The Duke Lacrosse team was able to with stand a furious comeback and hold on to defeat the Richmond Spiders in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Survive and advance.
That’s what the Duke Lacrosse team did on Sunday evening against the Richmond Spiders in the NCAA Tournament.
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The Spiders gave the Blue Devils everything they wanted and more but Duke was able to prevail, 12-11.
Richmond was able to strike first, scoring the first two goals of the game and taking a 2-1 lead after the first quarter.
Duke would tie things up two goals a piece and the team would trade a pair of goals after that. With Richmond leading 4-3 with 10:53 to go in the first half, the Blue Devils would rattle off four goals in a row before Richmond got one back before halftime.
The Blue Devils took a 7-5 lead into the break, but Richmond would respond.
The Spiders scored the first two goals of the third quarter to tie the game at seven, but Duke would score the next five goals to take a 12-7 lead. Nakeie Montgomery scored the last Blue Devil goal of the game with 14 seconds left in the third quarter.
Richmond scored the next four goals of the game, but luckily for Duke the last goal came with 26 seconds to go and the Blue Devils were able to win the ensuing face-off and ran the rest of the clock out.
Montgomery led the way for the Blue Devils with three goals, while Brad Smith, Joe Robertson, CJ Carpenter, and Joey Manown all scored two goals. Kevin Quigley also scored a goal for Duke.
Goalie Turner Uppgren was spectacular in the fourth quarter, finishing the game with eight saves.
Duke will head north to Hempstead, New York on Saturday, May 18, and will face the winner of the Notre Dame vs. Johns Hopkins game.