It wasn't long ago that Duke was considered an NCAA Tournament bubble team for Men's Lacrosse. The proud program had not had their typical year, but when the chips were down, John Danowski's team has delivered again and again.
After a win on Sunday over Georgetown, the Blue Devils are headed to Charlottesville for the Final Four after a two-year absence from Championship Weekend.
Duke started 8-0 before losing four consecutive matches to Syracuse, Virginia, Cornell, and Notre Dame. The Blue Devils righted the ship with a win over North Carolina that helped them earn a tournament bid, and now back-to-back wins have put them into the national semifinals, where they look awfully dangerous.
Duke rolls past Georgetown 16-6 in the quarterfinals
Senior Max Sloat put in four goals to help Duke overcome an early deficit on Sunday. The Hoyas scored the first goal just 34 seconds into the match, but Sloat tied the game shortly after. Kyle Colsey put another one in the back of the net to give the Blue Devils a lead they would never relinquish.
Sloat was the star of the show thanks to his scoring, but the story of the afternoon was the Duke defense that held Georgetown to just six goals. At one point, Duke held Georgetown scoreless for 29 consecutive minutes in the match.
Duke will now head to Charlottesville and will immediately be matched up with No. 1 Princeton. The Tigers are 15-2 overall with close losses to Penn State and Cornell as the only blemishes on their sparkling resume. It will be a tremendous challenge for the Blue Devils to get past the Ivy Leaguers.
If Duke can get past Princeton, one of two teams that bested the Blue Devils by two combined goals in the regular season would be waiting in the championship match.
Syracuse and Notre Dame will compete in the other semifinal matchup. The Orange toppled the Blue Devils 16-15 back in March in Syracuse, and the Irish came to Freeman Field and bested Duke 7-6 last month.
Add us as a preferred source on Google