PHILADELPHIA – Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse fought against one of the nation's best, falling to #4 Duke in a 12-9 contest on Saturday afternoon at Sweeney Field.
Carter Page scored a career-high six goals in the defeat, but the Hawks fell to 4-4 on the season. Duke moves to 9-1 on the year.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Hawks opened the scoring through Stephen Dwyer, rebounding a saved opportunity and finishing from outside the crease to give SJU a 1-0 lead.
- After back-to-back strikes from the Blue Devils, Carter Page took advantage of a man-up opportunity and found the netting to level the score at 2-2.
- Two goals in a span of 12 seconds in the final minutes for Duke gave the Blue Devils a 4-2 lead after the first quarter.
- Page struck in the opening minute of the second quarter Page again finding paydirt. After Duke responded minutes later, Page again found the net five seconds after the restart as Zach Cole won the face-off, raced down the field and dished to his attacking counterpart.
- Duke ended the half with three-straight goals while adding three consecutive strikes on the other end of the half for a 6-0 run over a 21:30 span to grow an 11-4 advantage.
- Page tallied his fourth goal of the game to close the Blue Devil run, his 22nd of the season.
- Levi Verch made a blitzing run down the field after a reflex save from Shayne Ryan, triggering a counter attack. No one closed the defender as he ripped home a shot and closed the gap to 11-6 with 12 minutes left in the game. Another Page goal gave the Hawks one more opportunity for a late comeback, but the Blue Devils closed the door with a goal with two minutes remaining.
- Goals from Dwyer and Page in the final 1:11 of the contest proved consolation as Duke walked out of Sweeney Field with a 12-9 win.
GAME NOTES
- Carter Page scored a career-high six goals in the defeat to the Blue Devils, providing 66.7% of the SJU offense. Entering the day t-7th in active streaks, Page pushes his mark to 20-straight games scoring a goal.
- Stephen Dwyer recorded a multi-goal game with two goals, him and Page combining for 17 shots on the afternoon.
- After scoring a program record eight goals a week ago, Levi Anderson was held goalless with only two shots against a stingy Blue Devil defense.
- Levi Verch scored his second goal on the year from his spot on defense.
- Tucker Brown made his return to the lineup with two assists against the Blue Devils.
- In his first collegiate start, Shayne Ryan made 13 saves in the net with a .520 save percentage against one of the nation's most prolific scoring teams.
- Two of the top five face-off specialists matched up on the day, Duke's Jake Naso with a 15-24 advantage at the X.
- Facing his alma mater, head coach Taylor Wray is 0-2 in meetings with the team he played for collegiately.
- Duke outshot the Hawks by a 41-38 margin, converting the advantage to 25-18 in shots on goal.
UP NEXT
- The Hawks open the first season in the A-10 with a home contest against Richmond on Saturday, April 1. First face-off is slated for 1 p.m.
