After losing a close game to Denver a week ago, Duke was looking to rebound against a very talented Notre Dame team to gain their first win of the season. However, the game ended up being a very lopsided loss for the Blue Devils, sending them to 0-2 on the year. Notre Dame dominated on all sides of the ball, out-shooting Duke 37-29, completely stalling Duke’s offense for the better part of the first half, and stopping 10 shots to Duke’s 8.
The Fighting Irish led 8-1 at the half, and at that point in the game it was already looking like it would take a miracle to get Duke back in the game. Notre Dame had the top ranked defense in the NCAA last year, and seems to be keeping that same tone coming into the 2013 season. After the game, head coach Kevin Corrigan said this about his team’s performance; ““I felt our defense played really smart today and John Kemp was terrific in goal.”
Junior middie Jim Marlatt led the Irish with a career-high five goals, and also posted one assist. Freshman and U-19 World Championship MVP Matt Kavanagh scored four goals in his college debut and also dished out a helper. Also adding goals for Notre Dame were senior Sean Rogers and midfielder Sean Murphy (two goals each.) Senior goaltender John Kemp stopped 10 shots in cage and looked phenomenal all day. Kemp received a lot of help from Notre Dame’s very tough defense. For the better part of the first quarter, Duke looked completely helpless against the Irish defense; dropping balls, losing turnovers, and just a complete lack of offensive rhythm.
For Duke, Josh Offit led the team with two goals (only player to score more than one.) Future Charlotte Hound Jake Tripucka added a goal, as did freshman Myles Jones and junior Jordan Wolf. The Blue Devils played two goalies throughout the game, with Dan Wigrizer finishing with six saves and Ben Krebs with two. Perhaps the only offensive aspect for Duke that impressed was their face-off group. It’s the first year since 2008 that they’ve had to play without standout CJ Costabile. Brendan Fowler won 15 of 19 face-offs for the Blue Devils.
After beating Mercer on Sunday 15-3, Duke will head to Philly to take on the Pennsylvania Quakers and try to improve to .500 for the year. Notre Dame will look to take their hot defense to Penn State and cool off the Nittany Lions who are coming off an upset of the Denver Pioneers.
