Delaware Uncorks 25 Goals, Sets Up First-Round Matchup Against Duke

NEWARK, Del. — If Delaware wants to see history repeat itself, it took a fine first step Wednesday night.

The Blue Hens earned a lopsided opening round NCAA tournament game for the second consecutive year, dispatching Marist 25-10 before 1,857 at Delaware Stadium.

Mike Robinson scored seven goals and Tye Kurtz had five goals and three assists for Delaware (13-4), which pulled away with a dominant second quarter and was not threatened after the break in what might have been the most complete game of the season for the Colonial Athletic Association champions.

“It’s tough to argue,” coach Ben DeLuca said. “Our guys played really, really well.”

The Blue Hens matched the second-most goals in NCAA tournament history, tied with Penn State’s total against UMBC in the 2019 first round. Syracuse’s 28 goals against Michigan State in the 1991 first round is the record.

JP Ward added four goals and three assists, as the Delaware starting attack combined for 16 goals and seven assists on 32 shots.

“We’ve talked a lot this year about playing complementary lacrosse, and I felt like that’s really what it was tonight — getting our offense opportunities and then capitalizing when we got the ball,” Robinson said.

Jake Deacy and Kellen Pulera both scored twice, and Jojo Pirreca had a goal and three assists for the Red Foxes (10-8), who were making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019.

Delaware will visit top-seeded Duke (13-2) for a first-round matchup Sunday. It creates a similar situation to a year ago, when the Blue Hens won the CAA tournament, pummeled Robert Morris 20-8 in an opening round game, then stunned second-seeded Georgetown 10-9 in the first round on a quick turnaround to secure the program’s first trip to the quarterfinals since 2007.

Delaware has already checked the conference title and an opening round rout off its to-do list. Might this group continue to mirror last year’s run, and in the process, become the first team ever to knock off a No. 1 seed in the first round?

“We have a lot of experienced guys who have now been here twice, and we’ve talked all year about letting our lessons from last year take over this year,” defenseman Owen Grant said. “Not trying to think too much about the success from last year but try to build on that. I think that’s starting to click right now.”

Marist averaged 18 goals during a six-game winning streak that culminated with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament title, and it shot 40 percent Wednesday. The Red Foxes demonstrated early opportunism by making quick passes to the interior off ground balls, and later took advantage of precise ball movement to generate quality looks.

But Marist managed only 25 shots to Delaware’s 64, and it was clear in the opening minutes Delaware’s attack might enjoy an overwhelming night. Kurtz scored twice in a span of five seconds to open the scoring, and Robinson found the net twice before the end of the first quarter.

Marist was still within 5-3 at that point, but the Blue Hens left little to chance the rest of the way. In the second quarter alone, Delaware scored nine times while outshooting the Red Foxes 21-3.

“They were difficult to stop, whether it was fast breaks, transition or extra man,” Marist coach Keegan Wilkinson said. “They hit their shots. They’re really talented guys, so it wasn’t surprising. I hoped we could have neutralized them a bit better, but at the end of the day, we had to play borderline perfect against a talented team like that and we didn’t tonight.”

It was the end of what might have seemed an improbable run earlier in the year, when Marist lost its first four games and saw Wilkinson and assistant coach Dave Scarcello swap coordinating duties with Scarcello taking over the offense.

It helped Marist earn its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in program history, providing postseason bookends to seven graduate students who were part of the 2019 MAAC title team.

“I’m just really proud of the team and the guys I came in here with,” attackman Jamison Embury said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, faced a lot of adversity. This team specifically, it wasn’t our year in the beginning, but we had some really tough conversations and dealt with a lot of things off the field as well. I’m just really proud of the way we turned it around and we banded together.”

The Blue Hens led 14-5 at the half before Marist scored two of the first three goals of the third quarter. Delaware uncorked the next seven, including a behind-the-back goal from Robinson.

Robinson broke the school record for goals in a tournament game; both Ward (against Robert Morris) and Kurtz (against Cornell in the quarterfinals) had five last year. Kurtz and Robinson also surpassed the Delaware mark for points in a postseason game, first set by John Grant Jr. in a pair of 1999 NCAA tournament games and matched by Ward last year against Robert Morris.

The latter game was also decided early, and it offered a hint at what Delaware was capable of — something Georgetown discovered the hard way four days later. With their veteran attack and one of the best defensemen in the country in Owen Grant, any success the Blue Hens enjoy Sunday won’t be as startling as it was last May.

Of course, there’s also no need to convince Delaware it could uncork a surprise. With so many key pieces back from last year, it knows what it can do in the crucible of May.

“That experience is fantastic, but it’s not going to earn us a victory in our next game,” DeLuca said. “It’s just going to be something we can rely on and hopefully strengthen our belief in what we’re doing and who we are.”