COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Before his team took the field against third-ranked Maryland, Duke men’s lacrosse coach Mike Pressler told his players if they were going to win, it was going to be close.
Pressler’s predictions played out. Although it looked like the No. 12 Blue Devils were going to be overwhelmed at the start, they controlled much of the second half, scoring five straight goals on their way to a 10-8 win over the Terrapins Saturday.
Duke (4-0, 1-0 in the ACC) remains perfect, getting a leg up on the four-team ACC, while Maryland dropped its first conference game and fell to 1-1.
“It’s interesting, I told our guys, ‘Hold them to singles, we’ll get to doubles, and it’ll work out,’” Pressler said. “Not that it always happens the coach’s way, but that’s the way it was today.”
Duke failed to pull out close games against higher-ranked teams last season—the 2004 squad lost three games by just one goal, the difference between a winning season and a losing one.
After making adjustments in the faceoff circle, Pressler said, Duke won 8-of-20. Faceoffs were the team’s biggest weakness in 2004, but the Blue Devils held their own Saturday.
“It’s hard to put into words right now,” said goalie Aaron Fenton, who made 16 saves. “I mean, we haven’t beaten these guys in two years.”
Maryland scored three times in the first quarter, and for a while, it looked it might be a blowout. But Pressler’s team began to take care of the ball and went into halftime down 5-4.
“We had to settle down and make plays on defense,” Fenton said. “When we settled, we got our poise.”
Down 6-4 in the third quarter, Duke’s Matt Zash scored his second goal of the game on a shot in front of the crease. From that point, Duke’s slow, patient possessions began to make the difference.
The Blue Devils scored five more times following Zash’s goal, which came after the midfielder slipped underneath his defender on a dodge coming from up top.
Midfielder Kyle Dowd evened the score at 6-6 with a well-placed shot off the left hip of Maryland goalie Harry Alford, who made eight saves.
After a goal by midfielder Fred Krom, freshman Zack Greer gave Duke all the scoring it would need. Greer was in the right position to put in a rebound off of Maryland’s Alford and then beat Alford on a high shot just 42 seconds later.
Duke’s biggest moment of the pivotal third quarter came on a man-down situation. Down two players, Duke’s defense did not give up a score despite a deluge of Maryland shots, one of the day’s several defensive stands.
“I’m sure it kind of broke them down after that, knowing they couldn’t score, so that felt pretty good,” Fenton said. “We knew we were going to win it after that.”
Greer was one of four Blue Devils with two goals—Matt Danowski, Zash and Dan Flannery were the others. Joe Walters led Maryland with three scores.
When Duke was not taking long possessions and careful shots, Maryland peppered Fenton with inaccurate attempts. The Blue Devils converted 10-of-26 shots while Maryland missed 42-of-50.
Up 9-8 coming out of a timeout with 2:42 left, Pressler made a snap decision and put the ball in Greer’s stick. The freshman held the ball for more than a minute.
Then Flannery scored an insurance goal with 1:28 left, and the Blue Devils held on from there.
“That’s the kind of day it was for us,” Pressler said.
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