By the time the Duke lacrosse team scored its first goal of the season Saturday against Butler, almost nine minutes had ticked off the clock.
But when senior co-captain Mike Clayton registered that fateful first tally at the 6:10 mark of the first quarter, he opened up the floodgates, and the Blue Devils went on to score 17 unanswered goals en route to a 20-6 drubbing of the Bulldogs.
"We came out hard, but we didn't execute as well as we wanted to in the beginning," said senior defenseman Joe Proud, who was playing his first game in over a year after sitting out last season with a knee injury. "We figured they would fold it in if we kept the pressure up, and didn't have any let-ups."
Until the third quarter, however, the Blue Devils had trouble doing just that. A clearly overmatched yet highly enthusiastic Butler team -- representing a program in only its second year of existence -- opened the scoring in the first stanza, then continually stifled the Blue Devil attack for the remainder of the half. Clayton's goal knotted the score at one, but Duke would score only four more times before halftime, as Bulldog starting goalkeeper Donnie Shea turned away shot after shot. Shea finished the game with 13 saves.
"After the first quarter, I didn't think we were ever going to score again," said Duke head coach Mike Pressler. "We had our chances, but give credit to their goalie -- he was outstanding. He was guessing. He was baiting us to shoot to his off-stick side, and we were doing that. He was one step ahead of us."
Duke, too, maintained a stifling defensive intensity throughout the half. Proud and his fellow defenseman smothered almost all of Butler's shot attempts, allowing only 16 for the game. Sophomore goalie Joe Kirmser -- playing in his first collegiate game --recorded nine saves and let in only the one goal in just over three-quarters of play.
"We're deep on defense," Proud said. "We were rotating groups of three out there, which we've never done before. We've usually only had four defenseman tops who could play, and now we've got six or seven who we can rotate in."
As the second half began, incessant Duke pressure on both the offensive and defensive ends finally overwhelmed the Bulldogs. Clayton opened the scoring at the 12:51 mark of the third quarter, and the Blue Devils followed with 10 of their 17-straight goals before the period had ended. Junior Scott Harrison led the way, putting in three goals and dishing out four assists. Four Duke players -- Clayton, senior attackman Ken Fasanaro, and junior midfielders Ross Moscatelli and Matt Ogelsby -- chipped in with three goals apiece for an offense that looked better as the afternoon sun got lower in the sky.
Butler hung around long enough to score four goals in the game's final quarter -- all of them coming off of Duke backup goalie Chris Manning, who came into the game cold to replace Kirsmer. But Duke answered with four goals of its own to account for the final 20-6 margin.
"Overall, we've got a long way to go," said Pressler, noting the primary faults as poor clears by the defense and general alertness by the entire team. "But that's what the opener is for. We don't want to play North Carolina in our opener, and they don't want to play us. That's why we schedule a team like Butler."
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