The eighth-ranked men's lacrosse team wasted little time in proving it is a force to be reckoned with on the national scene, upsetting No. 5 Maryland at College Park on Saturday, 11-10.
With 1:26 left in Duke's first game of the season, senior attackman Scott Allen's goal through the legs of Terrapin goalie Sean Keenan broke a 10-10 tie and vaulted the Blue Devils to victory.
"We came into the game very prepared," Duke coach Mike Pressler said. "We've been preparing for it the entire preseason. Maryland has a great tradition of being one of the top three or four teams in the country year in and year out. So to beat them up there under the circumstances, it was a big win for our program. But we expected to win. We have good players and they know their places and we just executed."
The Blue Devils (1-0 overall, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) started strong and led 8-3 after freshman midfielder Jared Frood scored his second goal of the game with 7:54 remaining in the third quarter. But they couldn't put Maryland away: the Terrapins (1-1, 0-1 in the ACC) proceeded to outscore Duke 7-1 to take a 10-9 lead-their first of the contest-with 8:37 to go.
The Blue Devils quickly regrouped, however, and John Fay's goal just over a minute later, which completed a hat trick for the junior attackman, tied the game at 10. Senior goalie Joe Kirmser made an outlet pass to sophomore midfielder Brendan Keaney, who found Fay open for the shot.
"We were kind of worried that we were going to throw away a big lead, but I thought we were pretty calm and collected and we were able to get it back," Fay said. "It was a huge win considering we've lost to them the last two years. It's not the end-all of our season, but it's good to get a game under our belts, especially in the ACC."
Senior midfielder Jim Gonnella added a pair of goals for Duke, while freshman attackman T.J. Durnan, freshman midfielder Nick Hartofolis and sophomore midfielder Adam Dretner also scored. Gonnella and Keaney notched assists for the Blue Devils.
Maryland outshot Duke 49-35 for the game but was continually frustrated by Kirmser, who racked up 22 saves.
"We expect that out of Joe," Pressler said. "There's a lot of pressure that goes along with who he is and the position that he plays. He played like the fifth-year senior that he is and came up with some huge saves down the stretch."
The coach also credited his four senior defenders-Tyler Hardy, David Stilley, Greg Ehrnman and Pat Doyle-for holding the Terrapins' vaunted attack in check. In addition, Pressler lauded Gonnella for stepping up in the absence of sophomore midfielder Scott Diggs, who went down with a hamstring pull. Diggs is expected to be back by the weekend.
Diggs may have been the only casualty of Saturday's game, but players on both teams should have plenty of bumps and bruises to show for the hard-fought contest, with each team amassing five penalties for a total of three-and-a-half minutes.
"We're pretty banged up, but that's ACC lacrosse for you," Pressler said. "It's very physical-there were bodies flying everywhere. Every ground ball was like a life or death situation. They played it like a national championship game. The effort was just super."
While the Blue Devils were happy with the win, they were somewhat concerned about blowing the five-goal lead. But both Pressler and Fay said that several of the Maryland scores in that span were "fluky" deflections, and one was inadvertently tipped in by a Duke player.
"I thought we played well on defense but we just weren't finishing on offense," Fay said. "It was a little bit of a mental let-down but they were also sitting on the ball and not letting us get into our attack."
The Blue Devils, who play the second-hardest schedule in the country this season, won't be able to enjoy Saturday's win for too long. They host Boston College tomorrow, and then face No. 9 Brown at home on Saturday.
"We have quite a stretch coming up," Fay said. "Hopefully we'll be able to get a win and play well [against B.C.] and keep the momentum going into the game with Brown since we lost to them last year."
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