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THE DUKE BLUE DEVILS VS MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES AT THE BATTLE AT BETHPAGE VI

For the 6th consecutive year, the Town of Oyster Bay will play host to two of the biggest college lacrosse names in the country with this years teams being #3 Duke Blue Devils (10-3) and the Marquette Golden Eagles (6-6) at Bethpage High School - a town located in the hotbed of lacrosse. Lacrosse is strongly woven into the fabric of Long Island and between the Duke Blue Devils and Marquette Golden Eagles, 12 players & coaches are from Long Island. 

The Battle at Bethpage VI will faceoff at 11 a.m. (EST) on Saturday April 20th at Bethpage High School Stadium and will air on a tape-delay basis in the New York metropolitan area on Verizon FiOS 1 but live updates will be availale on the @BackOfTheCAGE twitter account.  Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12-and-under with the proceeds from the game going to the Bethpage Educational Foundation, Inc. Attendees are also being asked to bring two cans of food to help support Island Harvest as part of the LAX Fights Hungers initiative

THE SERIES HISTORY

• Duke and Marquette are meeting for the 7th straight season dating back to the Golden Eagles’ inaugural campaign. The Blue Devils are 6-0 against Marquette and have won by an average of 10.8 goals per game.th
• Saturday’s game in Bethpage marks the third time Duke has played in the Battle at Bethpage. The Blue Devils are 1-1 with a loss to Denver and a victory over Boston University.

OUTLOOK OF TEAMS

MARQUETTE (6-6): The Golden Eagles fell 15-8 at Providence on April 20 after the Friars scored the first and last five goals of the contest. Ryan Fazio and John Wagner each scored twice in the defeat and Wagner reached career milestones of 70 goals and 100 points on his first goal. The Golden Eagles were outscored 10-2 in the first and fourth quarters as PC held a 22-11 shot advantage in those frames. MU has lost its last two contests at PC and Notre Dame, following a 12-8 victory over St. Johns on April 6. Seniors Tanner Thomson and John Wagner lead MU with 35 and 31 points, respectively, while graduate student Andrew Romagnoli has 25 on 20 goals and five assists.

DUKE (10-3): The Blue Devils have defeated No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 4 Virginia in their last two games to move up to No. 3 in both polls. Following an early season upset to High Point, Duke reeled off a seven-game winning streak before an overtime loss at then-No. 12 Syracuse on March 24. Joe Robertson leads the squad with 48 points, and Brad Smith has 40 points on 20 goals and 20 assists. The Blue Devils are fifth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 8.85 goals per contest.

KEY STORYLINES:

• Marquette head coach Joe Amplo played for Duke head coach John Danowski at Hofstra and also worked under him there as an assistant coach upon graduating. Coach Amplo was raised in Farmingville, N.Y. and attended Sachem High School
• Amplo and Danowski are both native Long Islanders. Amplo grew up 30 miles west of Bethpage High School in Farmingville, New York.
• Marquette has two Long Island natives on its roster in Garrett Moya (Huntington) and James Amorosana (Manhasset).
• Duke has six Long Island natives on its roster in JP Basile (Garden City), Cameron Mulé (Dix Hills), Frank Marinello (Merrick) Matt Chmil (Garden City), Andrew Bonafede (Bay Shore) & Jack Fowler (Wantagh)
• MU is winless against Duke in six previous meetings and has been outscored 98-33 over the course of the series. An average Duke win of 16-6.
• The Golden Eagles closest game against the Blue Devils was a 11-7 loss to then-No. 4 Duke on April 22, 2017.
• Duke has been ranked in the top six of the USILA poll in all but one meeting (2016) in series history.
• The Marquette program and head coach Joe Amplo captured their 50th victory all-time on March 16 against Michigan.

For more information, visit www.bethpagecommunity.com for ticket purchasing information.

Contributed by:

Tom Michaelsen

Bethpage High School Alum