MLax: Duke 11, Marist 10

[burnspbesq]

Phew. A 4-1 fourth-quarter rally saved Duke from an upset that would have badly (perhaps irreparably) damaged its NCAA tournament hopes. Dave Lawson got the game-winner with 4:38 to go. The Blue Devil comeback spoiled a superb effort by the Red Foxes, led by goaltender Craig Goodermote who had a career-high 19 saves.

Ten different Blue Devils scored, including the first career goals for freshman Brian Dailey and junior Tommy Patterson. CJ Costabile had two assists, hoovered up a ridiculous 11 ground balls, and went 11 for 20 on faceoffs. Duke outshot the Red Foxes 49-29 and led in ground balls 34-24.

Duke, which has won seven in a row, runs its record to 10-3. Next up: the top-ranked Hoos, who toyed with Carolina today, in Hooville next Friday at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. After that, it's back to Hooville for the ACC Tournament before a season-ending "neutral site" game against Denver at Invesco Field on April 27. Realisticallly, Duke needs at least one more win to ensure an NCAA bid, and two would be better.

[chrishoke]

Sandwiched between games against Syracuse and Virginia this was a classic trap game. Whew.

[MCFinARL]

Did anyone see this game? If so, can you explain what happened? It seemed from the stats that Duke dominated every statistical category (except for goals), yet they had to make a big run at the end to eke out a close victory. Danowski was quoted after the game as saying Wigrizer did a good job (his stats of 50% saves aren't awesome, but he's had worse games this season); were there other lapses on defense? Were there problems with Duke's shot selection? Or was the Marist goalie just amazing?

[Native]

Did anyone see this game? If so, can you explain what happened? It seemed from the stats that Duke dominated every statistical category (except for goals), yet they had to make a big run at the end to eke out a close victory. Danowski was quoted after the game as saying Wigrizer did a good job (his stats of 50% saves aren't awesome, but he's had worse games this season); were there other lapses on defense? Were there problems with Duke's shot selection? Or was the Marist goalie just amazing?

I went. Duke played pretty sloppily at the beginning of the game with respect to possession and turnovers but picked it up in the second half. Marist's goalie had the game of his life and made multiple saves on the doorstep — I think he had 19 saves total. The guy played out of his mind. Marist played like it was their championship and Duke was probably still looking over their shoulder at Syracuse and ahead at Virginia, as chrishoke mentioned.

[chrishoke]

Marist lost to Maryland earlier in the year 17-4!

[MCFinARL]

I went. Duke played pretty sloppily at the beginning of the game with respect to possession and turnovers but picked it up in the second half. Marist's goalie had the game of his life and made multiple saves on the doorstep — I think he had 19 saves total. The guy played out of his mind. Marist played like it was their championship and Duke was probably still looking over their shoulder at Syracuse and ahead at Virginia, as chrishoke mentioned.

Thanks! Tried to give you pitchforks but it posted before I could identify myself.

[burnspbesq]

This may seem counter-intuitive, but based on seeing Virginia three times on TV, I think the best defensive strategy is to make Stanwick beat you all by himself. Put Manley on an island against him. If he gets six goals and no assists, that's still a better outcome than allowing him to get everybody involved in the offense. If he gets three goals and no assists, Duke wins.

I expect to see a lot of 3-3 zone from the Hoos. Duke will need to aggressively go at Virginia when it gets transition opportunities, attacking before the defense can get set. In the set offense, Wolf's speed coming from X can be a key to forcing the defense to react (we may want to set a lot of screens for him, either offset from X or at goal-line-extended), and our wing shooters (Rotanz and Turri on the first midfield and Lawson and Offit on the second) have to take advantage of their opportunities as they arise. When Virginia plays man, our mids have to dodge successfully and then move the ball to exploit the slide.

Two other keys: (1) we have to win the faceoff battle in order to limit their possessions. Benincasa fought Keenan to a standstill on Saturday, wiping out what is normally a huge advantage for Carolina. CJ and Brendan have to tie him up and let our superior wing play have an impact. (2) We have to stay out of the penalty box. The Hoos' EMO is hitting at 48 percent for the season.