Top-Seeded Blue Devils Advance To National Semifinals With 19-11 Win Over North Carolina

Sunday, May 20

Annapolis, Md.

3 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina (Second Round)

Top-Seeded Blue Devils Advance To National Semifinals With 19-11 Win Over North Carolina

5/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

ANNAPOLIS, Md. ? Riding the Danowski-Greer Express, top-seeded Duke rallied from a 6-1 deficit to defeat eighth-seeded North Carolina, 19-11, in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship quarterfinals as 10,438 fans watched at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.

The second-ranked Blue Devils improve to 16-2 on the year and will meet fourth-seeded and top-ranked Cornell in the national semifinals next Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. The national semifinal berth will be the third for Duke, who made previous appearances in 1997 and 2005.

North Carolina ends the season at 10-6.

Zack Greer posted seven goals and three assists while Matt Danowski chipped in four goals and six assists as the pair combined for 20 total points. The win for the Blue Devils marks the third this season over the Tar Heels and the sixth straight over their chief rival.

The Blue Devils claimed a 1-0 lead just under six minutes into the contest when Zack Greer scored off a feed from Matt Danowski. North Carolina responded with two goals in a 50-second span as Sean Burke and Ben Hunt netted unassisted goals at the 5:18 and 4:28 marks.

The Tar Heels increased their lead to 3-1 with 1:44 remaining in the opening period when Bobby McAuley fed Sean Delaney for a goal. North Carolina then tallied two goals in the final 11 seconds of the quarter for a 5-1 advantage at the end of 15 minutes.

Shane Walterhoefer, North Carolina's face-off specialist who scored directly off the draw with three seconds left in the opening period, scored just five seconds into the second quarter to push the Tar Heel lead to 6-1. Brad Ross ended the Tar Heel run at six goals with a tally from Greer at the 12:00 mark of the second quarter, pulling Duke to within 6-2. Fourteen seconds later, Greer scored his second of the day ? again from Danowski ? for a 6-3 deficit.

At the 11:09 mark of the second quarter, Danowski located Greer open on the crease and the junior found the back of the net for his third tally of the afternoon. The Tar Heels came right back to claim a 7-4 lead on Ben Hunt's goal, and the margin was pushed back to four goals with just under nine minutes left when Burke dodged from the behind the net and scored an unassisted goal.

With 4:43 left before intermission, the Danowski-to-Greer combination hooked up again for a goal, with Greer's tally making the score 8-5 in favor of the Tar Heels. North Carolina would take that three-goal advantage into halftime.

Duke began the second half with a pair of goals as Greer shoved home an extra man tally from Peter Lamade at the 13:18 mark, and Ned Crotty added an unassisted goal less than one minute later to make the score 8-7. After Gavin Petracca scored for the Tar Heels, Greer scored his sixth of the day at the 11:44 mark to trim the margin back to one.

Danowski's unassisted goal at the 9:42 mark of the third quarter knotted the game at 9-9, and Crotty fired in an extra man score from Greer with 7:45 on the clock to give the Blue Devils a one-goal lead. Danowski's sixth assist of the game led to a goal by Max Quinzani with 2:24 left in the period for an 11-9 Blue Devil lead. Tar Heel goalkeeper Lance Zimmerman's attempt to scoop up a loose ball resulted in a Duke goal, credited to Quinzani with just 37 seconds left in the quarter.

The Blue Devils extended their lead with three goals in less than four minutes to start the fourth quarter. Matt Danowski started things off with a goal off a feed from Peter Lamade at the 13:32 mark, followed by an unassisted goal just over a minute later. Brad Ross then scored his second goal of the game with 11:11 remaining to push the lead to 15-9. An unassisted goal by North Carolina's Michael Burns trimmed the lead to five at 10:52.

Duke scored the next four goals to push its lead to 19-10 beginning with Max Quinzani's third goal of the game with an assist from Brad Ross at the 8:25 mark. Matt Danowski kept things going with a score 50 seconds later off a feed from Fred Krom. Bo Carrington scored off a pass from Zack Greer with 5:30 left in the game. Greer then capped his day with a goal off a pass from Max Quinzani less than a minute and a half later. With 2:21 left in the game, North Carolina's Gavin Petracca found the back of the net off a pass from Nick Tintle to account for the final score.

Quinzani finished with three goals and one assist while Crotty and Ross added two goals apiece. Terrence Molinari gave the Blue Devils a huge lift in the face-off game, winning 11-of-18 draws while picking up six ground balls. In goal, Dan Loftus was credited with nine saves.

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