The last time Duke only scored three goals in a game was in 1986 against Maryland, when most of the players on this team weren’t even born. These Blue Devils, however, now face an uphill climb of dealing with a sub-.500 record early in the season after the high expectations following last year’s national championship.
The No. 10 Blue Devils (1-2) fell Saturday in one of their worst losses in recent memory, losing to Pennsylvania 7-3. The Quakers came out with an early charge and stifled the Duke attack, resulting in five unanswered goals in the first two periods of the game.
“It’s not so much that it was 3-0 early on,” head coach John Danowski told Goduke.com. “It’s that we were not mentally where we need to be to compete.”
The lack of mental preparation was apparent in faceoff situations with Pennsylvania (1-0) winning all four in the first quarter, even though this was a point of emphasis in practice this week. Overall, Duke was statistically dominated in the opening half with two more turnovers and eight fewer shots compared to the Quakers.
Although the Blue Devils outscored Pennsylvania 3-2 in the second half of play, they had the potential for more of a comeback with four extra-man opportunities. Yet, they only converted on one of those, a significant disappointment for a team that was fourth in the nation last year in man-up offense.
The lone bright spots for Duke were midfielder Justin Turri and attacker Christian Walsh who each had a goal and an assist. They were not a match, though, for Rob Fitzpatrick and Drew Belinsky who combined for three goals and three assists.
The Blue Devils have the chance to even their record on Saturday when they begin conference play at Koskinen Stadium against Maryland.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.