The Duke Blue Devils Lacrosse team fell to the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Lacrosse National Championship on Monday afternoon in Massachuttes.
Slow starts at the beginning of each half were what ended the Blue Devils hope for a fourth NCAA Lacrosse National Championship.
Yale raced out to a quick 3-0 lead over Duke, but right before the first quarter was over, Kevin Quigley got the Blue Devils to within two goals and they tried to chip away since that point.
Yale once again got the first goal of the second quarter, but goals from Joey Manown and Brad Smith got Duke to within one goal of Yale and all the momentum. However, Yale would bounce right back with a goal of their own less than a minute after Smith’s goal to extend the lead back to two.
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Joe Robertson got Duke back to within one with under five minutes to go before halftime, but Duke could not hold their deficit there as Yale pushed the lead back to two with just under two minutes left in the half.
All in all, the Blue Devils were unable to make up any ground on the first quarter deficit and went into halftime trailing 6-4.
If the Blue Devils wanted to come back and steal the title away from Yale it was going to take a heroic second half, but the start of the third quarter once again sunk the Blue Devils.
Yale scored three straight, and four of the first five goals in the third quarter to extend their lead to 10-5, but the Blue Devils had a major answer up their sleeves.
Duke was able to cut the Yale lead to 10-8 with 3:18 left in the third quarter, but Yale would strike back, bringing their lead back to three.
Justin Guterding added to his remarkable season by scoring with just under 40 seconds left in the third quarter to bring the Yale lead back to two, but atrocious Duke defense allowed Yale to walk down the field and bring their lead back to three with 27 seconds left in the quarter.
Yale tried to play keep away from Duke for a majority of the fourth quarter, and it worked.
The Bulldogs netted the first goal of the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devils would try and mount a comeback behind a goal from Robertson and Peter Conley.
The Yale lead was back to two with 3:13 to go in the game.
After some more keep away from Yale, Duke tried to put some pressure on the Bulldogs late but couldn’t find the back of the net and Yale went onto win its first-ever National Championship 13-11.
Justin Guterding, Peter Conley, Joey Manown, Joey Robertson, and Kevin Quigley all had two goals for the Blue Devils while Brad Smith had one.
Yale was led by four goals from Matt Gaudet and three from Jack Tigh.
The Blue Devils finished the year at 16-4 and Head Coach John Danowski‘s 400th win will have to wait until the 2018-19 season.