It was Noah Manning night in Big D as the senior attack man outscored Duke in the 13-6 neutral site romp. Denver blew open a two-goal halftime lead, outscoring Duke 4-0 in the third quarter, to coast to the win against the Blue Devils at Highland Park High School in Dallas. Denver (5-4) erased last weekend’s home 15-11 stumble against Ohio State with the dominant win against [7/8] Duke.
Following a narrow 5-3 Denver halftime lead, Manning completed his hat trick early in the third period to help double up the Blue Devils, 6-3, in Dallas Saturday night. DU added four unanswered goals in the third quarter and entered the fourth quarter with a commanding 9-3 lead. An assist from Manning and another goal, number five, gave the Pioneers an 11-3 lead. Manning added another goal and Mic Kelly finished the Pioneers scoring. Denver (5-4) erased last weekend’s 15-11 stumble against Ohio State with the dominant win against [7/8] Duke.
Noah Manning had a career night, finishing with 6 goals and 2 assists in the neutral site game. Duke outshot DU 39-32 but goalie Malcolm Kleban was outstanding in the cage. DU’s long sticks cut down shooting angles and pressed the Blue Devils into 16 turnovers. Denver buried 15 goals on 20 shots-on-goal in a dazzling show of offensive efficiency.
Next up is the start of Big EAST play against Villanova at 2:00 pm on Saturday, April 29th at Peter Barton Stadium.
Nobody saw that coming. Big confidence builder heading into league play.
Still probably need to win the BET to get an NCAA bid this year.
Statement win for DU!
Very few assisted goals for our Pios. Duke defenders obviously couldn’t handle Manning and Kelly in one on one situations. That is surprising.
Big surprise. I had resigned myself to the fact that the Pios getting continuously drilled by the better teams on their schedule was going to be DU’s one and only fate this year.
Glad to see DU doing the drilling on the Dukies. Knocking off the 7th ranked team should really help Denver coming into Big East play
Go Pios!