Duke's Katie Grant scored twice to power the fourth-ranked Blue Devils to a 3-0 win over 13th-ranked Northeastern Saturday morning in Durham, N.H.
The Huskies (7-4) trailed 2-0 at the break after failing to convert on any of its nine first-half, penalty corner attempts. After the first 35 minutes of play, NU held a 9-1 penalty corner advantage, but Duke (7-1) held a 5-4 edge in shots and led on the scoreboard.
Duke jumped ahead 9:47 into the contest when Kim Van Kirk picked up a loose ball at the NU end line and sent a crisp pass to Grant in front of the goal. NU keeper Diana Nelson (five saves) managed to get a foot on Grant's shot, but the ball found its way into the corner of the cage.
The Huskies almost answered a minute later when Mari Creatini dribbled past a Duke defender and beat goalie Christy Morgan, but had her legs taken out from under her before she could knock the puck into the empty net. However, NU was only awarded a penalty corner.
Northeastern kept the offensive pressure on and had five penalty corners in a row, but couldn't capitalize on any of them. Then, the momentum turned again in Duke's favor when the Blue Devils found the back of the cage again at 14:15. Van Kirk slid behind the Husky defense on a Blue Devil fast break and knocked in a rebound after the initial shot hit the right post.
The Huskies almost halved the Duke lead with 9:30 remaining. Creatini drew a couple of Duke defenders near her before passing to Liane Dixon at the post, but Dixon's shot sailed just wide of the net.
In the second half, Duke sealed the win with a goal on its third penalty corner of the game. Gracie Sorbello sent a crisp pass to the corner post to Grant, who deflected the ball into the back of the cage for her second goal of the game and a 3-0 lead at 51:17.
Northeastern held a 10-5 penalty corner advantage for the match, while Duke led 9-4 in shots.
Duke Northeastern
Pos. # Player Sh G A Pos. # Player Sh G A
-------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
G 39 Christy Morgan...... - - - G 77 Diana Nelson........ - - -
B 3 Gracie Sorbello..... 2 - 1 F 3 Sara Webber......... 1 - -
B 4 Kim Gogola.......... - - - F 4 Liane Dixon......... 1 - -
M 11 Kirsten Bostrom..... - - - B 5 Leigh Shea.......... - - -
B 15 Jessica Fluck....... - - - F 9 Mari Creatini....... 2 - -
M 16 Johanna Bischof..... - - - F 14 Natalie Singelais... - - -
F 17 Katie Grant......... 2 2 - B 15 Melissa Rowell...... - - -
M 19 Hilary Linton....... - - - M 19 Jay Quinn........... - - -
M 20 Kim Van Kirk........ 1 1 1 B 20 Alli Bolster........ - - -
F 21 Chrissie Murphy..... 1 - - B 21 Megan Troxel........ - - -
B 23 Amy Stopford........ 1 - - B 22 Lauren Edelmeier.... - - -
---------- Substitutes ---------- ---------- Substitutes ----------
7 Suzanna Simpson..... - - - 10 Sarah Eckhoff....... - - -
10 Nicole Dudek........ 2 - - 23 Joy Earley.......... - - -
14 Stacey Tsougas...... - - -
Totals.............. 4 0 0
Totals.............. 9 3 2
Duke Northeastern
# Player MIN GA Saves # Player MIN GA Saves
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
39 Christy Morgan...... 70:00 0 1 77 Diana Nelson........ 70:00 3 5
TM TEAM................ 0:00 0 1
Shots by period 1 2 Tot Saves by period 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Duke................ 5 4 - 9 Duke................ 1 0 - 1
Northeastern........ 4 0 - 4 Northeastern........ 3 3 - 6
Penalty corners 1 2 Tot Fouls 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Duke................ 1 4 - 5 Duke................ 0 0 - 0
Northeastern........ 9 1 - 10 Northeastern........ 0 0 - 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team ## Goal Scorer Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 9:47 DU 17 Katie Grant (7) 20 Kim Van Kirk
2. 14:15 DU 20 Kim Van Kirk (5) Unassisted
3. 51:17 DU 17 Katie Grant (8) 3 Gracie Sorbello
