No.7 Duke Travels to Dallas for Matchup with Denver

Event Details

Saturday's game between Duke and Denver starts at 8 p.m. (ET) at Highlander Stadium. Tickets are available for purchase here. Highlander Stadium has a clear bag policy outlined here.
The game will be streamed on Corrigan Sports Network free of charge.

The Opening Faceoff

Duke moved to 8-1 following with a thrilling double overtime win at No. 14 Richmond. Aidan Maguire had the winning goal off the opening faceoff of the second overtime. Graham Blake led all goal scorers with four tallies, while Max Sloat had three goals and two assists. In goal, Patrick Jameison tied his career high with 14 saves, including one at the end of regulation and another in the first overtime.
Denver enters the neutral site matchup following a 15-11 loss to No. 9 Ohio State. The Pioneers are 4-4 overall with three of the four setbacks coming to top 10 opponents. Mic Kelly paces the offense with 19 goals and five assists while Noah Manning and Marek Tzagournis have double-digit goals at 12 and 11, respectively. Denver is led on defense by Jimmy Freehill's 11 caused turnovers. The Pioneers are giving up 10.75 goals per game with Grayson Manning and Malcolm Kleban sharing duties between the pipes. Michael Kraus has taken all but 22 faceoffs, winning 47 percent of the restarts.
Duke and Denver meet for the 19th time with the Blue Devils holding a 12-6 lead in the series. Duke has won seven straight versus the Pioneers with Denver's last win coming in 2017.

By the Numbers
6 - Goals for graduate student Graham Blake in the past two games, two more than he had in the previous seven combined
13 - Points for Max Sloat since moving down to attack against Air Force - nine goals and four assists
161 - Career points for senior captain Andrew McAdorey (100g, 61a) - 30th in Duke history
4 - Duke's RPI rating in the first released edition by the NCAA
45 - Career caused turnovers for Aidan Maguire, the most by a Duke shortstick midfielder in school history
7 – Consecutive wins for Duke against Denver - dating back to a 15-12 win in Durham in 2018
.560 – Duke's man-up offense percentage, the best in the ACC and 10th nationally
.826 - Denver's man-down defense percentage, ranking seventh nationally
8 - Goals needed by Luke Grayum to reach the 100-goal benchmark,
92-57 - Duke is outshooting their opponents in the third quarter - 18 fewer shots than the Blue Devils allow in any of the other quarters
.364 – Duke's shot percentage through nine games, ranking second behind Lafayette's .368

Series History

Duke and Denver square off for the 19th time and for the 14th straight season. The Blue Devils are 12-6 all-time against the Pioneers and have won seven straight, including last year's 11-7 victory in Baltimore.
Five of Duke's past seven wins have been by three or fewer goals with two being one-goal wins. The Pioneers' last win came in 2017 - a 14-9 win in Denver.

A Win Over Denver Would...

Be head coach John Danowski's 481st career win
Be Danowski's 262nd win at Duke
Make Duke 3-0 in games away from Koskinen Stadium

Duke Headed to the Lone Star State

Saturday's game in Dallas, Texas at Highland Park High School will be Duke's first trip to the Lone Star State. The Blue Devils have played neutral site contests in a host of cities across the country, including San Diego, Calif. and Orlando, Fla. The Blue Devils played in Washington, D.C., at Audi Field, at Kennesaw State in Atlanta and have played in six different NFL Stadiums in the past 25 years.

Last Time We Met

Third-ranked Duke outscored Denver, 4-1, in the final 4:14 to pull away for an 11-7 victory over the fifth-ranked Pioneers at Archbishop Spalding High School last year. Senior Brennan O'Neill led all scorers with three goals.
Duke's first midfield of Benn Johnston, Max Sloat and Andrew McAdorey combined for four goals and three assists. Johnston and Sloat both had two goals and an assist in the win.
Defensively, the Blue Devils held Denver without a goal for the first 21:55 of the game and to just two in the first half.

Breakout Blake

Duke graduate student Graham Blake is breaking out for the Blue Devils. Blake has eight goals and an assist in his past three outings, two more than he had in the first seven games of the season. He recently registered a season-best four goals in the win at Richmond.
Blake scored twice on man up against Richmond, giving him nine for his career. He had seven last season with Harvard.

Duke Attack With A Brand New Look

Duke features an entirely new attack unit this season. Graduate students Luke Grayum (Richmond) and Eric Malever (Maryland) and freshman Liam Kershis started the year - all suiting up as Blue Devils for the first time. Jack Pappendick earned his first career start on the attack line against Penn and Max Sloat stepped down to attack for the past three games.
The new attack unit stepped in following the departure of Brennan O'Neill, Dyson Williams and Josh Zawada who combined for 224 points last season - more than 20 teams in Division I lacrosse.
Through nine games, the group has 54 goals and 29 assists for 83 points. Malever has a team-high 20 goals while Grayum has 19. Kershis had four at attack before moving to the midfield line. Sloat has nine goals and four assists in his three starts at attack.

Up Next

Duke opens ACC play March 29 at Notre Dame. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m., on ESPNU.

No.7 Duke Travels to Dallas for Matchup with Denver

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Graham Blake

Luke Grayum

Patrick Jameison

Benn Johnston

Liam Kershis

Aidan Maguire

Eric Malever

Andrew McAdorey

Brennan O'Neill

Jack Pappendick

Max Sloat

Dyson Williams

Josh Zawada

Duke information

No.7 Duke Travels to Dallas for Matchup with Denver

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Graham Blake

Luke Grayum

Patrick Jameison

Benn Johnston

Liam Kershis

Aidan Maguire

Eric Malever

Andrew McAdorey

Brennan O'Neill

Jack Pappendick

Max Sloat

Dyson Williams

Josh Zawada

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Duke information