Mercer Takes On No. 1 Duke Saturday

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's lacrosse team heads to Durham on Saturday to take on No. 1 ranked Duke. With a big win in their last game, the Bears seek to keep the momentum going and snap the unbeaten streak of the Blue Devils.

The game was previously scheduled for 1 p.m. but was moved to a 12 p.m. start. The match will be televised by ACC Network. Quint Kessenich will be the analyst, while Chris Cotter will provide play-by-play.

Saturday's Matchup
Date | Time: Saturday, Feb. 13 | 12 p.m.
Teams: Duke (2-0-0) vs. Mercer (1-1-0)
Location: Durham, N.C.
Live Stats: Click Here
Watch: ACC Network (Chris Cotter and Quint Kessenich)
Twitter Updates: @MercerLacrosse

Series History
Duke leads the all-time series over Mercer, 4-0. Three of the four meetings have come in Durham. The last meeting was in 2016 when Duke came away with a 19-9 victory on Feb. 29. Duke was ranked No. 3 in the nation during the last meeting.

Scouting Mercer
Mercer is under the direction of first-year head coach Chad Surman and are 1-1 on the season. Mercer is coming off a huge 17-4 win over Lenoir-Rhyne last Saturday. Collin Stewart leads the way for the Bears with five goals and is coming off a three-goal performance against Lenoir-Rhyne. Will McCarthy is second on the team with four goals. McCarthy leads the team with 23 shots this season. At the x, Ashton Wood leads the NCAA in faceoff winning percentage as he is winning 87.5 percent of the faceoffs he takes. In goal, Mercer is led by sophomore Colin Kelley, who has started each game for the Bears. He is allowing 6.7 goals per game has as tallied 11 saves. This will be the Bears first road game of the season and first of two games against an ACC opponent.

Scouting Duke
Duke enters the matchup against the Bears ranked No. 1 in the nation. They are unbeaten so far this season with wins over No. 5 Denver and Robert Morris. They are led by head coach John Danowski, who is in his 15^th season and has collected more than 200 wins. The Blue Devils are led by Michael Sowers and Brennan O'Neill. Sowers leads the Blue Devils in points with one goal and six assists this season. O'Neill has a team-high three goals scored. Duke has started two different goalies this season, Turner Uppgren and Mike Adler. As a team, Duke is allowing 11 goals per game. Duke is averaging 14.0 goals per game offensively and is taking 40.0 shots per game. The Blue Devils are winning 50 percent of their faceoffs this season. Duke is 2-0 at home this season and hold a record of 29-4 at home since the start of the 2017 season. Duke has won its last five home contests.

Notables

Ashton Wood leads the nation in faceoff percentage winning 87.5 percent of his faceoffs. Only one other player, Petey LaSalla from Virginia, is over 80 percent at the x.
Collin Stewart has 5 goals and 3 assists this season for a team-high of 8 points. He matches his 2020 season totals over the Bears first two games.
Mercer currently leads the nation in man-down defense and scoring defense.
Each week, the Mercer Bears have a new player wearing the No. 24 uniform in honor of Mercer signee John Michael Night. before he could enroll at Mercer, Night suffered a devastating brain stem stroke leaving him in what is medically referred to as Locked-In Syndrome (LIS). This week, Danny Walsh will don the 24 jersey.
Sophomore Colin Kelley has started each game between the pipes for the Bears. He leads the nation in goals against average only allowing 6.76 goals per game.
This is the fifth meeting between the Blue Devils and the Bears. Duke holds a 4-0 advantage in the series against Mercer.
The previous four matches all came prior to 2017. The last time these two programs met was Feb. 29, 2016.

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerLacrosse (Twitter) and @MercerMensLacrosse (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com

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Players Mentioned

Colin Kelley

Will McCarthy

Collin Stewart

Danny Walsh

Ashton Wood

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