No. 4 Blue Devils Rally For 9-7 Win Over No. 13 North Carolina

Saturday, March 17

Chapel Hill, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

No. 4 Blue Devils Rally For 9-7 Win Over No. 13 North Carolina

3/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - For the second straight year, Duke rallied from a large deficit to upend North Carolina, coming from five goals down en route to a 9-7 victory over the Tar Heels on Saturday in front of 3,386 fans at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.

The fourth-ranked Blue Devils improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in ACC action while the 13th-ranked Tar Heels drop to 6-2 overall and 0-1 in the league. Duke has now won four in a row over North Carolina in the series.

“This is a good win over a good team,” said Duke head coach John Danowski. “We didn't play particularly well in the first half, but we hung in there and made some plays after halftime.”

Last year in Durham, the Blue Devils turned a 7-3 halftime deficit into an 11-8 victory over the Tar Heels. On Saturday afternoon, North Carolina jumped out to a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks in part to three goals from Bart Wagner.

Within the first five minutes of the second period, the Tar Heels had extended their lead to 6-1 on Wagner's fourth goal of the day and a Ben Staines tally at the 10:47 mark.

Duke began its comeback with an unassisted goal by Matt Danowski with 6:55 left in the quarter. Later, Danowski would have a shot in transition saved by Tar Heel netminder Grant Zimmerman, but Max Quinzani scooped the ball into an open net to pull the Blue Devils within 6-3 with 38 seconds remaining before intermission. Danowski then sent Duke into halftime with the game's momentum by feeding Zack Greer for a goal with one second on the clock.

Brad Ross continued the charge for the Blue Devils to open the third quarter by winning the face-off and scoring just six seconds into the period to make the score 6-5. North Carolina responded less than three minutes later when Nick Tintle scored off a pass from Sean Burke.

A second goal by Ross at the 5:00 mark would close the margin back to one at 7-6, and Danowski's unassisted goal with 1:33 left in the third quarter knotted the contest. Following a North Carolina penalty, Danowski gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the afternoon with a goal from Ned Crotty. Crotty would add an insurance tally with just under three minutes remaining in the game to seal the win.

Danowski's three goals on the day give him 18 on the year and 103 in his career. He now ranks 10th on Duke's all-time list for goals scored while his four points against North Carolina move the Farmingdale, N.Y., native into a tie for eighth place on the school's career list for total points (188 on 103 goals & 85 assists). One week after scoring a career-high three goals against Loyola, Crotty registered two goals and one assist while Ross had two goals with three face-off wins in four attempts.

Duke goalkeeper Dan Loftus posted 14 saves while defenseman Casey Carroll was credited with a game-high seven ground balls. Saturday's game also witnessed the return of All-America defenseman Tony McDevitt, who had missed Duke's last four games due to injury. The Duke defense allowed just one Tar Heel goal over the final 40:47 of the contest.

“Dan (Loftus) saw some outside shots today and that is something he hasn't seen too much of this season,” said John Danowski. “He certainly did a good job today.”

Zimmerman countered Loftus' performance in goal with 12 saves. Wagner had a career-high four goals to lead the Tar Heel offense.

The Blue Devils return home on Tuesday night to host top-ranked Cornell. Face-off at Koskinen Stadium is set for 7 p.m.

With the win, Duke earned one point in the annual battle for the Carlyle Cup, an all-sports competition between Duke and North Carolina. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels are tied in the current standings with 8.5 points apiece. This year, Duke has gained points in men's lacrosse (1), volleyball (1), men's soccer (1), fencing (1), men's cross country (1) , women's cross country (1) and women's basketball (2) while North Carolina secured points from men's basketball (2), football (2), women's soccer (1), men's swimming (1), women's swimming (1) and wrestling (1). The schools split the one point awarded for field hockey. The Carlyle Cup is sponsored by Carlyle & Co., a Greensboro-based jeweler, and fans can visit www.carlyleco.com for more information. Duke claimed the Cup in 2001, 2003 and 2004 while North Carolina earned the trophy in 2002, 2005 and 2006.