PRINCETON, N.J. — Throughout the season, Duke head coach Mike Pressler had refrained from discussing this year’s Final Four in Philadelphia with his team. After an 11-8 win over unseeded Cornell (11-3) in the NCAA tournament quarterfinal, however, a trip to the City of Brotherly Love was the only thing the Blue Devils could talk about.
Utilizing a 7-0 third-quarter charge, the second-ranked Blue Devils (16-2) survived a sluggish first half and a furious Big Red fourth quarter rally to advance to its first Final Four since 1997 and the second in program history.
The win sets up a rematch of the ACC Championship as Duke will seek revenge on Maryland beginning at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. The Terrapins narrowly edged past Georgetown 9-8 in overtime Sunday after being called for a late-game illegal stick penalty that nearly cost them the contest.
The Blue Devils made little effort trying to mask their eagerness to prove to the Terrapins and goalie Harry Alford that Duke is the best team in the ACC.
“This is what we wanted,” Danowski said. “We wanted to play Maryland. We didn’t play well against them last time and they got us out of our game. We want them again just to leave no doubt in anybody’s mind how good we really are.”
Duke’s trip to Philadelphia, however, was far from certain after two quarters of play. Despite jumping out to a 3-0 first-quarter lead, the Blue Devils struggled to find the net for the rest of the half. Seeing its lead dwindle to a 4-3 halftime advantage, Duke entered the break knowing that they needed to find a way to take control of the game.
Answering the call to action was defenseman Casey Carroll, who opened up the scoring for the Blue Devils just forty seconds into the half. The sophomore managed to evade a handful of Big Red defenders before firing in a left-handed shot for his first career goal.
“You don’t draw that up in the playbook,” Pressler said. “I thought that goal in particular ignited us.”
Following Carroll’s lead, Duke’s offensive trio of Zach Greer, Dan Flannery and Matt Danowski began to take control of the game. Danowski led all scorers with five goals and an assist, while Flannery contributed two assists and a pair of goals. Greer added a hat trick of his own, giving him 53 goals on the season and tying him with John Fay for Duke’s single-season record.
“Today was a great example of how we can play,” Greer said. “We got to move the ball on offense—it’s that one more pass that’s been key for us all year. Rather than taking 10 to 12 yard shots, we’re getting closer shots or slam dunks on the crease.”
When the dust finally settled, Duke had a 11-3 fourth quarter lead, leaving Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni wondering what happened to his squad.
“I felt like coming out of the second half, we were going to make it a little more of a grind,” Tambroni said. “[Duke] just did such a good job of exploiting us at both ends of the field in the first five to six minutes, which eventually put it out of reach.”
In an attempt to cut down on Blue Devil possessions from the game’s outset, Cornell abandoned its high-powered transition attack in favor of a slower, ball-control based offense. While the strategy was effective in slowing down Duke, it came at the expense of the Big Red’s own offensive output. Cornell was shut out in two of the first three quarters, and did not enjoy any sustained runs until the offense was finally unleashed in the fourth quarter.
Top-seeded Johns Hopkins (14-0) and fourth-seeded Virginia (11-3) will square-off in Saturday’s other contest at 2 p.m. This year marks the first time that one conference has had three teams reach the national semifinal round.
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