BALTIMORE -- Unable to overcome an early three-goal deficit, the men's lacrosse team ended its season in disappointing fashion Saturday. The Blue Devils fell 12-10 to Towson University in the first round of the NCAA Championships. Although they managed to tie the score on three separate occasions, the Blue Devils could never seize an outright lead over the sixth-seeded Tigers, who improved to 13-3 and will move on to face Maryland in the second round.
With the bitter defeat, Duke finished its season with a record of 11-6, and the abrupt finality of Saturday's contest left many Blue Devils stunned.
"I don't think anyone thought that the season would end this week," Duke co-captain Scott Bross said. "I wasn't prepared for it by any means, and I don't think anyone else was either."
In contrast to the shocked Blue Devils, a euphoric Towson squad charged the field while celebrating their victory, the school's first postseason win in five years.
"We had some unbelievable efforts today," Towson coach Tony Seaman said. "It was the first time for any one of these kids to be in an NCAA playoff game, and it was just a wonderful win for us."
Although battling injury, Tiger goalkeeper John Horrigan gave his team a particularly inspiring performance. He made sixteen saves, including several crucial stops in the fourth quarter to thwart a Duke comeback.
Towson began the game on a tear, scoring four goals in the first six minutes to jump out to an early 4-1 advantage. Despite the Tigers' dominance in the game's opening minutes, the Blue Devils did not panic. Duke fought back from the early deficit behind the outstanding play of Alex Lieske and Chris Hartofilis, who combined to score seven of Duke's 10 goals, including the team's first five.
"It's tough to dig yourself out of a hole like that," Lieske said. "But we came back. We tied it a couple of times, and we had some opportunities."
Disappointed with both his own personal production as well as the team's, sophomore attackman Kevin Brennan attributed the loss to Duke's inability to execute in the offensive zone.
"They threw a couple of different looks at us defensively," Brennan said. "Coach brought us in and told us, OGo at the shortsticks, [then] dodge and make two or three passes.' When we did what he said, it worked. But sometimes players tried to do their own thing."
One of the game's marquee matchups pitted the two teams' face-off specialists against one another. The pivotal battle between Bross and Towson's Justin Berry--who entered the contest ranked third and fourth nationally in face-off winning percentage--ultimately swung in favor of the victorious Tigers, who won 15 of the game's 26 face-off draws.
"I can't say enough about our face-off guy, Justin Berry," Seaman said. "I've read press all year long about how the kid from Duke was the best kid in the country; that might have been settled today."
However, Berry's success was controversial. As the game wore on, the referee's refusal to call Berry for false starts visibly frustrated the Duke sidelines, as an irate Mike Pressler threw his hat in disgust.
Afterwards, a more restrained Pressler chose his words with care.
"There are three parts to the face-off," the Duke coach said. "They're the two face-off guys and there's the guy who blows the whistle. Scott Bross is the best in the game, and when it's a fair fight in the middle, we're going to win our share."
Besides the face-off, the other area in which Duke expected to have an advantage was in athleticism. Yet, despite a clear edge in size and strength, the Blue Devils had difficulty containing the lighter, quicker Tigers.
"Towson is unbelievably fast," Brennan said. "It was almost like you couldn't move the ball fast enough. They weren't that physical but they made up for that with speed."
Towson attackman Ryan Obloj brazenly refuted any notion that Duke's size intimidated the Tigers.
"They may be big but we're much faster than them," Obloj said. "Personally, I didn't think about how big they were at all."
Teammate Josh Tankersley pointed to his team's offseason strength and conditioning program as a significant reason for Towson's victory.
"I don't think there's team in the country that works harder than we do off the field," Tankersley said. "I think it really shows when we step on the field against a team that outweighs us by an average of 20 pounds. We're definitely outsized by them, but I think we showed today that we work harder."
For the Blue Devils, who pride themselves on their strength, toughness and overall physical conditioning, such comments carry a particular sting. Yet both Tankersley and Obloj each tallied three goals against the Duke defense, reinforcing their claim of superior physical preparation.
Afterwards co-captain Matt Breslin, Duke's starting goalkeeper each of the last three seasons, looked back on both the game and the season with mixed emotions.
"There's definitely a lot of pride that I have for this team," Breslin said. "They're some phenomenal people on this team. I'm disappointed for our senior class. We've had a great career as a whole, and it's disappointing that it ended this way. But it's always disappointing unless you're the only one standing in the end."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.