DURHAM, NC -- The University of Delaware scored five of the final six goals of the game, but they came too late as the No. 12 ranked Blue Hens fell behind by seven goals early and could never catch up in dropping a 12-6 decision to host Duke in a men’s lacrosse Top 20 showdown Friday afternoon at Koskinen Field.

Delaware, which has now lost 3 of its last 4 games - all to top 10 ranked teams - fell to 6-3 on the season despite two goals each from freshman Kevin Kaminski (at right) and sophomore Nick LoManto. The game marked the first meeting between the two schools since 1989.

Duke, which was coming off a 6-4 win over No. 7 Georgetown, jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 29 minutes of play and never looked back in posting its second straight victory. Zack Greer led the Blue Devils with three goals and two assists while Matt Danowski added two goals and four assists and Brad Ross and Ned Crotty each tallied twice.

Jordan Hall added a goal and an assist and Dan Deckelbaum also scored goal for Delaware. Hall extended his point-scoring streak to 22 games while Deckelbaum upped his point streak to 18 contests. Goalkeeper Tommy Scherr added a season-high 16 saves and senior Alex Smith, the nation’s leader in faceoff percentage, won 18 of 21 faceoffs to keep things close.

Duke outshot the Blue Hens 43-25, including a 23-12 advantage in the first half, led 39 to 37 in groundballs and was successful on all 22 of its clears. The Blue Devils also scored twice on six extra-man opportunities against a Delaware defense that entered the game having allowed just four goals in 50 man-down tries this seasons, a mark that ranked second in NCAA Division I.

Duke jumped out to a 5-0 first quarter lead as Ross scored the first two goals of the game over the first six minutes and Lamade scored with just three seconds left in the opening stanza. The Blue Devils pushed the lead to 7-0 after goals by Greer and Mike Catalino just 27 seconds apart in the final two minutes of the half. Delaware finally got on the board when Deckelbaum scored with 34 seconds left in the half. However, Duke’s Crotty scored with just one second remaining to give the Blue Devils a 8-1 lead at the break.

Greer scored twice and Danowski also tallied a goal in the first 12 minutes of the second half to extend the Duke lead to 11-1 before the Blue Hens finally got its offense going. Delaware scored the next four goals, including two by Kaminski 73 seconds apart early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 11-5, but Crotty came right back with a goal with 10:16 left to push the lead back to seven goals at 12-5. LoManto scored with 3:48 to cap the scoring.

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