No. 15 Duke Outlasts No. 3 Maryland in Overtime

DURHAM, N.C.—Duke University freshman Jordan Wolf tallied his third goal of the game 1:01 into overtime to lift the 15th-ranked Blue Devils to a 9-8 overtime victory over No. 3 Maryland in ACC men’s lacrosse action this afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. Wolf led Duke in scoring as the Blue Devils netted the game’s final two goals for the crucial ACC victory.

“I went out in the corner and Christian Walsh set a really nice pick to seal his guy,” Wolf said. “All I really did was run by the net and saw a little bit of space and I just went for it. [When I saw it go in] it was the best moment of my life. It’s why everyone comes here, to play a game like that. It was really special.”

After Maryland rallied back from a three-goal deficit to take an 8-7 lead with just over a minute left in regulation, the Blue Devils successfully cleared and called their final timeout. Duke came out of the huddle and got into its offensive set and let the seconds tick away as it looked for the best scoring opportunity. With less than 10 seconds on the clock, senior Zach Howell got the ball right on the doorstep amongst Maryland defensemen and was able to slip the ball past Terrapin goaltender Niko Amato to tie the game with three ticks left in regulation and force overtime.

Junior CJ Costabile came out in overtime and won the opening draw and got Duke into the box where the Blue Devils called a timeout. Much like they did on the previous play, the Blue Devils set up their offense. The ball eventually landed in the stick of Wolf in the corner on the left side of the cage. The rookie attackman was able to get enough space between him and the Terrapin defenseman and he unleashed a shot that sailed past Amato to clinch the victory for the Blue Devils.

Duke sophomore goaltender Dan Wigrizer was outstanding between the pipes with 17 saves, including 10 in the second half. The 17 stops match his career high, which he posted in his career debut against Bucknell in 2010.  Offensively, Howell added two goals for the Blue Devils, including the score in the final three seconds of regulation to force overtime. Jake Tripucka added two tallies, while rookie Christian Walsh handed out two assists.

“Our defense stuck to our plan perfectly. They were able to give up shots that they were supposed to give up. I saw shots that I should save and because of the defense doing everything worked in our favor. There’s nothing better than this. An overtime win, ACC win against Maryland, it doesn’t get much better than this.”

Defensively, Duke (2-2, 1-0 ACC) was outstanding as it held the Maryland attack, which accounted for seven goals and four assists the week before, scoreless and to just 10 shots overall. John Haus led Maryland with three goals and Joe Cummings and Landon Carr both had two apiece.

It marked the second consecutive season that Duke and Maryland have gone into overtime and the eighth time overall in the series. The Blue Devils improve to 3-5 in extra sessions against the Terrapins.

Maryland (2-1, 0-1 ACC) registered the game’s first two goals in the opening five minutes before Duke collected itself to even the score at the 4:51 mark of the first quarter. The Terrapins notched the final goal of the first stanza for a 3-2 lead, but it was all Duke over the next 30 minutes as it built a 7-4 advantage after three quarters.

The Blue Devils outscored Maryland 5-1 in the second and third quarters with four different goal scorers. Howell tied the game at three in the early minutes of the second frame and Tripucka added two more, including with three second left until halftime to give Duke a 5-4 lead after 30 minutes of lacrosse.

Duke controlled the third quarter, scoring twice and outshooting the Terrapins 13-6. Amato had eight saves in the third period to keep the Blue Devils within reach at 7-4 heading into the final session.

After being held without a goal for 20:53, the Maryland offense caught fire. The Terrapins netted three goals in 3:11 in the fourth quarter to tie the game at seven apiece with 8:44 left to play. Duke and Maryland continued to trade possessions over the next five minutes. With less than four minutes left in regulation, Haus came up big again for the Terrapins with his third score of the game to give them their first lead since the 2:49 mark of the first quarter and set up the thrilling finish by the Blue Devils.

Duke held a 38-35 advantage in shots and won the ground ball battle 33-21. The Blue Devils were 1-of-4 on man-up opportunities, while Maryland was 1-of-2. Amato finished with 19 saves for the Terrapins. At the draw for Duke, Costabile won 10-of-18 and picked up 11 ground balls and had two caused turnovers.

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Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Penn, 7-3

PHILADELPHIA -Pennsylvania scored the game’s first five goals and held off No. 10 Duke en route to a 7-3 victory over the Blue Devils today at Franklin Field. Duke was led by Justin Turri with one goal and one assist for the game.

