Completed Event: Men's Lacrosse versus Georgetown on May 10, 2025 , Loss , 12, to, 16
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No. 1 vs. No. 2: Johns Hopkins & Duke Meet For NCAA Championship
5/29/2005 1:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
May 29, 2005
With the top two seeds advancing into the championship game, top-ranked and undeeated Johns Hopkins will take on second-ranked Duke in the NCAA men's lacrosse finals on Monday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. Face-off is set for 12 noon and the game will be televised live by ESPN.
The Blue Devils, who have already set a new NCAA record with 17 wins against their two defeats, advanced to the finals with an 18-9 win over Maryland on Saturday afternoon. Johns Hopkins, an 11-10 double overtime winner over Duke back on April 8, downed Virginia in the semifinals by a 9-8 score in overtime. The Blue Jays, who have been ranked number one the entire season, stand at 15-0.
"This is what we wanted," Duke head coach Mike Pressler said on Sunday. "This is what we practiced for all year. We talked about it for the first time last week. About not only getting to the Final Four but getting to Monday and competing for the national championship. I think it's only fitting that the lacrosse community is going to see what they wanted, the number one versus the number two. There will be a lot a blue in the stands and it'll be an exciting game. If it's anything like the first game, and that was one of the best lacrosse games I've ever been a part of, I think we'll give the fans their money's worth on Monday."
Duke's defense will have to contend with All-America midfielder Kyle Harrison and an offense that averages just under 12 goals per game.
"Obviously they have a high octane offense," said junior defenseman David Evans. "Their midfield is one of the best in the country if not the best. In the first game (against Johns Hopkins), we didn't start out as well as we could have and our defense has a tremendous amount of confidence in our short-stick middies. If you watched the third quarter of our other game, Michael Ward was the one who sparked a lot of transition offense and getting the ball way away from those midfielders and that's something that you don't see in a lot of teams. Generally it's the poles. Michael Ward, Eddie Douglas and all of our short-stick middies take a tremendous amount of pride in defense."
As for the Duke offense, the Blue Devils boast three players - Matt Danowski, Dan Flannery and Zack Greer - that have produced 70 or more points apiece. The 2005 ACC Player of the Year and a First Team All-America selection, Danowski leads the nation with his 86 total points while Greer, the National Freshman of the Year, and Flannery have contributed 71 and 70 points, respectively. All three of Hopkins' close defensemen as while as goalkeeper Jesse Schwartzman have earned All-America honors in 2005.
"They are a very slide conscious defense," Flannery said. "They do a lot of bluff and recovering. The biggest thing for us will be our middies running by their short sticks. If we can do that, we'll be pretty successful. That's been the key to our success."
Pressler made three appearances in the NCAA Division III championship game during his five seasons as the head coach at Ohio Wesleyan.
"I didn't really know what I was doing back then and I know what I'm doing now," remarked Pressler. "But I think that a mistake a coach can make is over-coach this one. That's what I might have done in my earlier years. We're going to go out there and walk around today, and sign autographs for kids. If you try and make too many adjustments, you'll cloud their heads. They just have to fall back on what got them here. Today is practice number 77. We've played 19 games and nobody has played more lacrosse than we have this year. So to overanalyze this and put too much in their minds would be a mistake on our part."
DUKE NOTES
NATIONAL TITLE GAME
Duke will play in its first national championship game on Monday against Johns Hopkins ... The Blue Devils are making their second appearance in the Final Four, dropping a 10-9 semifinal decision in Princeton in 1997 ... Duke has won eight national team championships, capturing titles in men's soccer (1986), men's basketball (1991, 1992 & 2001) and women's golf (1999, 2002 & 2005).
NCAA RECORDS
With its 18-9 win over Maryland in the national semifinals, Duke improved to 17-2 on the year to establish NCAA records for most victories in a season and the biggest win total improvement (+12; 5 wins in 2004 to 17 in 2005) ... The Blue Devils had shared the single-season win standard with Cornell (1976), Yale (1990) and North Carolina (1991) and the win total improvement mark with Towson (+11).
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Duke is making its 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament - all under 15th-year head coach Mike Pressler - and owns an all-time postseason record of 9-9 ... The Blue Devils have posted wins over Fairfield (23-4), Cornell (11-8) and Maryland (18-9) to reach the national championship game ... Duke and Johns Hopkins have met just once in NCAA Tournament action, with the Blue Devils posting a 12-11 overtime win in the 1997 quarterfinals.
