No. 5 Duke Falls to No. 8 Princeton, 15-14

Friday, February 28

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

4-1

Princeton

2-1

Princeton

Duke University

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 5 Duke Falls to No. 8 Princeton, 15-14

2/28/2025 10:26:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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DURHAM, N.C.—Duke sophomore Benn Johnston scored a career-high five goals, but it was not quite enough as the fifth-ranked Blue Devils came up just short in a 15-14 loss to No. 8 Princeton in Friday night men's lacrosse action at Koskinen Stadium.

Johnston led all scorers with five goals and an assist, while three other Blue Devils had four points. Andrew McAdorey and Eric Malever had two goals and two assists each and Max Sloat registered a goal and three assists. Luke Grayum notched his third hat trick of the season as Duke fell to 4-1 overall.

Coulter Mackesy led Princeton (2-1) with four goals and five points overall, including what proved to be the game winner.

How it Happened

Goals were at a premium in the first quarter with Duke striking first at the 7:09 mark on a Mac Christmas goal. That would be the last time the Blue Devils would lead as Mackesy evened the score just over two minutes later and Tucker Wade put the Tigers ahead at the 1:34 mark.
Duke evened the score at the end of the first quarter with a tally from Malever.
Both offenses came alive in the second period, combining for 12 goals. Princeton scored the first three in the frame in just 2:46. Johnston stopped the Tigers' run at the 11:45 mark with his first goal of the day to spur a 3-1 Blue Devils run to make it 6-5 with 5:50 remaining. Johnston had two of the three in that span.
Princeton always had an answer and took a 9-7 lead into the halftime break. Duke fired just 16 shots in the opening half while Princeton had 22.
The Blue Devils, riding Johnston's offensive efforts, rallied to tie the game, 11-11, late in the third quarter. Johnston and Grayum were the story in the stanza, scoring each of the four goals as Duke headed into the fourth quarter down, 12-11.
The Tigers scored the first two goals in the fourth period and held off Duke's attack for the first 8:13 of the period to build a 14-11 lead. Sloat stopped the 13:48 scoring drought with his fourth of the season and Johnston rifled in his fifth of the night 2:34 later to make it a one-goal game again with 4:13 to play.
Just like they had all night, Princeton answered with a goal off the ensuing faceoff to put the game out of reach for the Blue Devils.
McAdorey scored with 19 ticks left on the clock, leaving one last opportunity. However, Andrew McMeekin won the final faceoff of the night to seal the 15-14 win.
Patrick Jameison was solid in goal for Duke with 11 saves. Princeton's Ryan Croddick had six stops – 11.5 fewer than his season average. Duke went 2-of-2 on man-up opportunities and held an 18-14 edge in faceoff wins. The Tigers won the ground ball battle, 34-29.

Team Notes

Duke falls to 152-28 at home under John Danowski.
The Blue Devils are now 95-77 in games decided by one goal and 36-23 in single-goal games since 2007.
The 15 goals by Princeton are the most allowed by Duke this season and are nearly double its season average. It is just the 29th time in 338 games since 2007 Duke has allowed at least 15 goals.
The loss to the No. 8 Tigers puts Duke at 138-63 against USILA top 20 foes under John Danowski.

Player Notes

Benn Johnston recorded a career-high five goals and six points. He has four career hat tricks as the five goals match his total in the previous four games combined.
Andrew McAdorey scored two goals to give him 97 career goals, leaving him three shy of the century mark. His four points pushed him to 153 to rank 32nd in Duke history.
Mac Christmas scored a goal in a third consecutive game, giving him five on the season. His five goals are the most by a pole since CJ Costabile had seven in 2012.
Ben McCarthy took a career-high 20 faceoffs and won 10. His seven ground balls are also a career high.
Luke Engelke posted his best faceoff percentage in a game, winning 8-of-10 restarts (.800).
Aidan Maguire continued his stellar defensive season with three caused turnovers and five ground balls. He has multiple caused turnovers in every game this season and has recorded three in two outings. He also has picked up at least three ground balls in every game.
Luke Grayum had his 13th career hat trick and the third this season. He has 83 career goals.
Eric Malever's four points give him 125 for his career. He also registered his fourth man-up goal of the season.
Patrick Jameison made double digit saves for the third time this season and for the 15th time in his career.
Max Sloat dished a career-best three assists. He is the fourth different Blue Devil this season to have a three-assist outing.

Up Next

Duke hosts Penn, March 2 at 1 p.m., on ACC Network Extra. The Blue Devils close out their homestand with Air Force (March 8) and Providence (March 12).

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's lacrosse, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMLAX".

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