The Blue Devils have struggled to close out games. And this matchup against Brown was no exception.
Although the Bears staged a furious fourth-quarter comeback, Duke held on to win 9-8, improving to a perfect 7-0 at Koskinen Stadium.
Brown staged a 3-0 run in the fourth period to bring the game within one, in similar fashion to Georgetown and Harvard, who scored five and four unanswered fourth-quarter goals against the Blue Devils, respectively, in recent games.
“We knew the game was going to come down to the fourth quarter,” head coach John Danowski said. “The fourth quarter has not been a strength of ours in the last several games.... We didn’t help ourselves by turning the ball over offensively. So while we got that lead, we certainly almost gave it away.”
The No. 8 Blue Devils’ (8-3) nine goals were scored by nine different players, including two freshmen. Jake Tripucka led Duke in points with a goal and two assists, followed by Jordan Wolf, who added a goal and an assist.
Brown’s (3-4) John DePeters struck first, but was answered by an unassisted goal less than three minutes later from the Blue Devils’ David Lawson. With 2:22 left in the first period, Duke’s Robert Rotanz followed that up with a goal, set up by Tripucka. The Bears did not let the Blue Devils head into the second period with the lead, however, as Nick Piroli tied the game at two with a goal off a Duke turnover.
The Blue Devils’ Michael Manley kicked off second-period scoring with a fast break goal less than three minutes in, followed by an unassisted one from Jordan Wolf 46 seconds later. With 8:20 remaining, Brown’s Sam Hurster scored on an extra-man opportunity but both teams went scoreless for the rest of the period with Duke heading into the locker room with a 4-3 advantage.
The Blue Devils started the second half strong offensively, with tallies from Tripucka and Josh Offit in the first 2:46. The Bears’ Dan O’Brien responded with a goal less than three minutes later. With 14 seconds left in the third period, Eddie Loftus scored off a pass from Tripucka, but once again Brown did not let Duke have the last goal of the period, notching a goal with just one second remaining on the clock.
The final period of the game looked promising for the Blue Devils, who had a 9-5 lead after goals from freshmen Will Haus and Kyle Keenan in the first seven minutes of play. The lead did not last long, though, as the Bears started their rally less than a minute later, as O’Brien, Parker Brown and Piroli found the back of the net to bring the game within one.
Although Duke slid by with a win, a three-quarter effort will not be enough in its next game against No. 14 Syracuse.
“We have to play smarter, we have to execute, and we just have to play overall better,” Tripucka said. “We’re not going to be able to squeak out of these games every week. Syracuse is an unbelievable opponent, tons of athletes. We have our hands full Sunday.”
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