After starting the season 2-4 for the first time since 1992, Duke was in unfamiliar territory when it squared off with defending national champion Loyola.
But the Blue Devils did not look like the team that had dropped four out of its first six games, instead a team that had made six straight trips to the NCAA tournament’s championship weekend.
Duke (3-4) avoided its worst start since 1981 with a 9-8 upset of the No. 4 Greyhounds (4-2) Friday night at Koskinen Stadium. The two teams combined for just nine goals through the game’s first three quarters, but the Blue Devils exploded for five tallies in the fourth quarter to get their season back on track.
“I don’t think that we ever had control of this game,” Loyola head coach Charley Toomey said. “You talk about the history of Duke and Duke is a very good team. They’ve played quality opponents all year long and the record does not reflect how good that team is.”
With the Blue Devils clinging to a 9-7 advantage late in the game, Loyola’s Justin Ward scored his second goal of the game to cut the margin to one with 1:13 remaining. Blue Devil midfielder Brendan Fowler responded by winning the ensuing faceoff, but a poor clearance attempt gave the Greyhounds possession with a chance to tie the game.
After calling timeout with 33 seconds remaining, Loyola advanced the ball deep into Duke’s end, but tenacious defense on Ward by Blue Devil defender Bill Conners kept the Greyhounds from getting a shot off as time expired.
“Billy was just fundamentally sound. One of our goals all week was that if you want to beat a team like Loyola you have to win your individual battles,” Duke head coach John Danowski said. “We haven’t been terrific defensively, and we’ve given up a lot of goals. It’s something we’ve worked hard on this past week.”
Duke found the back of the net early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead when junior attack Jordan Wolf darted from behind the net and beat Loyola goaltender Jack Runkel with 8:17 remaining in the first quarter.
But the game shifted to a defensive battle. Both teams’ netminders stepped up to make crucial saves, and Duke fed off the energy of sophomore goaltender Kyle Turri, who made his first start of the season Friday.
Starting goalie Dan Wigrizer did not dress for the Blue Devils matchup with the Greyhounds, due to what Danowski described as an upper body injury. Wigrizer had struggled in Duke’s first six games of the season and was pulled from the Blue Devils’ 16-7 loss to No. 1 Maryland last weekend after allowing five goals on seven shots in just 15:43 of action.
The Greyhounds held the Blue Devils scoreless for a span of 24:02, going on a 4-0 run to take a 4-3 lead into the locker room. Duke missed a number of scoring opportunities in the second quarter, but could have trailed Loyola by a larger margin if not for the play of Turri.
Turri finished with nine saves on the night and turned away multiple Loyola shots with the Blue Devils facing a minute-long man-down situation midway through the second period.
“Kyle has stepped in for us before and he has a lot of experience,” Danowski said. “We were delighted with his performance tonight.”
Duke broke its scoreless drought when senior attack Josh Dionne found the back of the net for his second goal of the evening just 45 seconds into the third quarter. Loyola’s Phil Dobson fought off two defenders to give Loyola back its one-goal edge, but scores on back-to-back possessions by freshman Case Matheis and senior Josh Offit gave the Blue Devils their first advantage since the game’s opening quarter.
Fowler struggled from the faceoff X for Duke through the first three quarters, but was able to win 6-of-9 draws in the fourth quarter to provide the Blue Devils with a much-needed advantage in possession.
“You have to give their wing play some credit. Fowler is good at the X but he picks up a lot of ground balls,” Toomey said. “I thought that when the whistle blew, we had a good chance. But I think as the game went on his athleticism just took over.”
After Offit scored his second goal of the evening and Christian Walsh tallied 55 seconds later to give Duke an 8-6 advantage, Loyola’s Pat Laconi responded to keep the game within reach. But senior Jake Tripucka worked behind the goal and found Wolf cutting down the heart of the Greyhound defense for his second score of the game with 3:45 remaining.
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