DUKE vs. JOHNS HOPKINS
Johns Hopkins leads the all-time series with Duke, 9-2, and the Blue Jays have won three straight over the Blue Devils ... Back on April 8 in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins picked up an 11-10 double overtime victory over Duke on the strength of Kevin Huntley's goal ... Matt Danowski led the Blue Devils with three goals while Dan Flannery and Zack Greer added two goals apiece ... Duke's only two wins over Johns Hopkins came in 1951 (9-7) and 1997 (12-11 in OT) ... The 1997 victory was in the NCAA Quarterfinals in College Park, Md. ... The series began with a 22-0 Hopkins triumph in 1942.
HEAD COACH Mike Pressler
Head coach Mike Pressler is now 147-79 with Duke and 223-99 overall ... From 1986-90, Pressler guided Ohio Wesleyan to five Final Four berths and three national championship game appearances.
ONE vs. TWO
Monday's championship game will feature the top two ranked teams in the nation with Johns Hopkins and Duke ... The Blue Jays have been number one in the national poll all season long, while the Blue Devils jumped into the number two position in week four and held the spot for the remainder of the year despite losses at Johns Hopkins and to Maryland in the ACC Tournament finals ... Under head coach Mike Pressler, Duke owns a record of 1-7 against the number one ranked team in the nation including two defeats to the Blue Jays ... The Blue Devils' lone win over a top-ranked club came in the 2002 ACC Tournament championship against Virginia (14-13).
AVENGING 2004 LOSSES
In 2005, Duke has defeated six of the seven teams that beat them during the 2004 season ... Those squads include Maryland (twice), North Carolina (twice), Virginia, Georgetown, Ohio State and Army ... The only school that downed the Blue Devils in 2004 and not lose in 2005 is Monday's opponent for the national title, Johns Hopkins ... In the national semifinal, Duke produced an 18-9 win over Maryland to avenge the Terrapins' win over the Blue Devils on May 1 in the ACC Tournament finals.
DEVILISH DEFENSE
With First Team All-America goalkeeper Aaron Fenton serving as the backbone, the Duke defense has been solid in 2005, allowing it opponents just 6.84 goals per game on 21.0 percent shooting ... The Blue Devils rank second nationally in scoring defense, trailing only Navy (6.62), and have allowed just four of 19 opponents to reach double figures this season ... So far in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, Duke has given up four goals to Fairfield, held Cornell scoreless in a pair of quarters during an 11-8 win over the Big Red, and limited Maryland to just three first half tallies en route to a 18-9 victory over the Terrapins ... In the postseason, Fenton owns a goals against average of 6.61 and save percentage of .684.
SCORING WITH O'HARA
Sophomore longstick midfielder Nick O'Hara made his presence felt on the offensive end during Duke's semifinal victory over Maryland on Saturday ... The Orchard Park, N.Y., native scored a career-high three points on two goals and one assist, pushing his season totals to four goals and four assists ... O'Hara entered the season with just a single goal to his credit, and now has five career goals on 14 shots ... "Anyone who knows me knows I like to shoot," O'Hara remarked following the win over the Terrapins. "I've been on kind of a cold streak lately so I was happy the goals went in."
THE ROSS FACTOR
Freshman Brad Ross has enjoyed the NCAA Tournament through the first three rounds with quality face-off play for the Blue Devils ... In the three contests, Ross has won 32-of-50 (.640) face-offs against Fairfield (14-of-19), Cornell (5-of-11) and Maryland (13-of-20) ... Through 19 games this year, Ross haw now secured 98-of-190 (.516) of his face-off opportunities.
FINAL FOUR EXPERIENCE
Entering the weekend, only one member of the Blue Devil roster had experienced the sights and sounds of the Final Four as a competitor - Kyle Dowd ... A junior midfielder, Dowd played in seven total NCAA Tournament games including two semifinals and one championship tilt as a member of the Johns Hopkins program in 2003 and 2004 ... The East Northport, N.Y., product scored a pair of goals in Duke's victory over Maryland in the semifinals to push his season point total to 30 on 19 goals and 11 assists ... In his two seasons with the Blue Jays, Dowd totaled 16 points on 13 goals and three assists while playing in 31 career games.
