COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The No. 1 Maryland (3-0) men's lacrosse team opens its 2013 ACC slate when it travels down "Tobacco Road" on Saturday to play at No. 19 Duke (2-3). The Terps and the Blue Devils are slated for an 11 a.m. start at Koskinen Stadium.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU with Eamon McAnaney handling the play-by-play duties, while Quint Kessenich and Ryan Flanagan will provide the analysis.
• Maryland became the outright No. 1 team in the nation after its 12-10 victory at former No. 1 Loyola last Saturday in Baltimore. Senior John Haus, who has 13 points on seven goals and six assists, is the first Maryland midfielder to lead the Team in scoring after the team's first three games since 2001 after totaling five points on four goals and an assist vs. the Greyhounds. Junior Niko Amato has been tremendous in cage for the Terps and fourth in the nation with a 6.62 goals-against average and fifth in the country with a .630 save percentage. Senior Jesse Bernhardt picked up a career-best 10 groundballs at Loyola to become the first Terp since since Feb. 27, 2010 to have double-digit groundballs in a game.
• Duke is 2-3 so far in 2013 after playing an amazingly tough first-month schedule. The Blue Devils' three losses have come at the hands of No. 10 Denver, No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 14 Penn. Duke's offense is paced by its junior trio of starting attackmen - Jordan Wolf (15-6=21), Christian Walsh (6-5=11) and Josh Dionne (6-0=6) - who were all named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List last week. The Blue Devils also boast an all-senior first midfield line of David Lawson (6-3=9), Jake Tripucka (5-5=10) and Miles Jones (5-2=7). Duke has excelled at the faceoff X thanks to junior Brendan Fowler, who is sixth in the nation with a .639 faceoff win percentage.
Event Information
Ticket Information: Presale tickets are available for the game at GoDuke.com or by calling the Duke Ticket Office at 877-375-3853. Tickets will also be available at Koskinen Stadium on game day.
Event Media: In addition to the ESPNU broadcast, the game, fans can also watch the game on their wireless device with the WatchESPN app. Live Stats will also be available for the game and can be accessed by clicking here. Updates will also be posted to the Maryland Men's Lacrosse Facebook and Twitter pages.
The Count Down
10 ... Since 2002 Maryland has won 96 of the 105 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .914 winning percentage.
9 ... Maryland is 112-25 in games since 2002 when it allows nine goals or less, for an .818 winning percentage.
8 ... John Haus has eight career goals vs. the Blue Devils.
7 ... The Terps have only lost seven of the 32 games they have played against Duke in Durham.
6 ... Maryland and Duke have met six times in the past two seasons with the Terps winning four times.
5 ... A school record-tying five Terps were selected in the 2013 MLL Collegiate Draft.
4 ... Kevin Cooper set his career high with four assists vs. Duke in the 2012 NCAA semifinals.
3 ... The Terps have shot 30% or better in each of their three games this season.
2 ... Maryland and Duke are the only two teams to have advanced to the past two NCAA Final Fours.
1 ... This is the first time since March of 2006 that Maryland has been the outright No. 1 team in the country.
Coaching Match-Up
• John Tillman is in his sixth season as a head coach, and third with the Terps, with a 48-30 career record for a 61.5 winning percentage. Tillman is 28-11 (.718) as Maryland's head coach. He had a 20-19 record in three seasons as the head coach at Harvard.
• Duke's John Danowski is in his 31st season as a head coach and holds an all-time record of 316-166 (.656). He is in his seventh season at Duke and has a 97-27 (.782) record with the Blue Devils.
• Tillman has a 5-4 career record against Duke while coaching at Maryland and Harvard, all against Danowski. The two have met twice in the NCAA tournament with Tillman's Terps winning, 9-5, in the 2011 NCAA semifinals in Baltimore and again, 16-10, in the semis in Foxborough, Mass., in 2012.
Series History vs. Duke
• Maryland and Duke have played 78 times. The Terps hold a 59-19 edge (.756) in the series that dates back to 1940. Maryland's 59 wins against the Blue Devils are the most against any opponent.
• The rubber match took place once again in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament and once again it was the Terps advancing to the title game with a 16-10 win at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Maryland never trailed in the game after opening up an early 3-0 lead. The Terps held just a two-goal lead entering the fourth quarter, but Owen Blye scored twice in a 6-0 run that put the game out of reach. Kevin Cooper led all scorers with five points on a goal and four assists, while Blye finished with three goals. Curtis Holmes won 12-of-21 faceoffs with six groundballs to help the Terps control the pace of play, while Niko Amato was soldi in cage, stopping 10 Blue Devil shots.
• The two teams met in the ACC semifinals in Charlottesville, Va., and the Terps and Blue Devils played a highly physical contest that saw Duke advance with a 6-5 win. Joe Cummings and Mike Chanenchuk paced the Terps with two goals apiece, while Josh Dionne had three for the Blue Devils.
• In 2012's first meeting the Terps raced out to a 4-0 lead halfway through the first quarter and coasted to a 10-7 victory over No. 8 Duke at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium. Drew Snider led the Maryland offense with a hat trick. Niko Amato was spectacular in cage, making nine of his 14 saves in the fourth quarter.
