April 7, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. - All good things eventually must come to an end. And in Northwestern's case, that time unfortunately came Friday evening.
No. 1 NU had its 31-game win streak snapped tonight at No. 4 Duke 16-10 in Durham, N.C. Duke (10-1) sprinted to an 11-4 halftime lead and the Wildcats (10-1) could never get back in the match despite a team-high five goals from All-American Kristen Kjellman. The 31-game winning streak dated to May of 2004 when the Wildcats lost to Virginia in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship.
Lack of success early on the draw control (10-6) was one of the big reasons NU fell into an early hole. The Wildcats rebounded in the second half and won the draw controls by a count of 9-3, outscoring the Blue Devils 6-5 in the half. But coming back from a seven-point halftime deficit is a tall order for any team to overcome.
"Not much (went right in the first half)," head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. "I think this is a good wake-up call and learning experience for us. You have to give Duke a lot of credit. They played a great game tonight and definitely deserved to win. The deficit in the first half was just too much for us to overcome. But I think our girls will bounce back and I'm excited about the rest of the season."
Both teams traded goals in the first four minutes as two goals by Kjellman tied the game at 2-2. The next 18 minutes would prove costly, however, as Duke ran off six-straight goals to take an 8-2 lead with 8:29 left in the half. Aly Josephs and Laura Glassanos both added two late goals as the Wildcats trailed by seven at the half.
Duke opened an eight-point lead when Katie Chrest notched her fourth goal of the game to give Duke a 12-4 lead just into the second period. Back-to-back goals by Lindsey Munday and Kjellman cut the lead to 12-6, giving NU new life until Duke halted the momentum with three-straight goals to push the lead to nine.
Kjellman and the Wildcats would make one last charge, scoring three-consecutive goals to make it 15-10 with 6:54 left. Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Wildcats would get as Duke controlled the time of possession the rest of the way.
Morgan Lathrop took the loss in goal, her first of the season, to put her record at 9-1. Abby Bangser played the final 30 minutes, recording three saves.
Chrest led Duke with four goals while goalkeeper Megan Huether picked up the win in goal.
Northwestern will seek to start a new streak when it travels to Penn State next weekend (Sunday, April 16) for a meeting with ALC foe Penn State.