Big Fourth Quarter Sends No. 1 Denver Past Duke

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Saturday, February 14

Kennesaw, Ga.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Denver

Big Fourth Quarter Sends No. 1 Denver Past Duke

2/14/2015 5:01:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

KENNESAW, Ga. –Top-ranked Denver outscored third-ranked Duke 12-5 in the second half to edge the Blue Devils 17-13 in a stellar men's lacrosse matchup today at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga. The loss was the first for Duke since April 25, 2014.

Junior Myles Jones and freshman Justin Guterding led the way for Duke (2-1) in the scoring column with three goals and two assists apiece, while junior Chad Cohan notched his first career hat trick. Jack Bobzien of Denver (1-0) led all goal scorers with six, while Connor Cannizzaro had three scores and five assists for eight points.

Back and forth action highlighted the first three quarters that featured four ties, two lead changes and neither team holding more than a three-goal lead. The Blue Devils scored a pair early before the Pioneers responded with four unanswered for their first lead of the day, 4-2, with 47 seconds remaining.

Jones cut the lead to one, 4-3, 27 seconds later to send Duke out on a high note in the first period and jumpstart a 5-1 second quarter that put the Blue Devils ahead 8-5 at the half. Cohan capped the 5-1 run with a man-up tally out of a timeout with two seconds left.

After trading goals over the course of the first 12 minutes of the third quarter left the Blue Devils with an 11-8 edge, Denver started to take advantage of Trevor Baptiste's dominance at the faceoff X. The Pioneers scored three goals in the final 2:54 of the frame to even the score for the first time since it was 5-5 early in the second quarter.

Guterding opened the scoring in the fourth quarter to give the Blue Devils the lead again, but behind Baptiste at the X and Bobzien around the crease it was all Pioneers in the final 13 minutes. The Pioneers capitalized on a pair of man-up chances to grab its second lead of the day and Denver added four more goals over the next 4:54 to ice the four-goal win.

Baptiste was outstanding at the X, winning 25-of-34 faceoffs and picking up 14 ground balls. He also added a goal to his stat line. On the strength of Baptiste's faceoff success, the Pioneers won the ground ball battle 36-19. Junior defenseman Jamie Ikeda led Duke with three ground balls.

In goal, junior Luke Aaron made a season-high 12 saves, while Ryan LaPlante had nine stops for the Pioneers.

The Blue Devils are right back at it Sunday Feb. 15 at Mercer. Duke and the Bears face off at 2 p.m., on ESPN3.