• The stakes were much higher in the 2011 rubber match as unseeded Maryland defeated No. 5 seed Duke, 9-4, in a tough, physical game in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Grant Catalino led the offensive attack for the Terps with three goals, while Joe Cummings added two goals and an assist. The Terrapin defense was terrific in holding the Blue Devils to just four goals with Niko Amato making 13 saves to send the Terps to their first NCAA title-game appearance since 1998.
• The 2011 rematch took place again at Duke's Koskinen Stadium, but this time the stakes were a bit higher - the ACC championship. This time it was the Terps coming away with an 11-9 victory to take its first conference crown since 2005. Ryan Young scored the first game-winning goal of his career when he jumped in the air to redirect a John Haus pass from behind the cage. Grant Catalino earned tournament MVP honors after scoring three goals vs. the Blue Devils in the title game.
• For the second time in two years the Terps and the Blue Devils needed overtime to decide things, but in 2011 in Durham it was Duke that pulled out a 9-8 victory on freshman Jordan Wolf's game-winning goal 1:01 into the first OT. The Blue Devils held a 7-4 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but four-straight goals by Landon Carr, Michael Shakespeare, Joe Cummings and John Haus, who finished with three goals in the game, gave Maryland a one-goal lead with 3:48 to go. Maryland appeared to have the game wrapped up in the final seconds when Carr forced a Blue Devil turnover, but a controversial holding call gave Duke another chance and Zach Howell scored with 0:03 left to send the game into overtime. Both goalies were sensational in the game with Maryland's Niko Amato making 19 saves and Duke's Dan Wigrizer stopped 17 shots.
• The 2010 meeting will go down as one of the most memorable in the series as the Terps pulled out an 11-10 overtime victory at the 2010 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore. Grant Catalino was the star of the game for the Terps, netting a career-best five goals, including the game-winner. Duke scored the final three goals of regulation to send the game into OT and then controlled possession for all but eight seconds of overtime, but that's all the Terps needed for Bryn Holmes to cause a turnover, Brian Farrell to scoop a groundball and Dean Hart to push the transition and find Catalino on the left wing for the game-winning shot. Senior goalie Brian Phipps made 15 saves in the win.
• Maryland won an 11-8 decision over the Blue Devils at the 2009 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore. Jeff Reynolds was the key factor for the Terps in the victory. He scored a goal and had an assist, but he won three key face-offs that led directly to goals that spurred Maryland onto the win. Grant Catalino had six points on two goals and four assists, while Ryan Young had five points on a pair of scores and three helpers.
• In 2008 the Blue Devils defeated the Terps, 15-7, in Durham, N.C. Travis Reed totaled three goals for the Terps in the defeat.
• The 2007 meeting was the first road game for the Blue Devils since their 2006 season was cancelled. Duke responded with a 14-7 victory behind a six-goal, seven-point effort from Matt Danowski. Max Ritz led the Terps in the game with a three-point effort on two goals and an assist.
• The 2006 season saw the rivalry escalate even more as the teams entered the game ranked first and second in the nation. The game more than lived up to the hype as the two squads battled and needed overtime to decide the victor. In that overtime, Xander Ritz sent the Terps home with the 8-7 win after scoring his fifth goal of the game with 1:14 remaining in the first extra period.
• In 2005 the two teams played three times with the Blue Devils winning two of the three games. It was the second time in the series the two squads played three times in a season. In 1992 the two teams played in early March, again in the ACC Tournament and in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Maryland won all three games that season.
• In the 2005 NCAA Semifinals, Duke ended Maryland's season with a 18-9 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field. Bill McGlone gave the Terps a 1-0 lead, but the Blue Devils responded with nine unanswered goals and took a 10-3 lead into halftime. Joe Walters scored three times in the third quarter, but Maryland could not close the deficit.
• In 2005's ACC Final, Maryland turned in its finest defensive effort of the year. The Terps held Duke, the nation's highest scoring offense, scoreless for more than 40 minutes en route to a 9-5 victory at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on May 1. ACC Tournament MVP Harry Alford made 15 saves on the afternoon, while freshman Will Dalton helped the Terps control the ball on face-offs, winning 7-of-10 draws. Offensively Maryland was led by All-American Joe Walters who scored his second straight hat trick vs. the Blue Devils, while adding an assist. Freshman attackman Max Ritz also chipped in a pair for goals in the victory.
• The 2005 regular season game saw Maryland dominate Duke at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex, but the Blue Devils found a way to get out of College Park with a 10-8 victory. All-American Joe Walters scored a hat trick for the Terps, but Duke outscored Maryland 6-3 in the second half to secure the win. Michael Phipps scored two goals and added an assist for his second career three-point game.
• The Terps dominated the series from 1955 through 1988, winning all 27 meetings.
• The teams have met five times in the NCAA Tournament with Maryland winning 13-11 in 1992, Duke retaliating 14-9 in 1994, and the Blue Devils taking the 2005 match-up 18-9. Maryland took the most recent NCAA meetings, 9-4, in the 2011 Final Four in Baltimore and again, 16-10, in the 2012 NCAA semis in Foxborough, Mass.