Really bad time for a drought
Yesterday's NCAA lacrosse national title game was my first chance to watch Duke in action this season.
Perhaps the Blue Devils would have preferred I not watch. They suffered a crushing 9-8 loss to No. 1 Johns Hopkins, which finished the season unbeaten.
There's no shame in losing to the Blue Jays, but it's the way that Duke lost that will likely stick with them for a long time. After Matt Danowski scored for the Devils with over 12 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, Duke went ahead, 8-6. If you recall what I wrote the paragraph before, you'll realize that the Blue Devils didn't score again. That's 27 freaking minutes without a goal.
To me, Duke's drought was caused mainly by two factors. First, Hopkins goalie Jesse Schwartzman got hot. Second, the Blue Devils got tight. And naturally, the two fed off each other. The more saves Schwartzman made, the more Duke felt it had to be perfect on each possession. The more Duke became tentative, the easier it became for Schwartzman to anticipate - and save - the Devils' shots.
That's why I can't quite shake the feeling that overall - goaltending excluded - Duke was probably the better team on Monday. But I'm far from a lacrosse expert, so I may be totally wrong on this one. And Hopkins still has the trophy, which is all that really matters anyway.
Duke fans can take heart though. This team came a tremendous way from the season before, when the Blue Devils won just five games. And stars like Danowski, Matt Zash and Zack Greer will all be back next season. And maybe going through a little heartache is a prerequisite before winning the title. Certainly Hopkins had its share before winning this season. The previous three years the Blue Jays had been the No. 1 team in the nation heading into the NCAA tourney, but had failed to come home with the hardware.
Comments (1)
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Like I said before, Jim, Hopkins has had issues closing the deal for 18 years despite having more than its fair share of lacrosse talent. It certainly was wild seeing 3 ACC teams in the NCAA semis and no Syracuse or Princeton.
Resident Marylander Rob Daniels surely appreciates you talking lacrosse on the blog. And Virginia fans probably appreciate your efforts to deflect attention from their brutal defeat to the Blue Jays on Saturday. Yeah, sure, going scoreless for 27 minutes was tough on Duke. How about giving up the game-tying goal with under 2 seconds left in regulation, then losing in OT. How do you think that felt?
Posted on May 31, 2005 9:02 PM