Duke falls to 1-2 overall on the year, while Penn grabs a win in its season opener. The loss was the first by the Blue Devils on an opponent’s home field since March 24, 2007 at Georgetown. It also marked the lowest scoring output by a Duke team since March 4, 1986 — a 10-3 loss to Maryland.

Christian Walsh and Zach Howell notched the two other goals for the Blue Devils, while Drew Belinsky had a goal and two assists for the Quakers.

Penn got on the board first just over a minute into the game and then held the Blue Devils offense in check. The Quakers added two more in the first quarter, including a fastbreak goal in the final minute, for a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes.

“It’s not so much that it was 3-0 early on, it’s that we were not mentally where we need to be to compete” head coach John Danowski <http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1385205&DB_OEM_ID=4200>  said.

Penn added a fourth goal early in the second frame and went ahead 5-0 a few minutes later. The Quaker defense continued to stifle Duke’s offense forcing turnovers and keeping the Blue Devils attack from getting good shots on goal to take a 5-0 lead at the break.

The Quakers held a 17-9 advantage in shots and won five of seven faceoffs in the opening half. Duke had 12 turnovers and Penn had 10 in the opening 30 minutes.

Looking for its first goal of the game, Duke opened the second half with a goal from Turri 57 seconds into the session. The goal pushed Turri’s point streak to 16 games. Penn responded less than three minutes later as Rob Fitzpatrick netted his second goal of the game.

Both defenses clamped down in the final 11 minutes of the third quarter as neither team got on the board again.

With Penn holding 6-1 lead after 45 minutes of action, Duke tallied two markers in the first 4:35 of the quarter to pull within three at 6-3. Howell netted the first with an assist from Robert Rotanz and Walsh had the second off a pass from Turri. The Blue Devils held the momentum at that point, but just like they had done all day the Quakers responded with a crucial goal to make it 7-3 with 8:31 left to play.

The statistics were even with Penn holding a slight 27-25 edge in ground balls and a narrow 26-24 lead in shots. Both squads won seven faceoffs apiece, with Duke winning 5-of-7 in the second half.

CJ Costabile won 3-of-6 faceoffs and picked up three ground balls, while Terrence Molinari led all Blue Devils with four ground balls. In goal, sophomore Dan Wigrizer made 11 saves. Pennsylvania goaltender Brian Feeney made nine stops in his collegiate debut.

Duke opens ACC play on March 5, hosting Maryland at Koskinen Stadium. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m., on ESPN3.com.

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Blue Devils Cruise Past Siena in Season Opener

DURHAM, N.C.—Duke University senior attackman Zach Howell registered a career-high nine points from seven goals and two assists to lead the fifth-ranked Blue Devils to a convincing 20-6 season-opening win over Siena College today at Koskinen Stadium. Eleven different Duke players notched a goal and 15 different Blue Devils registered at least one point overall in the game.

Duke (1-0) improves to 48-23 all-time in season openers and to 45-25 in home openers. The 20 goals are the most by the Blue Devils in the first game of the season since 2006 when they beat Butler 20-3.

“I was really delighted with the focus of the team,” head coach John Danowski said. “The theme of today was that last year was way gone and it was about you now and you creating your new path, whatever that’s going to be. Two things we wanted to was get after ground balls and exchange the ball well, just clear well and possessing on offense. If we can do those two things I thought we could be successful. I’m certainly delighted with the effort.”

The Blue Devils got out of the gates quickly against Siena (0-1), scoring five goals in the first 7:59 for a 5-0 lead. Sophomore attackman Josh Offit registered the season’s first tally 2:54 into the contest as he fired home a pass from Howell to make it 1-0. Five different Blue Devils netted scores over the final 12 minutes of the opening quarter to put Duke in front 6-1.

Included in that group were four Blue Devils notching their first career points in a Duke uniform. Redshirt senior Jesse Fehr tallied the game’s fifth goal off and assist from sophomore David Lawson, who posted his first career assist. Rookie Christian Walsh rounded out the scoring for the first period for his first goal as a Blue Devil. Also getting involved was freshman Jordan Wolf with an assist on the fourth goal of the game.

Siena stopped Duke’s quick start with a goal at the 6:15 mark of the first quarter from Chris D’Alberti. Kevin Cotter dished out the assist on the play.

