Duke Developing Elite Defense, Showcased in 11-7 Win Over Denver

SEVERN, Md. — Duke’s sprint into spring is almost complete.

The development of an elite defense isn’t far behind.

The Blue Devils held off Denver 11-7 on Sunday before 2,111 at Archbishop Spalding High School’s Whittles Field, the latest marker set down by an already tested group that played admirably even in a midweek loss at Syracuse.

It is, put bluntly, a group of old, motivated dudes. Call it the confluence of the COVID era, Duke’s longtime willingness to utilize its graduate programs and — if everyone’s being honest — the urgency created from last year’s missed opportunity on Memorial Day.

Tyler Carpenter and Kenny Brower are mainstays on defense. Will Frisoli is a contributor at long pole, and Jake Caputo is the Blue Devils’ top short-stick defensive midfielder. Together, they have 20 years of experience at Duke.

And together, they’ve helped Duke limit their last three opponents — Richmond, Syracuse and now Denver — to a combined 20 goals.

“Just like anything, the more you do it, the more you come together as a unit,” Carpenter said after helping to hold Denver attackman JJ Sillstrop scoreless on three shots. “The more you play together, the more comfortable guys get. Our communication is really [strong] right now, and we — me, Kenny, Fris and Jake Caputo — have been playing for five years together. We’re really comfortable with each others’ voices.”

Brennan O’Neill scored three times for Duke (9-2), which closes a stretch of eight games in 27 days Wednesday against Boston University.

Joshua Carlson and Michael Lampert both scored twice for the Pioneers (6-2), who needed almost 22 minutes to score and never led in their final non-conference game.

Not everything is perfect for Duke, which was coming off a 10-4 loss in the Dome that marked its worst output since a 7-3 setback at Notre Dame early in the 2012 season.

The Blue Devils opened March with a 14-12 stumble against Penn on a miserably wet night in Durham, only to rattle off four victories in a row. Then came the conference opener against Syracuse in which almost nothing went right at the offensive end.

“I think it was the same thing as playing Princeton 48 hours after we played Penn,” coach John Danowski said. “Guys were angry. They were disappointed in themselves, and it was like, ‘We don’t need a week of practice. Let’s go play.’ This was very similar.”

But there was a limit to how cranky Duke could be about its defensive showing against the Orange. Syracuse’s starting attack had four goals on 16 shots and tacked on three assists. The Orange scored twice in man-up situations.

Keeping anyone to eight even-strength goals, no matter the wattage of your offense’s star power, is usually enough to win.

So, it says a fair bit that Duke’s defense went out and one-upped itself. Denver didn’t muster an assist all day, with a Blue Devils defense that seems to savor a physical approach proving disruptive to the Pioneers’ offensive flow. Whatever Matt Brown’s team managed to muster was largely the result of one-on-one efforts.

“The more situations you’ve been in, the more games you’ve been in, the more things you see, it’s easier for you to communicate, easier for you talk, easier for you to get people to spots on the field they need to get to,” Danowski said. “That’s something you can’t coach. That’s something that always comes through experience.”

On Sunday, it bought Duke enough time to finally get its offense synced up. Up a goal with 4:14 to go, O’Neill came around the left side of the cage to stick one past Denver goalie Malcolm Kleben (10 saves). Josh Zawada provided a cushion with 2:41 remaining, then assisted on Dyson Williams’ extra-man goal with 1:30 left to make it 10-6.

Duke wouldn’t claim to be a finished product, but the end of the regular season is within sight. The Blue Devils have only three games in April, then the ACC tournament the first weekend in May.

And based on how its zipped through March — with sophomore Henry Bard solidifying himself as a starting defenseman, with freshman goalie Patrick Jameison (nine saves) having more stops than goals allowed in five of his last six outings, with a nucleus of fifth-year players fully in tune with each other — Duke’s defense is poised to remain a strength deep into the spring.

“Now that we have people like Bard, and Jameison is standing on his head, it’s all coming together,” Carpenter said.