THREE WITH 70
The Duke offense, which leads the nation in scoring at 13.63 goals per contest, boasts three players - Matt Danowski, Dan Flannery & Zack Greer - who have reached the 70-point barrier ... Danowski paces the club and the country with 86 points on 48 goals and 38 assists while Greer has a nation-best and ACC single-season record 57 goals to go along with 14 assists ... Flannery, who had three goals and two assists in Saturday's semifinal win over Maryland, has 70 points on 44 goals and 26 assists.
DUKE'S ATTACK IN THE POSTSEASON
In the Blue Devils' three-game run through the NCAA Tournament bracket, Duke's trio of attackmen has picked up where it left off during the regular season ... The unit, made up of sophomore Matt Danowski, junior Dan Flannery and rookie Zack Greer, has combined for 45 points in the three games on 30 goals and 15 assists ... Flannery leads the group with 17 points on nine goals and eight assists, followed by Danowski (11g & 4a) and Greer (10g & 3a).
THE BLUE DEVIL OFFENSE
Duke has scored in double figures in 16-of-18 games this season while reaching 15 or more goals in seven contests ... The Blue Devils are averaging a nation-leading 13.63 goals per game including 17.33 goals per outing in the 2005 NCAA Tournament ... In the three postseason games, Duke has scored 52 goals on 110 shots - good for a shooting percentage of .473 ... Duke has won its 17 games this season by an average of 7.88 goals ... The Blue Devils are 12-0 when Zack Greer scores three goals or more ... Dan Flannery leads Duke with five game-winning goals, followed by Greer with four.
DANOWSKI & THE SCORING CHARTS
With his one-goal, one-assist outing on Saturday, Matt Danowski moved into a tie for third place on the ACC's single-season scoring chart with Virginia's Doug Knight who posted 86 points during the 1996 campaign ... Ahead of Danowski and Knight are Ray Altman (93 points in 1963) and Tony Cullen (90 points in 1979) ... With 128 career points, Danowski has moved into a tie for 20th place on Duke's all-time scoring list with Pete Gustafson.
GREER SETS ACC MARK; CRACKS NCAA TOP 10
Thanks to a four-goal effort on Saturday versus Maryland, rookie Zack Greer has established a new ACC single-season record for goals scored with 57 ... Virginia's Doug Knight previously held the standard with 56 goals during the 1996 season ... Greer's total of 57 goals ranks as the 10th highest single-season total in NCAA history.
GREER HONORED BY INSIDE LACROSSE
Zack Greer picked up another honor over the weekend by garnering National Freshman of the Year accolades from Inside Lacrosse magazine ... Greer has 71 total points on 57 goals and 14 assists while shooting at a 49.6 percent clip ... He has scored at least one goal in 18-of-19 games this season while reaching the three-goal plateau in 12 contests ... In addition, Greer has 43 ground balls to his credit and four game-winning tallies.
ALL-AMERICA
Three Blue Devils - Matt Danowski, Aaron Fenton and Matt Zash - received First Team All-America honors to lead seven total Duke selections as the 2005 STX/USILA All-America Team was announced on Saturday afternoon ... Other Duke players honored were Peter Lamade (2nd Team), Tony McDevitt (2nd team), Zack Greer (3rd Team) and Casey Carroll (HM) ... Danowski leads the nation in scoring with 86 points on 48 goals and 38 assists and added first team honors to his list of accolades for 2005 ... The sophomore attackman has already earned ACC Player of the Year recognition and is a finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy which is presented to the national player of the year ... Fenton, Duke's goalkeeper and lone senior starter, has enjoyed his final season with the Blue Devils by producing a 6.62 goals against average and .638 save percentage ... Zash, a junior captain of the Blue Devils, gained the first team citation after receiving honorable mention honors a year ago ... He had a season-high three goals on Saturday to help Duke to the national title game, and has 37 total points on 19 goals and 18 assists this season ... Lamade, a sophomore midfielder, has 16 goals and 13 assists in 2005 while McDevitt, a sophomore defenseman, had helped the Duke defense give up less than seven goals per game on the year ... A freshman attackman, Greer has scored an ACC-record 57 goals this season and Carroll, a sophomore defenseman, has scooped up 65 ground balls while adding one goal and one assist ... This year marks Duke's first with three First Team All-America picks and it is the most total selections since 1999 when eight Blue Devils were honored.
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