Senior Sam Spillane started the second quarter with his second goal of the game, dropping in a pass from junior CJ Costabile for his second goal of the game. The two goals by Spillane are a career-high.

Less than 40 seconds later, Siena’s Chris Roth registered thee first of his two markers on the day to make it a 7-2 game early in the second frame. John Rogener provided the assist for the Saints. Siena added one more goal in the second quarter, while Duke put away five more, including one in the final second, for a 12-3 halftime lead.

The final two quarters were much of the same with Duke scoring four goals in each of the sessions en route to the 14-goal victory. Howell posted five of the final eight Blue Devils goals, while freshman Josh Dionne and Lawson both tallied their first career goals in the final quarter.

Duke dominated the game in all facets as the Blue Devils outshot the Saints 47-22. The Blue Devils won 18 of the 28 faceoffs, with Costabile going 9-of-14 in draws and rookie Brendan Fowler winning 6-of-7 in his debut. The Blue Devils won the ground ball game, 42-29 with Costabile leading the way with six.

In goal, Duke sophomore Dan Wigrizer earned the start and made seven saves. Mike Rock manned the cage in the third and fourth quarters, making one stop, while Christopher Shannon had one save in the final three minutes. Siena goaltender Tom Moor had seven stops in the first 30 minutes and Bill Kelly made three saves in the second half.

Duke will take on No. 7 Notre Dame next in the Sunshine Classic in Jacksonville, Fla. The game will be played at EverBank Stadium on Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN.

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DURHAM, N.C.—The Duke University men’s lacrosse team will have five regular season contests televised on the ESPN family of networks in the 2011 season, ESPN announced on Dec. 15. All three of the Blue Devils’ ACC matches will air on ESPNU.

The Blue Devils will make their 2011 television debut on Feb. 20 in the inaugural Sunshine Classic at Everbank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The game will be a 2010 NCAA title game rematch between Duke and North Carolina and will be carried on ESPN at 3 p.m.

Duke opens conference action on March 5, hosting Maryland on ESPN3 at 1 p.m. On March 17, the Blue Devils will make the trip down Tobacco Road for a game against rival North Carolina on ESPNU at 7 p.m.

The month of April begins with the Konica Minolta Big City Classic on April 3 at the New Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. Duke will take on Syracuse on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. The Blue Devils close out their ACC schedule on April 16 against Virginia at 5:30 p.m.

The Blue Devils open the season on Feb. 12 against Siena at Koskinen Stadium.

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Men’s Lacrosse: No. 4 Duke vs. No. 2 Virginia, ACC Semifinals

Game 15 l ACC Tournament Semifinal

Duke (11-3, 1-2 ACC) vs. Virginia (11-1, 2-1 ACC)

Friday, April 22  5:00 p.m.

Byrd Stadium l College Park, Md.

ACC Select l Live Stats l ACC Championship Site l Complete Game Notes

Duke Meets Virginia in ACC Semifinal

Just six days after upsetting top-ranked Virginia 13-9 in Charlottesville, Va., the Blue Devils will take on the Cavaliers again in the ACC Semifinal on April 23 in College Park, Md. … Faceoff is set for 5 p.m., in Byrd Stadium … The winner advances to the championship on April 25 at 3:30 p.m.

Duke-Virginia Series History

Duke and Virginia are meeting for the 71st time since the first meeting in 1938 and for the second time in six days … The Cavaliers own a 48-22 lead in the series, but it is Duke who has had the recent success in winning each of the past eight matches … The Blue Devils upended the No. 1 Cavaliers in Charlottesville on April 17 … Virginia’s last win over the Blue Devils was on April 17, 2004, a 13-4 triumph in Charlottesville … Duke is 5-6 all-time against Virginia in ACC Tournament contests and has won the past three meetings in the postseason competition.

Last Time Out Against Virginia

Sixth-ranked Duke outscored No. 1 Virginia 8-3 in the second half on its way to a 13-9 victory at Klöckner Stadium … Senior Ned Crotty and junior Zach Howell led the attack, combining for seven points, as Duke recorded its eighth straight win over the Cavaliers … CJ Costabile went 10-of-13 in faceoffs and added the game-winning assist in the win.

