EVANSTON, Ill. – The seventh-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team dropped a 22-10 decision at second-ranked Northwestern in NCAA quarterfinal action Saturday in Evanston, Ill.
Duke was led offensively by sophomore
Olivia Carner with a career-high five goals on five shots and picked up two draw controls. Duke received additional scoring contributions from senior
Abby Landry (2), graduate student
Gabby Rosenzweig (1), senior
Catriona Barry (1) and sophomore
Caroline DeBellis (1). Rosenzweig also dished two assists to Landry's one.
Duke came out hot quickly and absolutely dominated possession in the first 10 minutes, outshooting Northwestern 8-3 and held a 6-1 lead with 18 minutes left in the first.
However, the nation's top scoring offense with a 20.5 goals per game average would not remain quiet as the Wildcats came alive in the second half of the opening stanza.
Rosenzweig got Duke on the board quickly with a nice stutter step right behind the cage to find an opening past goalkeeper Madison Doucette. Carner's tacked on back-to-back scores to give the Blue Devils a 3-1 lead. The sophomore midfielder beat her defender easily and marched straight to the goal both times to find the back of the net, giving Duke the two-goal edge. A man-up goal by DeBellis followed by Carner's third goal in the contest (7-3) with 16:49 remaining in the first would be the last Duke goal for 11 minutes.
In that span, Northwestern won four of the next five draws and scored six unanswered in 3:07 to take a 9-7 lead. The Wildcats tacked on three more to hold a four-goal lead (12-8) at intermission.
The Wildcats won the draw 17-5 in the first half and the foul count was 17-7 in favor of Duke.
Northwestern extended its lead to five to start the second half before Landry found Carner for her fifth goal of the game with 25 minutes remaining to pull Duke back within four. It was Carner's 30th goal of the season A 13-minute Duke scoring drought featured a 4-0 Wildcat run before Landry found the back of the cage for the second time to make it, 17-10, with 12:33 left. Northwestern continued to kick it in gear and added five more goals to advance to the semifinals.
This marks the first game this season Duke's opponent won the draw as Northwestern won the battle 21-13.
Northwestern was led by Izzy Scane (5 goals, 2 assists) for seven points and Lauren Gilbert's six goals. Scane leads the nation with 6.36 goals/game. Goalkeeper Douchette picked up eight saves for a .444 save percentage.
The Blue Devils finish the 2021 campaign 11-8.
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