Duke Caps Regular Season at No. 3 North Carolina Saturday

Saturday, April 25

Chapel Hill, NC

12 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

Duke MLAX 2025 ACC Tournament celebration with Liam Kershis in foreground

Photo by: ACC Photography

Duke Caps Regular Season at No. 3 North Carolina Saturday

4/24/2026 10:09:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

Game Notes Live Stats Watch

The Opening Faceoff

Duke closes out its regular season schedule Saturday against No. 3 North Carolina. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m., on ESPNU.
The Blue Devils are 8-4 and ranked No. 17 in the USILA poll and 16th by Inside Lacrosse and 17th by USA Lacrosse magazine following the narrow 7-6 loss to No. 1 Notre Dame. North Carolina held on to its No. 3 ranking following an overtime win at Virginia Saturday.
Junior Benn Johnston paces the offense with 34 goals and eight assists for 42 points. Max Sloat is having a solid year out of the midfield with 28 goals and 34 points overall. Freshman Michael Ortlieb has added 20 goals and 12 assists for 32 points on attack, while Brady Scioletti has played both midfield and attack and owns 20 goals and six assists. Thomas Mencke has a team-high 16 assists.
The Blue Devils' have a stalwart defense and are holding teams to 8.42 goals and to just 26-percent shooting. The close defense trio of Charlie Johnson (15), Nikolas Menedez (14), Henry Bard (13) have combined for 43 caused turnovers and 68 ground balls. Menendez has been excellent off the ground with 25 ground balls, while Aidan Maguire leads the rope unit with 13 takeaways and 29 GBs. In goal, Patrick Jameison has a 7.90 goals against average and a .508 save percentage. Cal Girard anchors the faceoff duties, going 112-of-192 (.583). Ben McCarthy is a great second option at the dot at 51-of-90 (.567). They pick up the ground ball on 66 percent of their draw wins.

By the Numbers
37 - Percent of Duke's goals scored by the freshman trio of Kyle Colsey, Michael Ortlieb and Brady Scioletti
12 - Caused turnovers by freshman LSM Will Pedicano - tying Luke Duprey for the most by a Duke rookie since the NCAA started tracking the statistic in 2010
3.67 - Points per game for freshman Michael Ortlieb in ACC play - third in the league and second among freshmen
3 - Of Duke's four losses that have come by two or fewer goals
3 - Of the ACC's top six goal scorers who are Blue Devils - Benn Johnston (2.83), Max Sloat (2.33) and Colsey (2.18)
.668 - Brady Wambach's career faceoff win percentage
.597 - Wambach's faceoff percentage in three games against Duke
4.44 - Career points per game average for UNC's Owen Duffy
4 - Total number of points for Duffy in two matchups against the Blue Devils
8 - Turnovers for Duffy in the two games against Duke
.514 - North Carolina's man-up offense percentage, second best in the ACC and eighth nationally
.719 - Duke's man-down defense success rate, the best in the ACC

Series History

Duke and North Carolina meet for the 84th time Saturday. The Tar Heels lead the series 45-38 and have won two of the past three games. The Blue Devils last won in Chapel Hill in 2022 - a 15-6 victory.
Duke's crop of seniors are 2-2 against North Carolina. The two losses have come by a total of four goals, while the average marging of victory in the pair of triumphs is seven.

Against Ranked Opponents

Under John Danowski, Duke is 145-81 (.642) versus USILA top-20 opponents. Saturday's game will be Duke's seventh against a top-20 foe this season.
Duke defeated then No. 18 Saint Joseph's (12-6) and No. 14 Denver (8-7) before dropping four straight to top 20 opponents by a total of eight goals. The Blue Devils' highest ranked RPI win is Saint Joseph's (21). A victory over No. 3 North Carolina would put the Blue Devils at 1-4 versus the RPI top 10.

Against The Top Five Since 2007

Duke will face a top-five opponent for the 76th time under head coach John Danowski. The Blue Devils are 40-35 against top-five foes since 2007 and playing their second straight team ranked in the top five.
Duke's last win over a top-five team when ranked outside of the top 10 was April 29, 2016 - a 10-9 overtime win over Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament semifinal. The Irish were fourth and Duke ranked 13th.

