RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond's Lexie Marrocco scored two goals as the Spiders fell to third-ranked Duke, 17-6. Junior Mandy Friend added one goal and two assists for No. 18 Richmond. Richmond's goalkeeper, Erica Marrocco stopped 11 of Duke's shots in the first half and six in the second for a total of 16 saves. Duke's Kim Imbesi stopped just six of Richmond's shots. The Spiders finished the first half of play with just two shots, while Duke shot the ball 26 times in the first 30 minutes of play.

"Our defense did some good things," head coach Sue Murphy said. "We were fortunate to come out of the first half 8-2 allowing them that many shots with that much possession time."

The Spiders dominated the first minutes of the second half, putting in two straight goals. Junior Lexie Marrocco started off scoring in the second half with a goal off a free-position shot just over a minute into play. Thirty seconds later, senior Erin Kennedy added another Richmond goal off an assist from Mandy Friend. Friend found Kennedy, cutting through the eight-meter for a catch-turn shot and goal.

"We were able to make some changes to the draw control in the second half to allow us some more possession time," Murphy commented. "So I'm proud of the adjustment the girls made."

No. 18 Richmond did not give up in the end, the Spiders put in two last goals in the last three minutes of play. Mandy Friend scored Richmond's fifth goal, unassisted with just 2:56 left on the clock. With less than a minute remaining, senior Claire Cunniff capitalized on a free-position goal to give the Spiders' their final goal of the game.

"I give credit to them," said Murphy. "Their transition game was well executed. I thought our attack just didn't take advantage of what they were given."

Next up for the Spiders, hosts Oregon this Sunday, February 24, with a 12:00 p.m. ET start time.

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RICHMOND, Va. --- Duke earned its third victory this season in as many games as it dominated the Richmond Spiders, 17-6, on Friday afternoon at a cold and rainy First Market Stadium. The Blue Devils were led on offense by junior midfielder Carolyn Davis with three goals and three assists and on defense by junior goalie Kim Imbesi with 10 saves and five ground balls.

"I thought that our girls were well prepared and knew what to expect," said head coach Kerstin Kimel. "I thought we did a great job of being disciplined and sticking to our game plan."

Duke got off to a fast start in the first period on the strength of three goals by Davis in the first eight minutes. Senior midfielder Allie Johnson notched the next two scores for Duke and built an 8-2 lead going into the break after scoring the last five goals of the half.

The Devil defense was stifling throughout the game, and in the first stanza alone caused seven turnovers, broke up three of eight clears and limited the Spiders to just six shots and two goals. Guided by Imbesi's 10 saves for the game, the defensive unit caused a total of 12 turnovers, including two by Davis, and shut down Richmond by giving up just six goals on 19 shots. Two of those six scores came in the final three minutes of the contest, when the matter had already been decided.

"We were just much more aware today than the first two games, and as a defensive unit we were trusting each other and being able to send out doubles a lot sooner," said Johnson.

The first 1:32 of the second half gave Duke a small scare, as Richmond came out and hit paydirt twice, but 8-4 was as close as the Spiders would get the rest of the way. The Blue Devils would control the ball and score the next eight goals, including three by freshman midfielder Sarah Bullard, over a span of 25:36 in the second stanza.

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2008-02-22