A Win Over Virginia Would

Be the program’s 451st all-time victory
Be John Danowski’s 281st career victory and 62nd at Duke
Push Duke’s win streak to 11 games
Be the ninth straight win over Virginia
Give Duke an 18-14 record in the ACC Tournament
Make Duke 13-9 in ACC Tournament Semifinals
Put Duke in the ACC Championship game for the 12th time
Put the Blue Devils in the title tilt for the fourth straight season, a first in program history
ACC Tournament Notes

Duke owns an all-time record of 17-14 in ACC Tournament action.
Duke is 11-9 all-time in ACC Tournament semifinal games and 6-5 in championship tilts.
Against the field, Duke is 5-4 vs. Maryland, 7-4 vs. North Carolina and 5-6 vs. Virginia.
Duke is 0-3 in ACC Tournament games played in College Park, Md.
Duke has won six ACC Tournament championships in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Duke has had six ACC Tournament MVPs in Ross Moscatti (1995), Scott Bross (2001), A.J. Kincel (2002), Matt Danowski (2007), Dan Loftus (2008) and CJ Costabile (2009).
Duke landed seven players on the 2009 ACC All-Tournament Team … CJ Costabile, Ned Crotty, Mike Catalino, Zach Howell, Michael Manley, Max Quinzani and Steve Schoeffel were voted to the squad.
In 2009 CJ Costabile became the first freshmen in ACC lacrosse history to win the ACC Tournament MVP award.
Recent ACC History

Duke has launched itself into the top of the ACC since 2001, winning five league titles and sporting a .667 winning percentage … Here is how it breaks down across the four teams since 2001.

Duke in the National Stats

Duke senior attackman Ned Crotty currently ranks second in the nation in assists (2.79/gm), while fellow attacker Max Quinzani is fourth in goals (3.36/gm) … Senior defenseman Parker McKee is 21st in caused turnovers (1.64/gm) and 14th in ground balls (5.29/gm) … As a team, Duke is fourth in man-up offense, fifth in points per game, sixth in scoring offense (13.07) and ground balls (36.36/gm).

Against The ACC

Duke is 66-140 all-time against ACC foes … The Blue Devils own the most wins over North Carolina with 26 and the fewest over Maryland at 17 … In regular season contests, the Blue Devils are 38-117 against conference foes.

Duke starts ACC Tournament play as the No. 4 overall seed with an 11-3 overall record and 1-2 mark against conference foes … The starting attack unit of Max Quinzani, Ned Crotty and Zach Howell lead the Blue Devil offense … Quinzani is tops in goals and points with 47 and eight, respectively … Crotty has 53 points from 14 goals and a team-high 39 assists, while Howell has 46 points (34g, 12a) … Redshirt sophomore Justin Turri has 25 points to round out the top scorers … Defensively, Duke is allowing just 8.90 goals per game and has held each of its past four opponents under 10 goals … Senior Parker McKee leads the team with 23 caused turnovers and 74 ground balls … Junior Tom Montelli has forced 13 caused turnovers … At the X is the trio of Sam Payton, CJ Costabile and Terrence Molinari .. Payton leads the way with a .545 win percentage (85-of-156), while Costabile is 54-of-100 (.540) … Molinari has won 34-of-65 restarts for a .523 win percentage … In goal, freshman Dan Wigrizer has started 13 games and owns a 9.16 goals against average and a .543 save percentage.

Scouting Virginia

Virginia heads into the ACC Tournament as the nation’s No. 2 ranked team with an 11-1 overall record and 2-1 mark in the ACC … The Cavaliers are 17-16 all-time in ACC Tournament contests and 12-8 in semifinal games … Chris Bocklet and Steele Stanwick pace the offense with 42 points apiece … Bocklet has a team-high 33 goals, while Stanwick has a team-best 21 assists … Brian Carroll has 26 points and Matt White and Shamel Bratton round out the 20-point scorers with 23 and 21, respectively … Ryan Benicasa and Brian McDermott split faceoff duties … Benicasa is 62-of-107 (.579) and McDermott is 69-of-114 (.605) … Ken Clausen anchors the defense with 26 caused turnovers and 40 ground balls … In goal, Adam Ghitelman sports an 11-1 overall record with a 7.90 goals against average and a .538 save percentage … The Cavaliers are allowing just 7.83 goals per game.

Duke Riding a Nine Game Win Streak

With the 13-9 win over top-ranked Virginia, Duke extended its winning streak to nine games … The Blue Devils have not lost since March 10 against North Carolina … Duke’s nine-game run is currently the nation’s longest winning streak.

