April 5, 2008

Box Score

DURHAM, NC - Second-ranked Duke got six goals and one assist from senior attackman Zack Greer and one goal and six assists from fellow senior Matt Danowski as the Blue Devils raced past 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins, 17-6, at Koskinen Stadium Saturday night. The win is the third straight for Duke, which improves to 11-1 with the victory. Johns Hopkins dropped its fifth straight and falls to 3-5.

The Blue Jays trailed 4-2 early in the second quarter before Austin Walker and Paul Rabil scored back-to-back goals in a span of just 24 seconds to pull Hopkins even. Any momentum the Blue Jays had seized was short-lived as the Blue Devils needed just 13 seconds to answer Rabil's extra-man goal as Parker McKee scored in transition off the faceoff to jump-start what would become a 9-0 Duke run that lasted over 20 minutes.

Back-to-back extra-man goals by Max Quinzani and Brad Ross and Ned Crotty's third goal of the first half sent the Devils to the locker room with an 8-4 lead. The Blue Jays then held Duke scoreless for nearly six minutes to open the second half, but failed on several golden opportunities to slice into the four-goal deficit and Blue Devils pounced with a lightning-quick five-goal run that put the game away.

Quinzani opened the spree with his second goal of the game as Danowski found him on the crease with a crisp pass from the top of the box and Quinzani beat Blue Jay goalie Michael Gvozden from the doorstep. Greer scored three of the next four goals for Duke with Mike Catalino's goal in transition also adding to the spree.

A Matt Bocklet goal off the faceoff after a Greer extra-man goal late in the quarter finally halted the run, but Sam Payton and Greer scored added goals before Kevin Huntley fired home JHU's final goal off an assist from Brian Christopher with 11:50 remaining in the final quarter. Leading 15-6 after Huntley's goal,, Greer scored twice more in a three-minute span midway through the final period before the Devils emptied the bench late in the game.

The Blue Jays had controlled the opening minutes of the game and took a 1-0 lead just over two minutes in when Huntley capped off a long opening possession by slipping inside a defender six yards from the goal and sticking one inside the far post.

The one-goal lead held for just over five minutes before Duke got back-to-back goals in a 10-second span from Danowski and Quinzani to take a 2-1 lead. The first of Crotty's three goals came three minutes later when he dodged from behind the goal and scored up high. Michael Doneger's extra-man goal early in the second quarter was answered by Crotty's second of the game. That was followed shortly after by the back-to-back goals by Walker and Rabil. Rabil's extra-man goal would be the last tally for the Blue Jays until Bocklet's goal late in the third quarter.

In addition to the seven-point games by Danowski and Greer, the Blue Devils also got the three goals and an assist from Crotty and three goals from Quinzani. Dan Loftus played just over 54 minutes in goal for Duke and posted nine saves while allowing all six Blue Jay goals. Duke won 15-of-25 faceoffs, won the ground ball war 40-38 and outshot the Blue Jays 39-31. The Blue Devils also scored on 4-of-6 extra-man opportunities.

Huntley led the Blue Jays with two goals and two assists, but Christopher (2 assists) was the only other Johns Hopkins player to register more than one point. Michael Gvozden played 56:37 in goal for the Blue Jays and posted eight saves.