It was Senior Day for the No. 11 men's lacrosse team Saturday, but it was primarily the underclassmen who brought the squad to victory.
All but two of Duke's goals were scored by the younger players in a convincing 13-6 win over Harvard Saturday at the Duke Lacrosse Stadium.
"This win was important for us since it was Senior Day, and everyone showed up to play," junior Ross Moscatelli said.
The Blue Devils (8-2) appeared tentative in the early going, and the Crimson (2-2) capitalized on this uncertainty by aggressively attacking a porous Duke defense.
Harvard's Mike Porter scored two goals in the first quarter to help the Crimson take a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes.
Duke then found its offensive rhythm and outscored Harvard 5-1 in the second quarter. On the defensive end, the Blue Devils stepped up their forechecking, and Joe Kirmser's outstanding goaltending complemented the Blue Devils' intensity. For a span of over 28 minutes bridging the first and third quarters, Kirmser let in but one goal.
Duke nearly blew the game open two minutes into the third quarter when on a power play Moscatelli tallied the third of his game-high four goals. At the nine-minute mark, Duke grabbed an 8-4 lead as it executed a perfect fast break which ended with Bob Carpenter scoring through the legs of the Harvard goalie.
Harvard would end the quarter on a high note as it scored two quick goals off of Blue Devil defensive breakdowns to pull within 8-6.
The Crimson comeback would be short-lived, however, as Kirmser blanked the opposition in the final period. Harvard ran out of energy, while Duke added five more goals in the quarter.
Duke dominated the offensive statistics. The Blue Devils registered 42 shots to Harvard's 27, and won 15 of the 22 faceoffs.
Carpenter, Alex Whitten, and Ken Fasanaro each put in a pair of goals for Duke, but the real story was Moscatelli's breakout from a recent scoring slump.
"I haven't shot well lately, but today I had some open shots because [my teammates] got it to me down low," Moscatelli said. "When I'm that open, I can hit the cage with it."
The win was especially key for Duke since it further distances the Blue Devils from tough losses to Maryland and North Carolina and puts them in a solid position heading into the backstretch of the season.
"It was important for us to win this game for two reasons," junior Matt Ogelsby said. "First, we wanted to kill somebody, and we did it today. Everyone got involved, and no one had a huge game. Second, we just ended a big stretch of games, and we now have a week to rest our bodies."
"This game was important because we have a lot of big games coming up," Moscatelli said. "We had to put the past behind us, and forget about the Maryland and UNC games."
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