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DURHAM, N.C. – Duke starting attack unit of Ned Crotty, Zach Howell and Max Quinzani combined for 10 goals and eight assists as the eighth-ranked Blue Devils defeated Penn State, 20-11, in men’s lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon in front of 1,691 fans at Koskinen Stadium.

Duke improves to 4-3 on the year while Penn State falls to 0-6.

“This was a good win for us,” said Duke head coach John Danowski.  “I thought we got a little bit better today and that was the plan.  You can’t worry about any opponent other than your next one, and we came out and executed pretty well.  We obviously got contributions from a lot of different players and that is by design.  Now we have a short turnaround with Dartmouth on Tuesday night, so we need to put this one behind us and get ready for another test.”

Howell led the way with five markers and two assists while Quinzani added four goals and one helper.  Crotty, the nation’s leader in assists, had one goal and five assists as Duke scored a season-high 20 goals.

Penn State’s Chris Hogan and Matthew Mackrides sandwiched goals around a Howell tally to give the visitors a 2-1 lead less than five minutes into the contest.  The Blue Devils then used a 5-0 run to claim a 6-2 advantage when Crotty scored an unassisted goal just 12 seconds into the second period.  The two teams then traded three goals apiece before Quinzani scored twice in the final 1:34 of the half to send the teams to intermission with Duke ahead, 11-5.

Duke’s Robert Rotanz found the back of the net twice to start the third period, and Justin Turri’s goal at the 7:32 mark gave the Blue Devils a 14-5 cushion.  Penn State responded with a 4-2 spurt and closed the margin to 16-9 early in the fourth quarter.  Duke then outscored the Nittany Lions by a 4-2 count over the final 11:11 to account for the final margin.

Mackrides led Penn State with four goals while Nick Dolick chipped in two goals and one assist.  Starting goalkeeper Dave Baker was credited with six saves while allowing 16 goals in three quarters.

For Duke, Parker McKee tallied a career-high three goals while Rotanz, Steve Schoeffel and Mike Catalino had two goals each.  In net, Dan Wigrizer had seven saves while allowing nine goals in 45 minutes of action.

The Blue Devils host Dartmouth on Tuesday at 7 p.m. while Penn State plays St. John’s next Saturday at home at 1 p.m.

BALTIMORE, Md.—The 10th-ranked >> Duke  scoreless for 30 minutes en route to an 8-5 victory over the Greyhounds this afternoon in front of 6,000 fans at the grand opening of the Ridley Athletic Complex. The five goals allowed are the fewest by the Blue Devils this season.

Duke freshman goaltender Dan Wigrizer finished with 12 saves, while seniors Ned Crotty and Max Quinzani paced the offense with a combined nine points. Crotty posted one goal and four assists and Quinzani completed the day with four tallies. He pushes his scoring streak to 52 games and the four goals marks the sixth time this season he has scored at least three goals in a game.

Defense was the name of the game in the first half for the Blue Devils, which improves to 3-3, as it held the Greyhounds to just one goal in 30 minutes of action. Wigrizer was outstanding in the first half, making eight stops.

The Greyhounds scored first with a tally from Collin Finnerty 5:03 into the game. Finnerty finished with a team-high three goals for the game. Duke senior midfielder Michael Catalino responded to even the score with 1:41 left in the quarter, as the two squads headed into the first break knotted at one apiece.

The Duke defense kept the clamps on Loyola’s attack, while the Blue Devil offense started to hit its stride in the second quarter. Senior Steve Schoeffel jump-started a five-goal run that spanned 7:53 just over seven minutes into the frame with his second goal of the season. The assist came from the stick of Crotty, the first of his four on the afternoon.

Crotty registered a marker of his own less than two minutes later on a fast-break pass from senior defenseman Parker McKee. The Blue Devils added two more goals in the final 1:35, including a man-down score from Quinzani, to go in front 5-1 at the half. McKee had a strong all-around outing, finishing with an assist, 10 ground balls and three caused turnovers as an anchor to the defense.

The Blue Devils closed out its five-goal run 10 seconds into the third quarter with a third tally from Quinzani.

Loyola put an end to its scoreless stretch, 5:33 into the third quarter with a score from Cooper MacDonell. The goal was the Greyhounds first in 30:30, the longest stretch this season Duke has held a team scoreless.

