Northwestern lacrosse can't contain Duke in 15-9 loss

Despite two sparkling individual performances in attack, Northwestern lacrosse (2-1) dropped its first game of 2015 to No. 8 Duke (4-0) Thursday afternoon in Northbrook, Ill. by a score of 15-9.

Northwestern couldn't keep up with Duke's attack. Five straight Blue Devil goals early in the second half were the difference, as Northwestern's offense went silent. By the time Kaleigh Craig snapped the goal drought late on, the game was out of reach.

Freshman Selena Lasota and Craig paced NU early on, but were the only two Wildcat players to score. Craig scored Northwestern's first three goals to keep coach Kelly Amonte Hiller's team within touching distance early on, and finished with four on the day.

Lasota had four tallies in the first half alone, and scored a fifth soon after the halftime break to bring the Wildcats within 1 at 9-8. One of the goals in particular required quite a bit of skill:

LAX: Selena Lasota goes BEHIND THE HEAD for her 4th goal of the day, matching her career high. Duke leads 9-7 w/ 18 seconds left in 1st half

— NU Sports Live (@NU_SportsLIVE) February 19, 2015

It was Northwestern's defense that couldn't hold up though. The 15 goals allowed were the most by a Northwestern team since a 22-4 loss to Florida back in 2013.

In the two previous games, the Wildcats had staged a monumental comeback in their season opener to beat USC in overtime, and then took down No. 7 Virginia behind defense and stellar goalkeeping from Bridget Bianco. But Thursday, the defense was porous, and the comeback wasn't to be.

Northwestern travels to Marquette on Saturday to take on the Golden Eagles.