Duke Men's Lacrosse Prevails over Dartmouth

Saturday, February 24

Durham, N.C.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Duke

Dartmouth's Nick Bonacci Awarded NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship

2/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Duke Men's Lacrosse Prevails over Dartmouth

Boxscore

DURHAM, N.C. ? Senior Nick Bonacci (Crofton, Md.) scored four goals for the Dartmouth men's lacrosse team, but the Duke Blue Devils went on to a 17-11 victory on Saturday afternoon.

The season-opener for both teams, the Big Green jumped out to an early lead as Bonacci sandwiched a pair of goals around one by freshman Ari Sussman (Windsor, Conn.) for a 3-1 lead with 3:07 left in the first period.

"What happened in the first quarter was about what I expected," said Duke coach John Danowski. "I thought that we might get a little over zealous and that we may foul a little bit, but I also thought Dartmouth is a really good team. They're well coached and they were really well prepared. They played very well."

The Blue Devils scored twice 1:13 apart to even it at 3-3 after one. Zack Greer started the second quarter with two of his six goals on the afternoon, as Duke took the lead for good, 5-3. The Blue Devils outscored the Big Green, 5-2, in the second quarter for an 8-5 lead at halftime. Bonacci and sophomore Brian Koch (Rye, N.Y.) got the two Big Green goals.

The first game for Duke since early last season, the matchup was contested in from of 6,485 fans and a horde of national media. "It's definitely exciting to come and play in front of a crowd like this," said Bonacci. "It's always exciting, but I think you approach every game the same way. You come and play your best, and if it's good enough, it's good enough."

Dartmouth coach Bill Wilson cited the play of freshman defenseman Andy Gagel (Houston, Texas), who picked up the first start of his collegiate career. "It was good to be up 3-1, but I don't think anyone of the team said we're going to run away with this," said Gagel. "We knew the way Duke was going to play that there would be a lot of scoring and that two goals wasn't going to win it."

Bonacci finished the day with six points, adding two assists to his four goals. Koch ended up with three goals while Sussman contributed two in his collegiate debut. Another freshman, Christopher Root (Houston, Texas) had an impressive start with two goals and one assist. Sophomore Jonathan Livadas (Wilmington, Del.) picked up an assist.

Also earning his first start was junior Chad Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.). A tailback on the Dartmouth football team, Gaudet missed the 2005 and 2006 gridiron seasons after suffering a significant knee injury. Gaudet started at midfield and won one faceoff attempt and had two ground balls.

In goal, freshman Michael Novosel (Somers, N.Y.) got the nod, making 12 saves for the Big Green. For Duke, Dan Loftus went 56:01 with eight saves, while Rob Schroeder had two in relief.

In the post-game press conference, Wilson pointed to Duke's high-energy style as a factor. "They're a team who wants to get up and down the field for all four quarters. You could see that we ran out of gas a little bit in the third quarter and there were times in between the lines where they sustained that energy level a little bit more than we were able to."

Dartmouth is back in action on Sunday, taking on the University of North Carolina. "We're looking to rebound tomorrow against the Tar Heels," said Wilson, "and we need to make sure that we freshen up."