DURHAM, N.C. – Senior attackman Case Matheis scored three goals while junior goalkeeper Danny Fowler posted 14 saves as No. 3 Duke held off a late Lehigh rally to earn a 13-11 triumph over the visiting Mountain Hawks on Sunday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. After leading 9-3 at intermission and 11-6 after three quarters, Duke (2-0) enjoyed a five-goal cushion at 13-8 following Jack Bruckner’s tally at the 5:48 mark of the final period. The Mountain Hawks (1-1) then rallied with three goals in a 1:06 span to trim the margin to 13-11 when Tristan Rai found the back of the net with just 24 seconds left. Duke faceoff specialist Kyle Rowe, who won 18-of-27 draws on the afternoon, sealed the win by securing the ensuing restart. “I thought today the teaching opportunity was you have a 9-3 lead,” said head coach John Danowski. “Can you play with the lead? Can you manage the game? And I thought we did not do that well. Most of that was due to Lehigh. They played hard and I thought well. It was a great lesson for our guys.” Duke built its six-goal halftime advantage with a 5-0 run spanning from midway through the opening quarter through Justin Guterding’s marker at the 14:13 mark of the second period. “I thought offensively we got a little selfish,” Danowski said. “I thought there were some dropped passes, some missed plays that we left on the field. I thought with two minutes to go we were up a man and I thought we mismanaged the whole last two minutes. We managed that poorly, but you have to tip your cap to Coach [Kevin] Cassese and Lehigh. They just kept playing hard.” The Blue Devils received two-goal efforts from Chad Cohan and Guterding while Bruckner added one marker and two assists. The hat trick for Matheis marked the 13th of his career. Rowe scooped up a game-high 13 ground balls and added his first goal of the season, an unassisted tally that snapped a 3-0 Lehigh spurt at the 10:33 mark of the fourth quarter. Rowe has now won 31-of-48 (.646) restarts this season. Lehigh was led by Rai’s four goals while Reid Weber added thee tallies. In the Mountain Hawk net, Adam Sawicki was credited with eight saves while Casey McAdam (4-14) and Matt Ernst (5-13) shared the faceoff chores. Both squads struggled to take advantage of man-advantage opportunities with Lehigh converting just one-of-seven attempts as the Blue Devils scored one extra man goal in five tries. Sunday’s game marked the return to Duke for alum Kevin Cassese, who is now in his ninth season as the head coach at Lehigh. The 2001 ACC Player of the Year, Cassese was a three-time All-America selection as a midfielder for the Blue Devils, helping Duke to two ACC Championships and three NCAA Tournament berths from 2000-03. “It’s always bittersweet competing against him, because Kevin is a good friend,” Danowski said. “They certainly take the personality of their coach. That was his team today – all guts and courage and playing hard and never giving up. We’re very proud of Kevin.” Next up for Duke is a meeting with reigning NCAA champion Denver on Saturday in Kennesaw, Ga. Faceoff is set for 2 p.m.