LAX LOSES BATTLE OF THE BLUES

Slideshow:  Men's Lacrosse Finals: Johns Hopkins 

PHILADELPHIA — With his team trailing by a goal and less than four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, first-team All-American Matt Danowski finally saw his chance. Breaking free momentarily from Johns Hopkins’ relentless defensive pursuit, the sophomore fired a shot at Blue Jays’ goalie Jesse Schwartzman. But the ball reached Schwartzman waist-high on his stick side, and the experienced goalie easily made one of his 12 saves.

“I got a good shot off, I got my hands free, I just put it in a terrible spot,” Danowski said. “If I had put it off cage, a little towards the pipe, maybe it goes in.”

Unfortunately for the No. 2 Blue Devils (17-3), it would be the last offensive opportunity they would get. The top-ranked Blue Jays (16-0) played keep-away for the remainder of the contest and held on to beat Duke 9-8 in the NCAA Division I Championship Game at Lincoln Financial Field.

With the win, Johns Hopkins ended three years of Final Four disappointment with its eighth men’s lacrosse national championship and its first since 1987. The Blue Jays also became the first team since 1997 to win the title with a perfect record.

With 13:35 left in the game, Johns Hopkins’ Jake Byrne capped off a second-half comeback with an unassisted bounce shot that broke an 8-8 tie and gave the Blue Jays its first lead since the opening minutes of the game.

The one-goal margin would prove to be enough for the Blue Jays, who clamped down on defense and ran the clock down on the Blue Devils’ season.

“Twenty games, and one play away from the national championship,” Duke head coach Mike Pressler said. “What a year from my guys, and I’m certainly very proud of them.

“They were getting their skip passes, so we tried to limit those,” tournament Most Outstanding Player Schwartzman said of adjustments his team made at halftime. “I think that really helped out because [Duke] is a great passing team.”

With Duke’s offense shut down, the Blue Jays fueled their comeback after the break. Johns Hopkins took twelve shots in the third quarter, equaling their entire first half total, and began chipping away at the Blue Devils’ lead. A goal by Paul Rabil at 5:56 brought them back to within one, and Greg Peyser’s goal with 47 seconds to go in the period tied the score at eight going into the decisive fourth quarter.

“Basically at the end of a game, you hope people are going to be able to make plays” Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said.

His players did just that, as the Blue Jays final three goals were all unassisted.

Duke’s Danowski finished the game with two goals and four assists, while fellow attackers Matt Zash and Dan Flannery each added a pair. Freshman Zach Greer, who entered the game with an ACC-record 57 goals, was pursued all afternoon by Johns Hopkins’ Chris Watson and was held to a single assist.

In his final collegiate game, Duke goalie Aaron Fenton had a difficult time in the cage. The fifth-year senior recorded just one save in the first half, allowing six Blue Jay goals on only 12 shots. Indicative of the All-American’s tough afternoon, one Johns Hopkins shot hit off of Fenton’s shoe and rolled into the back of the net.

“I think as a whole, our defense played pretty well,” Fenton said. “You just got to give Hopkins credit—I feel like they shot the ball really well. There were probably a couple I think I probably should have had, but I wasn’t on today like I usually am.”

For Duke, the loss was a disappointing end to an otherwise successful season. But graduating only three starting seniors, the Blue Devils held on to the belief that they would return to college lacrosse’s grandest stage in 2006.

“Next year I expect to be in the same place, but in a happy locker room,” Danowski said. “It was a good experience, I guess, to put it in the best terms possible. We’re going to come back here and we’re gonna do it again.”