COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Senior Mike Chanenchuk tied his career high with five goals to pace the offense, while seniorNiko Amato made 17 saves to anchor the defense in the No. 2 University of Maryland men’s lacrosse team’s 10-6 win over No. 1 Duke Saturday afternoon in front of 5,055 at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.
Maryland (4-0, 2-0 ACC) scored seven straight goals and held the Blue Devils (4-1, 0-1 ACC) scoreless for 26:26 starting in the middle of the second quarter until the fourth quarter.
Duke started off the scoring at 10:41 when Jordan Wolf scored his first of two goals on the day.
The Terrapins responded on the ensuing faceoff. Junior Charlie Raffa pushed the draw and took a quick shot that was backed up by junior Jay Carlson. Carlson then found Chanenchuk on the left alley for the easy finish to tie things at 1-1.
Chanenchuk added his second of the day just over a minute later. Freshman Matt Rambo found Chanenchuk with a good pass and Chanenchuk finished with the top shelf shot to give the Terps a 2-1 lead with 9:16 to go in the first.
Duke tied things up to close out the first quarter with a Josh Dionne goal to make it a 2-2 game.
Maryland opened up the second period with an extra man goal after a pushing foul on Duke’s Brendan Fowler on the opening faceoff of the quarter. Freshman Connor Cannizzaro had his shot blocked, but Carlson picked up the loose ball and finished the rebound to give the Terps a 3-2 advantage.
The Blue Devils then went on a three goal run, making the score 5-3 with 7:38 remaining in the half. That would be their final lead of the day as the Maryland defense began their stretch of 26:26 without allowing a goal.
Freshman Colin Heacock scored his first career goal with 4:40 remaining in the first half on a step down shot off an assist from Chanenchuk to start the 7-0 scoring run for the Terps.
Just over a minute later Chanenchuk scored his third goal of the day after dodging down the right alley and finishing with a low shot to the left corner.
The Terps finished out the half when Rambo scored his lone goal of the day, an unassisted tally after coming off a big screen from Heacock behind the cage to make it 6-5.
Maryland added three unassisted goals in the third quarter to make it 9-5 heading into the final period. Chanenchuk had two goals in the period and Raffa added his third goal of the year.
Junior Joe LoCascio finished off the Maryland scoring with 14:17 remaining in the game to extend the lead to 10-5. LoCascio dodged down the right alley and finished inside the left pipe.
The Terrapin defense only allowed single Duke goal in the final 14:17. Maryland’s defense forced 10 turnovers on the day led by four from senior Michael Ehrhardt.
Amato’s 17 saves was a season-high and helped him improve to 39-15 in his career. The 17-save total was also his highest single-game total since stopping 24 shots last season in a 8-7 win over Yale on April 20.
Maryland won the ground ball battle scooping up 32 loose balls on the day. Raffa led the way with seven groundballs for the Terps, while Ehrhardt chipped in with six and Carlson had five.
Maryland returns to non-conference play next weekend, hitting the road to take on Stony Brook. Faceoff between the Terps and Seawolves is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 8 at LaValle Stadium.
Game Notes:
• With today's 10-6 win Maryland is now 62-20 all-time vs. Duke and 29-6 all-time in College Park.
• With six points on five goals and an assist, senior Mike Chanenchuk now has 12 hat tricks, 31 multi-point and 23 multi-goal games for his career.
• With two points on a goals and an assist, junior Jay Carlson now has 16 multi-point games for his career.
• With two points on a goal and an assist, freshman Matt Rambo now has four multi-point games for his career.
• With 17 saves, senior Niko Amato now has 516 for his career, becoming just the third Maryland goalie in the program’s 89 seasons to reach the 500-save plateau.
• The Maryland defense held Duke without a goal for 26:26 from the 7:58 mark of the second quarter until 10:12 in the fourth quarter to register the team’s third 20-plus minute scoreless stretch of the season.