Despite outshooting Northwestern 33-15 in the second half, the Duke women's lacrosse team couldn't overcome the halftime deficit and ultimately fell to the third-ranked Wildcats, 20-24 Sunday afternoon in Koskinen Stadium. Freshman Caroline DeBellis led Duke (1-1) for the second consecutive game with five points by the way of two goals and three assists. Juniors Catriona Barry and Katie Cronin led the Blue Devils in the goal column with four goals apiece. Northwestern (2-0) jumped on the Blue Devils early, scoring eight unanswered goals in the first 11:30. Cronin was the first Blue Devil to get on the board by the way of a free position shot at the 18:16 mark in the first half. Following the score, Duke and the visitors alternated scores over the next 11 minutes to bring the game to with 7:30 remaining in the half. Barry, Maddie Jenner and Abby Landry all scored during the span. Duke then rattled off three consecutive goals from Olivia Carner, Lexi Schmalz and DeBellis to pull the game within five. The Wildcats tacked on two more before DeBellis scored unassisted to make it 8-14 at the break. Coming out of the break, Northwestern outscored the hosts 5-4 in the opening ten minutes. Landry and Cronin scored on free position shots while Barry and Catherine Cordrey both added one each, unassisted. The visitors ended the back and forth banter with three consecutive goals to make it 12-22 with 15:51 remaining. Duke outscored its guest 8-2 over the last 15 minutes of play to pull within four. Cronin, Jenner and Barry all scored twice while Lindsey Reynolds and Cordrey tacked on one apiece. Defensively, fourteen different Duke players caused 15 Northwestern turnovers with Barry being the only player with two. Sophia LeRose led the team in saves and groundballs with five each. The Blue Devils finished the day with an advantage in shots (50-42) and draw controls (24-22, including 16-7 in the second half) with Jenner leading the team with 16. The Wildcats were led by Lindsey McKone with seven points (five goals and two assists). Duke wraps up its three-game home stretch to open the season Thursday when the Blue Devils host a date with Wofford. Opening draw is at 5 p.m. in Koskinen Stadium and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.