Duke Women's Lacrosse to Wear 'Innocent' Bands

May 24, 2006 — -- The Duke women's lacrosse team retains strong ties to the men's team currently embroiled in rape allegations.

The women plan to wear sweatbands that say "innocent" when they play Northwestern in the Final Four on Friday in Boston, The Durham Herald-Sun reported Wednesday.

"Obviously we want to win a national championship for ourselves, but definitely also for the university and the men's team," junior Leigh Jester told the paper. "They don't really have a chance to play their season, which is a shame.

"We'd love to bring it home not only for ourselves, but also for them."

The ties go further, too. Mike Pressler, who resigned as men's coach on April 5, spoke to the women's team after practice Tuesday, the paper reported.

"I think his message was a little bit more believing in themselves and looking at the year we had in spite of the difficulties that Duke and the lacrosse program have seen," women's coach Kerstin Kimel told the Herald-Sun. "Our kids have been a real pillar of strength. They haven't let this be a distraction; if anything they've used it to motivate. I think our kids have done a great job of supporting the men's team and the players."

Duke declined to comment to the paper about the sweatbands or Pressler's speech.