Losing Streaks

Under John Danowski, Duke has had unprecedented success. Since 2007, the Blue Devils have lost consecutive games just 12 times, including twice in 2011. Prior to this season, Duke's longest losing streak under Danowski was three games in 2015. The last time the Blue Devils lost more than three straight was a five-game stretch in 2004.
Duke went 1-3 in a four-game span just four times - 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016.

Sustained Success

Duke has had unparalleled success since 2005, winning more games and posting a higher winning percentage than any other team in Division I lacrosse in that span. Duke's 223 wins in the previous 15 seasons also are the most, with Maryland on the Blue Devils' heels with 211.
Duke, Maryland and Notre Dame are the only three schools to not post a .500 or worse record during a season in the past 20 years. Richmond went 6-11 in its inaugural season in 2014, but has finished above .500 in the 12 seasons since. Duke's lowest win percentage in a season since 2007 is .579 in 2016. Maryland's is .588 in 2009 and Notre Dame's is .563 in 2019. The Terrapins are 6-5 this season heading into the Big 10 Tournament.

Duke Puts the D in Defense

Defensively, Duke has held nine of its 12 opponents to single digits and to under 30 percent shooting. The Blue Devils are allowing only 32.6 shots per game with just 17 of those shots ending up on target. Overall, Duke's opponents are shooting 26 percent for the year.
Most recently, Duke kept Notre Dame to its fewest goals in a game (7) since a 10-4 loss to Virginia in 2019. The 16 percent shooting was the lowest by a Duke opponent this season and the worst shooting performance by the Irish since that same setback to the Cavaliers.

Ortlieb and Colsey Are In Elite Company

With three goals in his debut against Bellarmine, Michael Ortlieb joined an elite group of Duke attackmen. Ortlieb is the fifth Blue Devil since 2004 to record at least three goals in his first game as a true freshman. The most recent player to do so was Brennan O'Neill in 2021 against No. 7 Denver.
Ortlieb added two goals and two assists against Utah, giving him seven points in his first two games - the most by a Duke rookie since Justin Guterding had 10 in 2015.
Kyle Colsey inserted himself into the conversation of stellar rookies with a sock trick - six goals - against Vermont. He is the third freshman in the past 20 seasons to record at least six goals in one of his first three collegiate games.
Colsey's 31 points in 11 games are only behind the totals from Justin Guterding (43), Zack Greer (42), Jordan Wolf (32) in their first 11 outings as Blue Devils. Ortlieb has 32 points in 12 outings, bested only by Greer and Guterding and tied with Wolf. Greer holds the rookie record for goals at 57. Guterding finished with 52 and Brennan O'Neill had 45 in 2021.
The trio of Colsey, Ortlieb and Brady Scioletti is the highest scoring first-year threesome with 89 points (7.42/gm). It is the most points since Wolf, Christian Walsh and Josh Dionne had 98 points in 20 games (4.90/gm).

Youth Movement

The Blue Devils have started two freshmen at attack all season, marking the first time head coach John Danowski gave the nod to two rookies in a season opener. The last time Duke had two freshmen start regularly at attack was three games into the 2011 season with Jordan Wolf and Christian Walsh. It's been a combination of Kyle Colsey, Brady Scioletti and Michael Ortlieb down at attack. Wolf and Walsh finished their rookie seasons with 85 points (52g, 33a).
Duke is the lone program to have three freshman rank among the top 20 in goals average for a rookie - Colsey (7th), Scioletti (16th) and Ortlieb (16th). Colsey is second among all ACC rookies in goals scored (24).
Each of them have had their big days this season. Ortlieb had five points against Virginia, while Colsey fired home six goals against Vermont and five versus Providence. Scioletti has found a home on the first midfield and had a big outing against Saint Joseph's with four goals and two assists. Ortlieb leads all goal scorers in ACC play with seven.
Overall, nine of the 10 Blue Devil true freshmen have seen action with Ortlieb, Scioletti, Anthony Drago, Will Tantillo and Will Pedicano playing significant minutes. Pedicano is fifth among freshmen in caused turnovers (1.09/gm) and is the top rookie LSM in takeaways. His 12 takeways tied Luke Duprey '14 for the most in a season by a Duke freshman since the NCAA started tracking the statistic in 2010. Tyler Carpenter had nine in his first eight games in 2020 before the season was canceled due to COVID-19.