DURHAM - Investigators looking into allegations of rape at a Duke University lacrosse party recovered two positive DNA specimens from players who lived at the house, according to a defense attorney.

The DNA is in addition to an inconclusive sample taken from a fake fingernail found in the bathroom where a woman hired to dance at the party said she was raped. Genetic material taken from that fingernail, which was in a trash can, could not exclude but was not a match to Dave Evans, who lived at the house and has been indicted.

It is unclear whether the other two DNA samples will have any bearing on the state's rape case against three lacrosse players who are accused of raping the woman.

Attorneys for the players said the DNA matches were unremarkable. Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong did not return a phone message, but he has said he would not comment on the case.

Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md.; Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y.; and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., each faces a charge of rape, kidnapping and sex offense. Their lawyers maintain that no assault and no rape occurred at the party.

One of the DNA samples, semen recovered from a bathroom where the woman said she was raped, belonged to Matt Zash, a team captain, his attorney said Tuesday.

Zash, who has been eliminated as a suspect, apparently was watching television in his room while the March party went on. Nifong has said that none of the state's evidence implicates any player other than the three who were indicted earlier this year.

"The fact that Mr. Zash's DNA in any form was found in his own bathroom is evidence of nothing related to his case," said Kerry Sutton, Zash's attorney.

Another specimen matched to Evans was recovered from a towel found in a hallway near Evans' room and the second bathroom in the house. The towel also contained DNA from another person, and SBI testing has conclusively determined that the second specimen did not match the accuser or the 46 members of the lacrosse team who submitted DNA samples, Sutton said.

"It seems to me that the state of North Carolina has spent thousands of dollars to prove that a young college man's DNA is in his house," said Brad Bannon, one of Evans' attorneys.

Mark Edwards, a Durham defense lawyer who is uninvolved with the lacrosse case, said the DNA evidence does not appear to have any connection to the state's rape case.

"This has nothing to do with nothing. This has to do with 19- 20-year-old males full of testosterone looking for an outlet," Edwards said. "What this evidence tells you is that when you're walking around these guys' house, make sure you have shoes on."