The Blue Devil defense continued to hold off the Greyhounds and added one more goal in the fourth quarter to ice the 8-5 victory.

Duke won the ground ball battle, 40-35, but it was Loyola controlling the action at the faceoff X by winning 13-of-17 restarts. The Greyhounds had a 36-28 edge in shots, while Loyola goaltender Jake Hagelin made eight stops. Defensively, Duke held the Greyhounds to just one man-up score on four opportunities.

The Blue Devils return home for their next contest, hosting Penn State on March 20 at Koskinen Stadium. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m.

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga.-Duke junior Zach Howell scored on a fastbreak 15 seconds into overtime to lift the second-ranked men’s lacrosse team to a 12-11 win over No. 19 Bucknell in front of 7,000 fans this afternoon at McEachern High School. The 12-11 score marked the first time all afternoon Duke had led as the Blue Devils battled back to even the score twice to force overtime.

“The game was great,” head coach John Danowski said. “There were about 7,000 people there and the event organizers did a great job moving snow and making the field playable. It was an awesome event.”

Senior Ned Crotty led all scorers with one goal and five assists, while both Howell and senior Max Quinzani tallied four scores. The four goals extends Quinzani’s scoring streak to 47 games. Seniors Will McKee and Mike Catalino and redshirt sophomoreJustin Turri added one goal apiece.

“Bucknell was great,” Danowski said. “They did a great job facing off and they were able to get some rebounds and were able to score a few different ways. I thought overall we did a great job in the six vs. six game today.”

Trailing nearly the entire game, Duke scored two goals in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to force overtime. After evening the score at nine apiece, Bucknell made it 10-9 and then was able to pick up a rebound off a save from freshman goalie Dan Wigrizer and put it back in the goal to push the lead back to two at 11-9 with 5:03 left to play.

Wigrizer earned his first collegiate start for the Blue Devils and played the entire 60 minutes.

Duke responded 27 seconds later with a tally to make it 11-10 and just over two minutes later McKee tied the game off a pass from Turri to extend the game a little bit longer. Neither team was able to score in the final two minutes, including Bucknell who had the final possession of regulation.

Knowing the opening faceoff was crucial, senior defenseman Parker McKee picked up a loose ball on the faceoff and fed the ball to Crotty who quickly found Howell open for the thrilling game-winner.

“It’s great to get a win like this,” Crotty said. “It was probably a little too exciting, but it feels good to come away with the victory.”

The Bison raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter before Duke scored five goals in the second quarter to go into halftime down 8-5. Bucknell led 9-8 after three quarters, setting up the thrilling overtime finish.

Complete statistics from the game were not available at the time of release.

Duke hosts No. 9 Notre Dame in its home opener on Feb. 20 at 1 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.

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Crotty Named Tewaaraton Trophy Nominee

04/15/2009 – Duke Sports Information
DURHAM, N.C.—Days after putting forth a career-best performance against top-ranked Virginia, Duke University senior men’s lacrosse player Ned Crotty has been selected as one of 21 nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy. The nation’s highest lacrosse honor, the Tewaaraton Trophy is awarded to the top men and women’s lacrosse players in the country.

Crotty is one of six players from the ACC represented as Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina all were represented on the list.

The native of New Vernon, N.J., currently leads the nation in assists per game as he hands out three helpers per game. He is the top scorer in the league and ranks fourth in the nation with 49 points through 12 games.

Crotty recently captured the ACC Player of the Week award and was voted as the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week after posting a career-high eight points from two goals and a career-best six assists against previously unbeaten Virginia over the weekend. He had a hand in eight of Duke’s 15 goals in the 15-10 triumph over the Cavaliers.

A second-team All-America selection, Crotty eclipsed the 100-career points mark this season and currently has 59 goals and 65 assists for 124 points to his name. He currently ranks 24th all-time in career points and needs just 12 more assists to break into the top-10 list.

The Blue Devils close out their regular season home schedule on April 18 against Army. Duke hosts the Black Knights at 2:30 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium. The game will be televised live by CBS College Sports.

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DURHAM, N.C.—Duke University goaltender Rob Schroeder made a career-high 14 saves, including six in the fourth quarter, to lead the eighth-ranked Blue Devils to a 9-5 victory over No. 19 Georgetown in men’s lacrosse action this afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. Duke scored four unanswered goals in the final 17:08 of the game to capture the victory.

