Over Spring Break, Maryland was very bad for the lacrosse team. Over Spring Break, Maryland was very good for the lacrosse team. Confused?
After a heartbreaking 13-12 overtime loss to the No. 13 Maryland Terrapins at Duke Lacrosse Stadium on March 5, the Blue Devils (4-1) took a five-day trip to the state of Maryland where they defeated Maryland-Baltimore County 14-7 on March 9 and No. 10 Brown 12-11 this Saturday.
"Our goal after the spring break was to be 5-0," Duke head coach Mike Pressler said. "The Brown win has let us put [the loss to Maryland] behind us. We're in real good shape and where we want to be."
After the loss to Maryland, certainly the Blue Devils were not where they had wanted to be. Duke had been hoping to take a win from its first Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season against a team that, according to Pressler, the Blue Devils felt they were superior to.
Duke broke a 4-4 halftime tie just 25 seconds into the third quarter when Matt Ogelsby rifled a shot past Maryland goalie Brian Dougherty to give Duke a one-goal advantage. During the remainder of the quarter, however, the Blue Devils were unable to take advantage of few man-advantage situations and very good scoring opportunities.
"At 5-4, we should have took off at that point," Pressler said. "We didn't answer the challenge."
Maryland did, though, during the latter stages of the third quarter and early stage of the fourth. Over that period, the Terrapins scored five unanswered goals and built up a 9-5 lead with 8:12 remaining in the game. Goals by Mike Clayton and Scott Harrison drew Duke closer, but Maryland's Chris Farmer scored with 4:19 left in regulation to give his team a 10-7 advantage.
At this point the game became marked by two furious comebacks. Duke answered Farmer's goal with five goals in two minutes. It led 12-10 with 1:14 left after Scott Harrison fed a pass to James Heavey who put the ball in the back of the cage for the goal.
Once again, however, the Blue Devils could not put the Terrapins away.
Maryland's Greg Nelin scored with 1:02 left to cut the deficit to 12-11. A penalty on Duke's Ross Moscatelli provided Maryland a one-man advantage for the remaining 30 seconds. After a questionable offsides call against Duke gave Maryland the ball with 19 seconds left, Neal Dupak fired a ground ball past Duke goalie Joe Kirmser with 11 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime tied at 12.
Dupak, who scored five goals on the afternoon, proved to be the Blue Devils' nemesis in overtime as well. He threw a high-bouncing one-hopper past Kirmser with 1:26 gone in the four-minute overtime period. The goal sent the Maryland bench charging onto the field, and the Terps home to College Park with a 13-12 conference win.
The Blue Devils soon followed the Terrapins to Maryland. On Wednesday they downed the Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers 14-7 at UMBC Stadium in Baltimore as Bob Carpenter and Ken Fasanaro each scored three goals.
Three days later at the Lax World Faceoff Classic in Loyola, Md., Duke scored an impressive 12-11 win over the No. 10 Brown Bears (1-1) as Scott Harrison scored seven goals.
The Blue Devils took control early against Brown. Duke went out to a 4-0 lead with 12:08 left in the second quarter on Harrison's third goal of the game.
"I kind of felt we were in control overall," Pressler said. "I never really felt threatened until they got to one goal."
Kirmser was very good against the Bears, as he was in the Blue Devils' other games over Spring Break. Against Brown, Kirmser made 16 saves.
"Kirmser had a terrific game," Pressler said. "He is definitely, at this point, an All-American candidate for us."
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