In men's lacrosse, 17 goals in a game is impressive. In fact, the Blue Devils' highest scoring output during the regular season was 15 goals against Dartmouth.
However, down 6-5 against Hobart (6-8) in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the men's lacrosse team reeled off 17 consecutive goals to beat the Statesmen 22-6 at Hobart last Sunday.
Freshman Matt Monfett scored four goals while dishing out three assists for Duke (8-6). Matt Rewkowski netted three scores, while Alex Lieske, James Regan, Kevin Cassese, Dan Chemotti and Ben Fenton all tallied two. All told, 13 Blue Devils registered either a goal or an assist.
"We proved a point today, that we belong here," coach Mike Pressler said. "Everybody counted us out and that hit home for our guys.... We ask a lot of these guys and they saved their best for their first NCAA playoff game."
The match began with Duke taking a quick 3-1 lead, only to see Hobart respond with two goals as the lead evaporated to a 3-3 tie. The Blue Devils scored two more before the Statesmen's John Bogosian, Tim Booth and Dave Spratlen all found the back of the net to give Hobart a 6-5 lead with 11:37 left in the first half.
Those were the last points Hobart put on the board before Duke's 17-0 run.
"We ran into a very good team today," Hobart coach Matt Kerwick said. "I wish they would have stopped the game at 6-5. We gave Duke some easy looks and to their credit they took advantage. We just didn't handle the ball well...."
The win was eerily similar to the last time these two squads faced each other in the NCAA tournament. In the 2000 tournament, the Blue Devils scored 12 unanswered goals against Hobart to win 13-1.
With the win, the Blue Devils shattered the previous school record for most goals in playoff game, which was 16 against North Carolina in 1998.
Duke will now face second-seeded Syracuse in the quarterfinals May 18 at Hofstra.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.