Sloat’s Six Points Lead Duke Past Bellarmine, 23-8

Monday, February 2

Durham, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

1-0, 0-0

Bellarmine

0-1, 0-0

Bellarmine

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Sloat’s Six Points Lead Duke Past Bellarmine, 23-8

2/2/2026 4:07:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. — Duke senior Max Sloat scored a game-high five goals and added an assist to lead the 11th-ranked Blue Devils past Bellarmine, 23-8, to open the 2026 men's lacrosse season Monday afternoon on Cohan Fields.

Sloat had a hat trick in the first quarter and ended the first half with five goals on just seven shots. Benn Johnston added four goals in his first game as an attackman at Duke, while freshman Michael Ortlieb had a strong Duke debut with three tallies. Liam Kershis also added three goals in the winning effort.

How it Happened

The Blue Devils were dominant in the first two quarters, finding their rhythm in the final minutes of the first quarter and into the second quarter, going on a 8-1 run over 14 minutes for a 10-2 halftime lead.
Sloat and Ortlieb were the first two Blue Devils on the board in the opening stanza, as Duke held Bellarmine without a goal for the first 8:55.
Sloat notched consecutive unassisted scores three minutes apart to end the first quarter and Johnston put his name on the scoresheet 27 seconds into the second period for a 5-1 edge.
After Bellarmine attackman Joe Alie scored with 12:57 left in the quarter, Duke rattled off five straight, including a Sloat strike with seven seconds left to send the Blue Devils into halftime with an eight-goal advantage.
Six different Blue Devils scored in the first two quarters, including Kyle Colsey notching his first collegiate score. Graduate student Thomas Mencke also had his first Duke point, dishing an assist to Colsey. Longstick midfielder Mac Christmas picked up where he left off last season, launching a shot past the Bellarmine goalie late in the second period.
Duke stretched its 5-0 at the end of the second stanza into an 11-0 run with the third period's first six goals. Ortlieb fired in a pass from Sloat to start the run and Brady Scioletti tallied his first collegiate goal minutes later for the 12-2 lead.
Defensively, the Blue Devils held the Knights without a goal for 25:53 spanning the two quarters. Six different Blue Devils record a caused turnover with Charlie Johnson and Will Tantillo picking up four ground balls apiece in the win.
Shots continued to fall for the Blue Devils in the third as Kershis and Aidan Maguire got in the scoring column. Duke scored nine goals off the sticks of five different Blue Devils to head into the final 15 minutes up, 19-3.
Bellarmine scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter and outscored Duke overall, 5-4, in the frame. Jack Pappendick and Luke Engelke both registered markers in the quarter with Austin Hicks posting his first career point with an assist.
Joe Alie and John Alie had three goals apiece for the Knights, while Ezra Moore dished an impressive five assists to finish with six points on the afternoon.
Cal Girard took most of the faceoffs, going 11-of-16 with seven ground balls and an assist. Engelke was 5-of-8 at the dot and Ben McCarthy went 7-of-10 with five ground balls.
Four different Duke goalies saw action between the pipes. Patrick Jameison earned the win with three saves, while Buck Cunningham had two stops in 10 minutes of action. Henry Blake also made one stop in his 7:48 between the pipes.

Notes

Duke improves to 17-3 in season openers under head coach John Danowski and has won six straight.
Senior midfielder Max Sloat matched his career-high with five goals and six points. He also had five goals and an assist versus Providence in 2025. He now has 75 career points – leaving him 25 shy of the century mark.
Junior Benn Johnston played his first career game for Duke at attack and posted four goals. He pushes his career points total to 68.
Four players registered their first career goals wearing a Duke uniform – Michael Ortlieb (3), Brady Scioletti (2), Kyle Colsey (1) and Owen Gaffney (1). Rookie Will Pedicano picked up two ground balls in his Duke debut at LSM.
15 Blue Devils saw their first career minutes for the Duke.
Duke's 58 shots were the most since the Blue Devils fired 62 against Bellarmine in 2024.