Because it's been over 40 years since the two teams last met, the Duke men's lacrosse team has had plenty of time to prepare for yesterday's game against Army, played in Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y.
No. 5 Duke (7-2) soundly defeated the 17th-ranked Cadets (4-3) 17-6, stretching the Blue Devils' win streak to five games.
Although the win was hard-earned with the game being postponed an hour-and-a-half because of a snowstorm, yesterday marked the first road victory of the season following earlier losses at Loyola and Brown.
"Army did a great job of clearing the field, the game was delayed an hour-and-a-half, but it wasn't a mess and it wasn't a factor," coach Mike Pressler said. "I got my start as a college coach in Army, so there were a lot of things going on in my mind personally."
The Blue Devils took a commanding lead in the first quarter as they collected seven goals against Army. Senior Nick Hartofilis, who scored twice, and junior Greg Patchak, who added three goals, opened up the scoring for Duke as they tallied their first goals within eight seconds of each other. Freshman Kevin Cassese and senior T.J. Durnan also collected points in the first quarter.
"The first goal really set a tone for Army for what kind of game they were going to be in," Pressler said. "It was by far our fastest, and our best first half offensively this season."
Altogether, there were 11 Blue Devil players who scored in the game. Craig Schubert, Dan Chemotti, Jared Frood, Michael Keating, Chris Kakel, Jamie Brodsky, and Taylor Wray also contributed to the Blue Devils' blowout.
"I was proud of my guys, the way they started, the way they we were ready to play," Pressler said. "I am also proud of the captains in the way they led the team with an hour-and-a-half delay.
"I think to say that we would lose some of that great game karma that we need to have to be ready to play is the furthest from the truth. It was the kind of game that we had to play in order to give us the momentum we needed to go into Virginia this weekend."
Duke's top scorer in the game against the Cadets was Patchak, who led the Blue Devils with three goals and two assists.
Lee Dingman of Army scored two goals, one in the second and one in the third quarter, both of which were assisted by Tim Peason. Alex Fyfe, Tom Martin, John Ryan and Jimmy Vlahakis scored the rest of the Cadets' six goals. Tim Pearson led Army in saves with three in the game.
"They scored, but they never dominated," Pressler said of Army.
The freshmen had a good turnout as Cassese scored his first goal this season on an unassisted attack in the first quarter. Wray scored his first goal on the season as well, which was also unassisted, in the fourth quarter to close out the game's scoring.
"We were thrilled for [Wray] since it's his first college goal," Pressler said. "Cassese also got a goal and we're real proud of him, too."
Blue Devil goalkeepers Matt Breslin and A.J. Kincel had 16 saves.
The Blue Devils have a tough schedule ahead as they face Virginia next weekend and will be competing in the ACC tournament the following week.
"We are not going to do anything specific to prepare for Virginia, except just keep the momentum that we have now," Pressler said.
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