Spartans conquer Dukes

The Dukes suffered a 6-1 loss Saturday against Michigan State University, the No.5 ranked team in the final 2003 national poll.

The game was tied at zero when Dukes midfielder Baillie Versfeld went down with an injury.

Michigan State scored three goals in the next five minutes in Versfeld’s absence.

Coach Antoinette Lucas said the team relies heavily on Versfeld and that the team needs to make proper adjustments when she is off the field.

Versfeld reentered the game before the first half ended but she admitted her injury affected her play. She was hesitant to make offensive runs because she was afraid that her injury would inhibit her from getting back on defense.

The first half ended with the Dukes down 3-0.

Versfeld said, "At halftime, coach told us to work together, hang in there and take it one goal at a time."

The Dukes came out in the second half and added a goal by Versfeld off a corner shot from senior forward Alissa Santanna with 30 minutes left.

However, the goal was not enough to overcome the Spartan offense. The Dukes were outshot 14 to 5. Michigan State had seven more corner shots.

"We had series of good passes and worked down the field well," senior back Carrie Smith said. "But we need to organize quicker on defense and in transition."

Coach Lucas is confident that playing elite teams like Michigan State will help the team improve.

"We will be well prepared for the [Colonial Athletic Association] because of our strength of schedule," Lucas said.

The Dukes will play four of the next five games at home. During that time, they will face Big 10 and Atlantic Coast Conference foes Penn State University and the University of Virginia before entering their CAA schedule.