It’s certainly no surprise that No. 9 Duke can score, even during a season in which the Blue Devils have replaced their best-ever, 1-2 midfield scoring punch of Myles Jones and Deemer Class. It certainly helps that Duke has such a potent 1-2 attack combination in junior Justin Guterding and senior Jack Bruckner, who already have combined for 103 points this season.

But how many people saw this coming? In the wake of Saturday’s impressive, 11-8 defeat over 10^th-ranked Notre Dame, and despite depending on so much youth at that end of the field, the Blue Devils are sporting a defense that looks like the real deal.

Duke (9-3, 2-1 ACC) has won seven of its last eight contests. In each victory, the Blue Devils have held their opponent to single digits. Duke held those seven victims to an average of 6.7 goals per game.

Senior goalkeeper Danny Fowler (8.56 GAA, .522) is playing arguably the best lacrosse of his career. After stealing several goals from the Fighting Irish, who managed just one score each in the second and third quarters in Durham, Fowler closed the deal with a 12-save effort that punctuated an afternoon the Blue Devils gradually controlled.

Danny Fowler with another big day! #Duke "D" holding opponents to 8 goals per game and he's a big part why. His take on the W ⬇️. pic.twitter.com/f7yiL2Jh4W

— Duke Men's Lacrosse (@DukeMLAX) April 8, 2017

It certainly helps that the Blue Devils have taken good care of the ball for much of the year, have shot efficiently, and have fed off of faceoff man Kyle Rowe, who has won 57.4 percent of his chances. But the defense, after a few wobbly moments that Fowler cleaned up early, threw down against Notre Dame by blanking the Irish on four extra-man chances and by allowing just 19 shots through the first three quarters.

Over Duke’s 7-1 stretch, which includes a 12-11 overtime loss at top-ranked Syracuse on March 25, Fowler is averaging 8.88 saves and owns a 7.32 GAA and a .563 save percentage.

“We’ve got a pretty good mix of experienced guys like [senior defenseman] Brian Dunne and [senior LSM] Ethan Cowley and [senior SSM] Tom Zenker, and some young, top-level athletes like [freshman defenseman] J.T. Harris and [sophomore defenseman] Cade Van Raaphorst,” said Fowler, the younger brother of former Duke faceoff superstar Brendan Fowler. “We’ve brought our connection to a new level, and my play is a reflection of that. We’ve got athletes who can say with anybody. I give the defense confidence and they give it right back to me.

“Goalie is a position where you’ll have tough days and solid days,” he said. “For me, it’s about clearing my mind, finding the head of the [shooter’s] stick and doing my job. I want my best lacrosse to be in front of me.”

“You’ve got to be mentally tough to do that job, and Danny is a very mentally tough kid,” Duke head coach John Danowski said.

Doss Gets Pulled

Three days after their loss to Duke, the Fighting Irish (6-3, 1-2) got a special gift from All-American senior midfielder Sergio Perkovic, who scored the last of his career-high six goals to lift Notre Dame to an 11-10 win over visiting Marquette.

Notre Dame also got another typical performance from senior All-America goalie Shane Doss, who made 12 saves and picked up two ground balls.

At Duke, It was a different, rare kind of story for Doss, who was pulled following the first quarter, after surrendering five early goals. Owen Molloy replaced Doss, although Doss did finish the contest after re-entering with 6:14 left in the fourth quarter and the Blue Devils in control, 10-5.

“Shane hadn’t been pulled in three years,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. “You can count on one hand the number of times in the past decade that we’ve pulled a goalie. We’ve been pretty good at leaving guys alone.

“You don’t want your goalie looking over his shoulder if he lets a few in, but Shane needs to show up to play 60 minutes,” he said. “I wasn’t happy with his [lack of] aggressiveness. I just felt at that point, based on his performance Shane needed to be reminded that he’s like everybody else.”

After the Marquette win, the Irish began a 10-day layoff. Notre Dame will try to nail down a No. 3 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament in Durham by taking care of North Carolina in its regular-season finale on April 22.

“We’ve got a litany of things to work on, but part of it is three days off in the next five,” Corrigan said. “Everybody needs to take a little break. This is a mental marathon.”

Baptiste Can't Stop Working

PHOTO BY JOHN STROHSACKER

Denver coach Bill Tierney has watched junior faceoff stud Trevor Baptiste do it for so long, you’d think nothing would surprise Tierney.

But after watching Baptiste’s utter domination in sixth-ranked Denver’s 16-11 victory over visiting Villanova on Sunday, Tierney was deeply impressed yet again. Baptiste controlled 23 of 28 faceoffs – the 13^th time in his career that he’s won at least 20 draws – and zapped the Wildcats with his first career hat trick and an assist.

“I always worry about Trevor breaking down,” Tierney said. “It’s such a tough position. I try to treat him like a field-goal kicker some days. But he refuses to not practice. I can’t get him to sit down. We had to pull him out of practice [on Tuesday]. He was jumping in with the scout team. He just keeps looking at you [as if to say] ‘What else do you have for me?’

“[Baptiste] is such a machine, and yet he’s still like the little boy who wants to please so much,” Tierney said. “We run a mile every Monday, and he’s always under six minutes. He’s at the stud end of the weight room taking care of things every time. Like a lot of good people, he’s toughest on himself.”

Baptiste leads the NCAA in faceoff winning percentage (.753). He is ranked ninth in NCAA history in faceoff wins. He has taken 235 of Denver’s 258 draws this season.

In Baptiste’s last three performances – wins over Towson, Georgetown and Villanova – the 5-10, 220-pound, two-time first-team All-America has been extraordinary. Baptiste has won 69 of 84 faceoff attempts – a success rate of 82.1 percent.