Sluggish Start Costs Big Green Against No. 9 Duke

Tuesday, March 23

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Duke

Sluggish Start Costs Big Green Against No. 9 Duke

3/23/2010 9:00:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

DURHAM, NC – The Dartmouth men's lacrosse team faced a one-goals deficit early on, but ninth-ranked Duke netted nine unanswered goals and cruised to a 15-3 win over the Big Green on Tuesday night.

Dartmouth (2-3) got three goals from three different players. Seniors Ari Sussman (New Haven, Conn.) and Ian Ferrell (Denver, Colo.) were two of the three, while freshman Nikki Dysenchuk (Darien, Conn.) added the third. For Ferrell it was his first of the season and Sussman posted his 10th of the year, which leads the Big Green. Dysenchuk recorded his fourth on the season.

Senior Michael Novosel (Somers, N.Y.) earned the start, but only saw action for about 12 minutes and gave up five goals, making only one save to take the loss. Sophomore Fergus Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) relieved Novosel and posted 15 stops, which was two off of his career-high, which came against Duke last season.

The Blue Devils (5-3) saw four goals from Max Quinzani and Zach Howell. Quinzani showed why his is one of the top players in the nation with one assist as well for five points. Howell also posted five points with his four tallies and an assist. Justin Turri netted a hat trick in the win and Ned Crotty, who leads the nation in assists, passed out four on the night. Former Big Green attacker Jonathan Livadas got in on the act with a goal in the first quarter. Dan Wigrizer face only 10 shots on goal and made seven saves, giving up only three goals.

Crotty and Howell got things started for Duke with back-to-back goals coming 29 seconds apart. Howell's came during a man-up situation for the first of four on the night for the Blue Devils with the extra attacker. Sussman cut the lead down to 2-1 with his 10th, but the Big Green did not see the scoreboard for the next 34 minutes of game action.

With Dartmouth struggling to find offense, Duke took advantage with nine consecutive goals to build its lead up to 11-1. During the outburst, the Blue Devils got goals from Livadas, Steve Schoeffel and a man-up from Turri in the first quarter.

Turri struck again on the man advantage in the second and Quinzani also posted a goal in the frame as the Blue Devils went into the locker room with a 7-1 lead at the break.

Robert Rotanz added to the lead, three minutes into the second half with the assist going to Quinzani. Then Quinzani netted one of his four on the night a minute later to push the lead to 9-1. Howell scored back-to-back goals with one coming during a man-up situation to end the streak of nine straight goals and made it 11-1 with 8:02 left in the third.

Dysenchuck stopped the streak with his fourth of the year, coming unassisted with 6:54 remaining. Howell came back with his third of the quarter, followed by two straight from Quinzani to close out the third frame with Duke leading 14-3, after Ferrell scored the final goal for the Big Green.

Turri concluded the scoring early in the final quarter with his third at the 13:13 mark with the assist going to Schoeffel as the Blue Devils cruised to a 15-3 win.

Dartmouth was outshot 44-21 by Duke and the Blue Devils showed why it's a nationally-ranked program with a perfect 4-for-4 on the man-up. The Big Green won the face-off battle 11-9, but had 10 failed clears on the night.

Dartmouth will be back up north on Saturday for an its Ivy League opener at Harvard at 3 p.m. in Cambridge.