May 10, 2002

The Duke men's lacrosse team will meet Hobart in the opening round of the 2002 NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at Delaware Stadium in Newark, Del.

The winner will face second-seeded Syracuse on Saturday, May 18 in Hempstead, N.Y.

Duke enters postseason play at 7-6 on the year and ranked ninth in the latest USILA national poll. Hobart, which received an automatic berth in the field of 12 with its Patriot League title, stands at 6-7.

DUKE NOTES
DUKE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Duke holds an all-time record of 5-8 in NCAA Tournament play ... The Blue Devils have made Quarterfinal appearances in 1994, 1997, 1998 and 2000 including a Final Four showing in 1997.

1992:	Maryland 13, Duke 11
1994:	Duke 14, Maryland 9
	Syracuse 12, Duke 11
1995:	Notre Dame 12, Duke 10
1997:	Duke 11, Brown 6
        Duke 12, Johns Hopkins 11 (OT)
	Princeton 10, Duke 9
1998:   Duke 16, North Carolina 14
	Princeton 11, Duke 9
1999:	Georgetown 17, Duke 14
2000:	Duke 13, Hobart 1
	Virginia 10, Duke 9
2001:	Towson 12, Duke 10

TOUGH SCHEDULE: Eleven of Duke's 13 opponents during the regular season were ranked among the nation's top 20 teams at the time of the contest with the Blue Devils ... Duke closed the regular season with nine straight nationally ranked foes while its last four opponents were ranked in the top 10.

SENIORS KEY WIN OVER VIRGINIA: Duke's seniors were certainly the key to the Blue Devils' 14-13 victory over then number-one ranked Virginia in the ACC Tournament championship game on April 21 ... Of Duke's 14 goals, 11 were scored by seniors while A.J. Kincel, who would earn Tournament MVP honors, made 15 saves in goal ... Jimmy Regan tallied a career-high five points on four goals and one assist while Terrence Keaney scored two goals in the final 2:02 of the contest to account for the final margin ... In addition, Alex Lieske, who joined fellow seniors Kincel, Regan, Keaney and Dan Hauber on the All-Tournament Team, scored three goals and dished out three assists.

FACE-OFFS: Junior Kevin Cassese (.638) ranks first in the ACC and fourth nationally in face-off percentage ... Duke's team face-off percentage of .604 ranks sixth in the country ... Of note, Hobart's Tim Booth is 10th nationally in face-off percentage at .609 while the Statesmen rank seventh as a unit.

FRESHMAN CONTRIBUTION: Duke starts two freshmen in its starting lineup - Matt Monfett and Matt Rewkowski ... Monfett is fourth on the team in scoring with 24 points on 12 goals and 12 assists while Rewkowski is fifth with 17 points on 12 goals and five assists ... In Duke's 9-8 double overtime win over Maryland on March 3, Monfett's goal with just two seconds remaining in the second overtime proved to be the difference ... Rewkowski tallied the game-winning goal - on an assist from Monfett - as Duke upended Maryland, 8-7, in overtime in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

BACK-TO-BACK 40+ POINT SEASONS: Senior attackman Alex Lieske leads the Blue Devils with 40 points on the year, and has posted 40+ points in back-to-back seasons ... Last year, Lieske registered 46 points on 22 goals and 24 assists and has 18 goals and 22 assists for 40 points this season.

LIESKE SIX SHY OF 100: Senior Alex Lieske stands just six career points of the 100-point barrier ... For his career, Lieske has 94 points on 40 goals and 50 assists in 47 games ... With six points, Lieske would become the 29th player in Duke lacrosse history to reach 100 career points.

BRENNAN & CASSESE REACH 75 POINTS: A pair of juniors, Kevin Brennan and Kevin Cassese, each have reached the 75-point plateau for their respective careers ... Brennan has career totals of 43 goals and 34 assists for 77 points while Cassese has 52 goals and 27 assists for 79 points.