SEVERN, Md. – The [5/9] University of Denver men's lacrosse program cut an early [3/4] Duke lead to one a couple times, but couldn't find the equalizer before eventually falling to the Blue Devils 11-7 on Sunday afternoon at Whittles Field.
 
KEY PERFORMANCES:
Joshua Carlson and Michael Lampert were Denver's only two multi-goal scorers on Sunday. Jimmy Freehill led Denver's defense with three ground balls and a caused turnovers.
 
Alec Stathakis won a tight faceoff battle 12-10, including 6-4 in the fourth quarter.
 
NOTES:

• Denver outshot Duke 33-31, but Duke held a 21-16 advantage on goal.
• Malcolm Kleban finished with double digit saves for the sixth time this season and the ninth time in his career.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter:
Duke opened the game with three-straight tallies in the first half of the first quarter, and shut the Pioneers offense out in the frame. Denver got seven shots off, but only put two shots on goal, and both were saved.
 
Second Quarter:
The Blue Devils made it 4-0 with 13:04 to play in the half before Cody Malawsky dodged from X and fought through a Duke hold to finish one-handed around the top of the crease for the Pioneers only goal of the opening 30 minutes.
 
Duke held a 17-14 shot advantage in the first half, and Malcolm Kleban made six saves to keep the deficit at just three heading into the intermission.
 
Third Quarter:
Denver got the first two goals to start the second half to trim its deficit to one with 8:17 to go in the frame.
 
On the first possession of the half, Joshua Carlson dodged from X and dove around the cage to finish his 12^th goal of the season. Michael Lampert stretched his dodge from the back corner of the football endzone all the way to the opposite side of the field before getting inside his defender and diving into the right side of the crease and striking for his 10^th of the season.
 
Duke got its first goal of the half with 5:22 to go in the third to stretch the lead back to two, but Carlson's second goal of the quarter trimmed the deficit to one once more at 5-4 with 1:45 to go in the third.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Dyson Williams scored first for the Blue Devils in the fourth to push their lead back to two with 12:28 to play. Max Sloat then scored his second of the day to give Duke its first three goal lead since leading 4-1 at halftime.
 
The Pioneers responded with back-to-back goals of their own to pull the score back to 7-6 with 6:27 to go. Lampert tucked his second of the day inside the near post to make it a 7-5 game and Ronnell bullied his way through the Duke defense and finished his fifth goal of the season to make it 7-6.
 
Duke got a reset goal, making Denver pay after nearly three-straight minutes of defense with Brennan O'Neill's second of the day. Duke added two more in a 3-0 run to stretch its lead to four for the first time since the first quarter.
 
Mic Kelly scored right off a Stathakis faceoff win, but Duke answered with an empty-net goal to close out the Blue Devils four-goal win.
 
UP NEXT:
Denver will open BIG EAST play next Saturday when the Pioneers travel to Villanova. Opening faceoff is set for 12 p.m. ET/10 a.m. MT, and will be broadcast live on FloSports.
 
TICKETS:
Single game tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
 
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