The men's lacrosse team sure knows how to go out with a bang.
In their last home game of the season, the sixth-ranked Blue Devils (9-3) went on a 9-1 run in the fourth quarter to cap a 19-6 victory over No. 10 Hobart (8-2) on Saturday.
Fittingly, Duke's seniors led the late-game barrage. John Fay, Julian Flannery and Ben Quayle, playing their last game in Duke Lacrosse Stadium, all tallied goals during the run. Flannery, who had seen little playing time all year, netted a hat trick within a three-minute span.
"It was a great feeling," Flannery said. "Coach [Mike Pressler] told us about the highs and lows of the season, and it's just great to finish our last home game on a high."
It was Fay, though, who was the star of the game. Fay has traditionally made strong showings against Hobart, scoring nine goals against the Statesmen in 1996 and seven on Hobart's home field last year. Saturday's outing was no different.
After being stymied in the first quarter, he picked up steam to rack up four goals in the remaining three. And when Fay didn't find the back of the net himself, he found someone who could, dishing out four assists on the afternoon.
"We're going to invite him to our Block H dinner and give him a letter," Hobart coach B.J. O'Hara said of Fay.
Aware of Fay's ability to wreak havoc on them, the Statesmen entered the game intending to shut him down and limit his touches on the ball. They were somewhat successful-Fay's four goals were four below his average against Hobart-but the effort was not enough to completely contain him.
"Especially in the beginning of the game, I felt a little more pressure than usual," Fay said. "They were playing pretty tight defense, but sort of as the game went on, I kind of got used to it."
Hobart's Trevor Buck kicked off the scoring with a bouncing shot two minutes into the first quarter, but Duke responded with five unanswered goals and closed out the first half with a 6-2 lead.
When the second stanza started, the Statesmen came out ready to show the Blue Devils that the battle wasn't over yet. Meanwhile the Blue Devils seemed to let up in intensity. The momentum of the game shifted towards Hobart, as it tallied three goals in the first eight minutes of the third quarter to Duke's one and came within two goals of the Blue Devils.
In the last five minutes of the third frame, though, Duke woke up, countering with three quick goals from Craig Schubert, Jared Frood and Fay.
"We made some classic mistakes," Pressler said. "We're bigger, stronger and faster than Hobart, but they're a smart team.... We were confident we were going to get our transition game going again, and so we did that."
The third quarter saw another change for Duke, this one between the pipes. After recording nine saves and allowing two goals in the first half, senior Craig Seyffer exited the game and was replaced by freshman goalkeeper Matt Breslin. Breslin made six saves and gave up four goals. Although Seyffer has held the starting slot for most of the season, the Blue Devils decided to open up the position and split games between the two goalies after two consecutive losses to Virginia.
"It's going to happen-we've got two outstanding goalies," Pressler said.
The Blue Devils will next see action when they travel to Penn St. on May 1 at 12:30 p.m.
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