Without the services of senior faceoff man Sam Payton, Duke was searching for someone to step up and take his place.
Sophomore CJ Costabile and senior Terrence Molinari made Payton’s absence a non-issue Saturday in Charlottesville.
The two combined to win 17 of 25 faceoffs, including 10 of 12 in the second half, to lead Duke to a 13-9 victory over No. 1 Virginia on the Cavaliers’ home field.
“Losing Payton was definitely a big loss, but with such a deep roster, [we] just got to have the next guy step up, and CJ Costabile and Terrence Molinari really stepped up big for us and did a great job,” senior Ned Crotty said. “It was definitely something that helped keep the momentum going our way.”
“We were delighted with the effort we got from both Terrence Molinari and CJ Costabile,” head coach John Danowski said. “We were able to score some goals off the faceoff game, create transition, and I thought we really played smart off the faceoffs.”
Molinari paced the attack by winning seven of his 12 faceoffs. The senior did not play last year due to injury, but has come back this season to add depth to the Blue Devils’ attack.
Costabile won 10 of his 13 draws, collected four ground balls and assisted on junior Zach Howell’s goal to open the fourth quarter and make the score 10-7 in Duke’s favor. Even after his great performance, Costabile humbly attributed his success to his teammates.
“Wing play really separates me having a great day at the X from me having a bad day at the X,” Costabile said. “Parker McKee and his ability to get ground balls is just ridiculous. He makes it really easy for guys like me and Terrence. Wing play is what really makes the faceoff play work and it makes my job a lot easier.”
McKee collected six ground balls during the game while Duke’s two other starting defensemen, Dan Theodoridis and Mike Manley, each collected three. Virginia’s starting defense combined to collect just one ground ball the entire game.
“We really, truly emphasized ground balls,” Danowski said. “I wasn’t talking about faceoffs in particular, but certainly that helps. I thought the guys did a phenomenal job of chasing ground balls and picking up ground balls at crucial times.”
While the box score shows that the Blue Devils dominated on ground balls, they had their struggles early on. The Cavaliers scored the first three goals of the game and had 23 shots in the first half. Although Duke won seven of the 12 faceoffs in the first 30 minutes, Virginia collected 18 ground balls, three more than the Blue Devils in that span.
The second half was an entirely different story for Duke. Danowski’s squad won 10 of 12 faceoffs, including all six in the third quarter, and collected 16 ground balls, more than three times as many as Virginia did.
And yet Duke’s dominance in the faceoff circle extended beyond ground balls and the offensive side of the field. It was just as important to the defensive side of the game.
“The faceoff game is obviously crucial in any game, but especially this game, because they have such an explosive offense,” junior Zach Howell said. “It’s something where we don’t want to give them the ball too much and we want to have as many opportunities to score as we can, and in the second half we were able to do that.”
Duke faces Virginia again this Friday in the ACC tournament and will be looking to sustain its second-half performance for all 60 minutes, with or without its top faceoff man.
“We thought that Sam Payton might play next week and that would be different for sure, but we had success today and maybe we don’t need to play Sam,” Danowski said. “We’ll take a look [at the film] and see what it is we need to do and how we can get better as a result of this game tonight. We’re always looking to improve.”
After Saturday night’s performance, the Blue Devils can rest easy knowing that if Payton isn’t ready to go, they have two replacements ready to step up and take his place.
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