Despite its relative lack of importance for NCAA tournament seeding purposes, Sunday’s ACC championship game against Notre Dame was crucial for Duke’s confidence. Instead of serving as a momentum builder, though, the game was one the Blue Devils will hope to forget.
From the start, the Fighting Irish controlled every aspect of the match, holding Duke to just two goals in the first half and cruising to a 16-6 victory. Sunday marked the Blue Devils’ fifth-straight loss to Notre Dame, who now sit as the presumptive team to beat for the national title.
After struggling immensely in the first half, Duke (12-5, 1-3 in the ACC) came out with a noticeable fire in the second. Graduate attack Dyson Williams nearly broke through with a highlight-reel, behind-the-back score, but it was graduate attack Brennan O’Neill who found the back of the net. His goal, in addition to a noticeable change in effort on loose balls from the team as a whole, made the game feel in contest for the first time all afternoon.
Notre Dame (12-1, 4-0) came right back with a response, however, as graduate attack Jake Taylor went for a behind-the-back shot of his own to score his third goal of the afternoon. So, despite the Blue Devils’ added effort in the third quarter, they still went into the final 15 minutes trailing by six.
What made the Fighting Irish so suffocating was their consistent and tremendous poise. No matter what Duke tried, Notre Dame stuck to its gameplan. By the time the final whistle blew, the new ACC champions barely appeared winded.
Just as they did in their regular-season meeting with the Blue Devils, the Fighting Irish struck first Sunday. Junior midfielder Will Angrick came streaking down the right alley, but instead of ripping off a shot, he dished it to Taylor on the left side for the goal.
Notre Dame piled in four more goals before Duke could make an appearance on the scoreboard, in large part because the Blue Devils struggled to get possession and quality shots.
Without starting faceoff specialist Jake Naso due to a lower-body injury, Duke lost its first four from the X. Moreover, constant switching from the Fighting Irish prevented the Blue Devils from getting into any rhythm on offense, and when they did get a shot on goal, graduate goalie Liam Entenmann was there to gobble it up.
The first quarter was all green and gold, and the Notre Dame faithful were at their loudest after a O’Neill miss almost immediately led to a screamer from junior attacker Chris Kavanagh. The reigning Tewaaraton winner, given to college lacrosse’s best player, did not register a goal or an assist in the first half, as he took just three shots.
Head coach John Danowski’s squad was able to avoid a scoreless period thanks to a goal from Williams — the 200th goal of his career — but Duke could not carry that momentum into the start of the second quarter.
Two goals in the first minute from the Fighting Irish put the Blue Devils down by six and sucked the life out of the team. The slow start seemed to affect Duke’s performance most notably in 50/50 balls; they felt more like 80/20 in favor of Notre Dame. Beyond faceoffs, the Blue Devils struggled to claim ground balls or win opportunities in transition.
Even after stopping the Fighting Irish on a man-up opportunity, Duke could not claim an ounce of momentum. Every time a Blue Devil turned, it seemed as though he was met with three Notre Dame defenders. On the other side, the Fighting Irish got open at will. By the end of the half, five different Notre Dame players had scored to build a massive lead.
Sunday was most likely not the end of the road for Duke, who awaits its fate in the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils’ seeding will be announced Sunday night.
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Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.