Robertson Gets Career Goal 100; Duke Beats Air Force, 17-7

Saturday, February 27

Durham, N.C.

12 P.M.

Duke University

5-0

Air Force

1-2

Air Force

Duke University

Joe Robertson celebrates scoring his 100th career goal

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Robertson Gets Career Goal 100; Duke Beats Air Force, 17-7

2/27/2021 4:37:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score John Danowski Postgame Interview Joe Robertson Postgame Interview Box Score Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.C.—Duke men's lacrosse senior attackman Joe Robertson became the 21st Blue Devil to record 100 career goals after he earned seven tallies and 10 points overall to lead second-ranked Duke to a commanding 17-7 victory over Air Force this afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils' starting attack unit combined for 21 of the team's final 30 points on the day.

Duke remains unbeaten at 5-0, while Air Force falls to 1-2. The Blue Devils' undefeated mark in February is their first unblemished record in the month since going 4-0 in 2014.

"The Air Force team as a whole is very athletic, they play very hard for the entire 60 minutes and they beat us last year," said head coach John Danowski "So it was a combination of things. We needed to really prepare well and play well for 60 minutes and I thought the team did."

Robertson pushed his career goals total to 104 on the strength of his career-high seven goals and 10 points. The seven scores were two shy of the Duke single-game record, while the 10 points were only one off of the school's top mark of 11. Robertson's final point total in the contest are the most by a Duke player since Justin Guterding had 10 (3g, 7a) against Air Force in 2018.

Graduate student transfer Michael Sowers finished his day with three goals and five assists to put him at 329 career points. Rounding out the attack trio was freshman Brennan O'Neill with two goals and an assist.

Defensively, the Blue Devils were excellent as they held Air Force to only two goals on nine shots in the first half. For the fourth game this year, Duke held its opponent without a goal for over 15 minutes, keeping the Falcons off the scoreboard for 19:24 en route to building an 10-2 halftime lead.

The Blue Devils forced Air Force into 22 turnovers for the game as both Terry Lindsay and Tyler Carpenter had two caused turnovers apiece. Carpenter also picked up six ground balls in the win. JT Giles-Harris held Air Force's top goal scorer, Ethan Grandolfo, to just two assists for the game.

With the contest tied at 1-1 after a slow start by both teams, Duke rookie Charlie O'Connor, who also earned his first starting assignment, sparked a 3-0 Blue Devil run with his first career goal.
Freshman Aidan Danenza followed suit 51 seconds later, rifling a shot past the Air Force goaltender for his first career marker.

Sowers found Cameron Badour and Badour fed Robertson for Duke's final two goals in the last four minutes of the opening quarter, to hand the home side a 5-2 lead at the first break.

The Blue Devils grounded the Falcons in the second quarter, holding them to two shots, while forcing eight turnovers. Additionally, Duke kept Air Force scoreless on a pair of man-up opportunities in the period.

Meanwhile on the offensive side of the field, Duke was firing on all cylinders scoring five goals, all of which came from Robertson, Sowers and O'Neill. All five were assisted, including graduate student defenseman Walker Scaglione feeding Robertson for his 100th-career tally at the 12:45 mark of the second. In all, 13 of Duke's 17 goals Saturday were assisted.

Duke tacked on seven more goals in the second half, including Nakeie Montgomery throwing in a pair.

"After the first half Air Force played a lot of zone in the third quarter, which kind of slowed down the game a bit," Danowski said. "But it was great to play a zone offense in game conditions. You can practice it all you want, but seeing zone in our sport is really helpful for somewhere down the line."

The Blue Devils were outstanding on special teams, scoring on all four extra-man opportunities and holding Air Force to just 1-of-5 on man-up. At the faceoff X, freshman Jake Naso didn't miss a beat, winning 16-of-26 restarts and picking up 11 ground balls.

Aidan Tolen and Matthew O'Rourk had three goals apiece to pace the Falcons. Air Force took only 24 shots for the game.

Duke used three backstops throughout the contest as starting goalie Mike Adler finished with five saves in 50 minutes of action. Turner Uppgren and Andrew Bonafede both had two saves apiece. Braden Host had 11 saves for Air Force.

The Blue Devils have a busy schedule coming up as they play three games in seven days. Duke first travels to Richmond for a March 7 faceoff before a home contest against High Point March 10 and a road test at Jacksonville March 14.
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