Fehr Scores Five as Duke Throttles Mercer
from press release
DURHAM, N.C.-- Duke University's Jess Fehr
netted a career-high five goals to lead the 12th-ranked Blue Devils
to an 18-5 victory over Mercer in men's lacrosse action this
afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. Fehr was one of 11 Duke players to
register at least one goal in the game.
Duke captured its third straight win to improve to 4-2 overall on
the year and 4-0 at home. Freshman Josh Dionne added a hat trick
for the Blue Devils, while senior Tom Rynn had two scores. A pair
of Blue Devils in Kevin Young and Charlie Payton tallied their
first career goals and sophomore Eddie Loftus handed out a
career-best three assists.
Mercer (0-9) scored the game's first goal as Colton Mattei snuck a
shot past Duke goaltender Mike Rock for the early 1-0 lead. Sam
Grayson picked up the assist on the play.
The Blue Devils evened the score at the 6:11 mark of the first
quarter to jump start an 8-0 run that spanned into the beginning of
the third quarter. Rynn registered Duke's first marker off an
assist from Sam Spillane and senior Justin Turri and sophomore Jake
Tripucka both added unassisted scores to give the Blue Devils a 3-1
lead after 15 minutes of action.
Just 40 seconds into the second stanza, Fehr made it 4-1 and Duke
added three more to take a 7-1 halftime lead. The Blue Devils held
the Bears to just seven shots in the first half and forced 11
turnovers.
Josh Offit closed out Duke's eight-goal run at the 13:21 mark of
the third quarter to make it an 8-1 contest. Mercer freshman Cole
Branch tallied his first goal of the game and 13th of the season to
end the Bears' drought at the 12:19 mark of the third frame. Duke
held Mercer without a goal for 30:26.
After the squads traded goals over the next two minutes, Duke ran
off nine straight for a commanding 18-3 lead with 7:30 left in the
game. The Bears notched the game's final two goals, including a
third from Branch as he led all Mercer players with three
tallies.
Duke dominated the faceoff game, winning 21-of-25 restarts.
Sophomore Henry Meyer led the team with six wins on the draw, while
Brendan Fowler won 5-of-6 and Charlie Payton was a perfect 3-of-3.
Meyer also led the squad with five ground balls. The Blue Devils
held a 40-25 advantage in shots and won the ground ball game 45-23.
Duke was 2-of-5 on the extra man and held Mercer to no man-up
scores on four chances.
In goal, senior Mike Rock made seven saves in 45 minutes of action.
Christopher Shannon had two stops in the fourth quarter for Duke.
Dillon Volk went the distance and made 10 saves.
The Blue Devils resume ACC competition this coming week. Duke will
travel to conference rival North Carolina on March 17. Faceoff is
set for 7 p.m., on ESPNU.
