DURHAM, N.C. - The Marist men's lacrosse team nearly pulled off the biggest win in program history, but were eventually overpowered by eighth-ranked Duke, 11-10, in a non-conference game Saturday afternoon.
The Red Foxes (5-4, 2-1 MAAC) led nearly the entire game before the Blue Devils (10-3) scored four goals in the fourth quarter to catch Marist and avoid the upset.
Jack Doherty (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) scored five goals, a season-high by any Marist player this season to lead the Red Foxes' offense. Colin Joka (Conshohocken, Pa.) also scored three times for his second hat trick of the season. Connor Rice (Penfield, N.Y.) had a three-point game with a goal and two assists and Drew Nesmith (Montclair, N.J.) also found the back of the net, his ninth goal in the past four games. Craig Goodermote (Holtsville, N.Y.) made a career-high 19 saves in the Marist net.
After the first save of the day by Goodermote, Marist struck first with a Joka's first goal of the game on an assist by Rice. Just 22 seconds later, after a face-off win by Matt Dugan (Cortland, N.Y.), Rice found the back of the net for his own score to give the Red Foxes a quick 2-1 lead with 12:32 left on the clock in the first quarter.
Duke responded however, scoring four of the next five goals to take a 4-3 lead after the opening period.
Trailing by one, the Red Foxes' offense exploded midway through the second quarter, scoring four consecutive goals in less than five minutes to take a 7-4 lead. Doherty and Joka scored two goals 26 seconds apart to start the streak and put Marist back on top 5-4. Jim Marks (Camillus, N.Y.) assisted Doherty's score while Rice against fed Joka for his.
Doherty scored his second of the game 92 seconds later and his third with 1:26 remaining in the second period to give him his fifth hat trick of the season and more importantly, a 7-4 lead to the visitors.
The Blue Devils scored with 57 seconds remaining in the half to leave Marist with a two-goal advantage at the midway point. Goodermote already had 10 saves in the opening 30 minutes.
Marist came right out and opened the scoring in the third quarter as Nesmith scored his lone goal of the game to give the Red Foxes an 8-5 lead with 8:29 left.
After a pair of Duke goals, Joka scored his third of the day to again give Marist a two-goal advantage, 9-7, going into the fourth and final quarter.
Duke scored two goals to tie the score before Doherty scored his fifth goal to again put Marist on top, 10-9, with 5:31 remaining.
Eight seconds later however, the Blue Devils again tied the score at 10 following a successful face-off win. The relentless Duke offense (49 total shots) scored again 45 seconds later to provide the final margin.
The Red Foxes return to conference action with a home game next Saturday, April 14 against Manhattan at 7 p.m. It is the second game of a double-header as the Marist women's lacrosse team hosts Canisius at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at Tenney Stadium.
