue Devils' home opener at Koskinen Stadium.

Head coach Kerstin Kimel's squad outshot the visiting Spiders 37-11 and held a 13-9 advantage at the draw to improve to 2-0 on the season.

“Even though we scored a lot and had three different kids score three goals, we still feel like we have lot of room to grow,” Kimel said. “Just from a fluidity standpoint and a chemistry standpoint – some of this is reflected in the fact that, at any given time, we've got four seniors in our offensive unit. Almost every one of our seniors has played over their four years. You see that and you see our scoring output reflected in that.”

Duke opened the contest with tallies by Maurer, Smith and senior Erin Tenneson before Anna Jeszeck put Richmond on the board with an unassisted goal at the 23:42 mark. Junior Maddy Acton then capitalized on a turnover by the Spiders, sparking a 7-1 run by the Blue Devils to finish the half. Trimble recorded two scores in that span while Maurer and fellow senior Chelsea Landon had one each and rookies Maddie Crutchfield and Jackie Perry notched the first goals of their collegiate careers.

“Maddie, Jackie and Kyra [Harney] really came in ready to play as freshmen,” Kimel said. “We anticipated that we would use them. We also got good defensive minutes from Anne Slusser today. Two games in, we've been able to use a lot of players and our goal early in the season is to build more depth so we can keep going to them. For our freshmen, it's great that they've been able to get experience early.”

The Blue Devils won six of the final eight draws of the period to take a 10-2 lead into the intermission.

Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea posted a pair of saves to start the second half, allowing the home team to widen the margin to 12-2 on markers by Trimble and Smith. Maurer paced Duke in the draw circle and sophomore defender Maura Schwitter added a career-best three draws from the wing.

The Spider attack broke through seven minutes into the second period as Emily Doyle fed Bailey Zerr for the team's third goal. Richmond also received strong play from goalkeeper Emily Boyce, who totaled 10 saves before switching places with teammate Michaela Aymong in the net. However, the Blue Devils continued to distribute the ball efficiently on the offensive end, leading to additional scores by Landon, Smith and junior Emma Lazaroff that made it 15-3.

Doyle of the Spiders found the back of the net for a second time late in the game, but Duke capped its performance with perfect 10-of-10 clearing and two more goals by Maurer and sophomore Hayley Shaffer to round out the afternoon.

Smith led all scorers with five points on three goals and two assists and Maurer totaled four points to go along with six draw controls. Duryea and senior Angel Thompson both saw time in goal, with Duryea collecting three saves in 55 minutes of action. In addition, seven different Blue Devils accounted for a caused turnover in the win and the defensive unit held the Spiders to 0-for-3 on shots from the eight-meter mark.

Duke continues its homestand Sunday in a 1 p.m. contest against Navy at Koskinen Stadium. The game will be streamed on Blue Devil Network Plus.

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