The Duke lacrosse team has set many firsts in recent years. Saturday afternoon, 2,475 fans saw No. 5 Duke set a few more program firsts as it faced No. 15 Notre Dame, the Great Western Lacrosse League champions, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Blue Devils lost 12-10 to the Fighting Irish to become the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to ever lose to Notre Dame. It was the first time the Fighting Irish had ever won an NCAA game in four appearances and it was the first time a No. 12 seed had ever defeated a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.
"Notre Dame beat us today," Duke head coach Mike Pressler said. "They outplayed us in every phase of the game. They deserved to win today. It wasn't so much that we played that poorly as I think that Notre Dame played great."
While Duke made many mistakes on the day, the biggest problem was a glaring lack of scoring. The Blue Devils were held scoreless for the entire third quarter and would not put the ball into the net until halfway through the fourth quarter, a drought that lasted for 23:34. During that time period, Duke saw a 7-4 lead change into a 11-7 deficit as Notre Dame began to click.
"We were poorly coached on offense today and I'll take complete credit for that," Pressler said. "We panicked, we turned it into a one-on-one game. We didn't stick with the offense we work with and coach every day. We got very stubborn."
The loose style hurt the Blue Devils as their ability to pass has been the key to getting open shots. Duke managed only four assists on the day, well below its season average of 7.25 per game. Without the proper passing, Duke was not able to get good shots, allowing Notre Dame's goalie to only have to make two saves during the third quarter.
"In the ACC tournament we played as such a team," senior midfielder Matt Ogelsby said Saturday. "You could throw it to anyone and they were going to weave it into something golden, and today it just didn't happen.
"They took us out of our game. They took our big guns--Jim Gonnella, Scott Harrison, Ross Moscatelli and myself--out of the game. They slid so quickly to us. A couple of times I tried to thread the needle and they were right there."
The ragged style of play suited Notre Dame perfectly as many individuals were able to execute well. The only thing which the Fighting Irish had to do as a group was outhustle the Blue Devils. In the first three quarters of the game, Notre Dame had 42 ground balls to Duke's 33.
This provided more offensive opportunities for Notre Dame and its attackmen responded--especially senior Randy Colley, who led all players with five goals and one assist. It was Colley who lead the charge back from the 7-4 halftime deficit. During a 16-minute span--which covered most of the third period--Colley scored four of his goals and his lone assist.
"[Duke was] playing good defense," said Notre Dame midfielder Willie Sutton, who had three assists on the day. "But if you let Randy shot from 10 yards, he's going to put the ball away and that's what he did. All I had to do was get it to him."
Duke's defense had a different look from the regular season as star goalie Joe Kirmser was unable to play in the game due to mononucleosis. Senior Chris Manning was given the starting role, the second of his Duke career. Although Manning let one or two trickle by early in the game, he also made 21 saves--including many acrobatic stops on what should have been sure goals. This kept the Blue Devils in the game long enough for them to attempt a late rally.
"I had all the confidence in the world," Manning said. "They got the first one on me, but all week I knew I had the ability to have a good day out there and I thought I came up with some big saves in the first half."
"Chris was terrific today," Pressler said Saturday. "Chris did what he had to do. We should have had 15 to 20 goals today. The fact that they held us to 10 today was a lot of it."
For Duke, the loss is tough because of the plans it had for the tournament. With a senior class appearing in its third NCAA tournament in four years, the Blue Devils were no doubt looking forward to a run at the final four and maybe a game beyond. The loss dropped Duke to 12-3 on the season, while Notre Dame improved to 9-4 and travels to fourth-seeded Maryland on Saturday for a quarterfinal matchup.
"We still had a great year and I don't want this group to forget that," Pressler said Saturday. "We simply finished on a poor note today."
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