“The fact that our defensive group held Georgetown to five goals is a phenomenal total,” head coach John Danowski said. “I’m really happy for Rob Schroeder. He had 14 saves and that’s a phenomenal job. I’m really proud of him.”

The five goals allowed by Duke is the fewest this season as it improves to 7-3 overall. Georgetown drops to 2-4 overall on the year as Duke handed the Hoyas their first road loss of the season.

“We mixed up our defensive system today, but other than that we got contributions from everybody,” senior Ryan McFadyen said. “Anytime we could get on their gloves we did. We didn’t want to let them get comfortable or get settled.”

Juniors Max Quinzani and Will McKee led Duke with three and two goals, respectively.  Justin Turri had a goal and an assist and Ned Crotty had two helpers. Duke had eight different players register a point in the win. Georgetown was led by Ryan Shuler with two tallies.

The Hoyas got on the board first just 2:21 into the contest with an unassisted score from Todd Cochran. Duke responded in commanding fashion with five unanswered for a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter.

Not missing a beat after giving up the early goal, Duke scored four times on eight shots. CJ Costabile tied the game with a bounce shot over the right shoulder of Hoya keeper Jack Davis at the 12:25 mark.

Quinzani took over for the remaining 12 minutes of the quarter, posting three goals on three shots. He gave Duke the early 2-1 lead off a pass from Crotty to start his run and added a pair of man-up scores in 42 seconds to send the Blue Devils into the first break with a 4-1 lead.

“I think I had three shots on three goals so that made me feel a lot more confident,” Quinzani said. “Once I start doing that, it takes the pressure of the other guys so they can start hitting their shots. We were really casual today and played with confidence. It was a lot different than on Tuesday [against Cornell] and I think that was the difference in the game.”

Duke got a goal from McKee in the early minutes of the second quarter to make it 5-1 and the Blue Devil defense stymied any threats from the Hoyas. Georgetown took advantage of a penalty in the final minute of the half and was able to tally two goals in nine seconds to cut the deficit in half going into the locker room.

Georgetown carried that momentum into the third quarter as it added two more scores to tie the contest at 5-5 with 3:04 left in the third frame. Duke’s offense that was firing on all cylinders early in the contest continued to struggle in the third quarter.

“It was 5-3 and then it was 5-5,” Danowski said. “I was very proud of the way our guys kept their poise. I thought against Cornell we lost our poise a little bit in the fourth quarter and today we kept our poise.”

Despite going 23:36 without scoring a goal, Duke never allowed Georgetown to take the lead. After the Hoyas tied the score at five, the Blue Devils answered with two unanswered in the final two minutes of the third quarter and added two more to secure the four-goal win.

“We came out a little flat [in the third quarter], but our defense still played well,” Quinzani said. “They didn’t let them get a lead, and we came back. We had forgotten how to play for just a little bit and then we got back into it.”

Catalino started the run at the 2:08 mark of the third quarter with a man-up tally. Turri provided the assist on the play. Just 21 seconds later it was Zach Howell and Steve Schoeffel combining to make it a 7-5 game after three sessions.

Looking to pull away in the final 15 minutes, Duke got some big saves from Schroeder and was able to put two more on the scoreboard. Crotty connected with Turri six minutes into the stanza with a perfect pass through traffic and gave the Blue Devils a three-goal cushion. McKee sealed the victory with 3:41 left with a man-down score.

Senior Sam Payton went 7-of-14 in faceoffs and picked up two ground balls. Quinzani led all players with six ground balls, while Parker McKee collected five.

Georgetown took 37 shots to Duke’s 29, while the Blue Devils won the ground ball battle 35-28. Duke was 3-of-7 on man-up situations, while the Hoyas went 1-of-3. Davis made 10 saves in goal for Georgetown.

“It was a hard eight days with North Carolina last Saturday and Cornell on Tuesday,” Danowski said. “I am delighted with our ability to bounce back from losing on Tuesday night and staying on task. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Notes: Senior Brad Ross captured his 64th win in a Duke uniform against the Hoyas. His 64 wins surpass the NCAA record for career victories set by former Duke players Matt Danowski, Nick O’Hara, and Michael Ward. He has played in each of Duke’s 64 wins since joining the team in 2005.

Junior Max Quinzani pushed his scoring streak to 37 games with three goals. He has 103 goals and 14 assists for 117 points in the 37-game stretch.

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