Duke Upsets No. 1 Irish; Advances to ACC Title Game

Friday, April 24

Chester, Pa.

5:30 PM

Duke University

Notre Dame (Semifinals)

Duke Upsets No. 1 Irish; Advances to ACC Title Game

4/24/2015 9:13:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

CHESTER, Pa. –Duke University junior attackman Case Matheis recorded a career-high four goals to help lead the sixth-ranked Blue Devils to a 13-8 win over No. 1 Notre Dame this evening in the ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship semifinal at PPL Park. The fourth-seeded Blue Devils advance to the title game Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m.

“It's awesome,” Matheis said. “This is my first experience actually going to the ACC final. In my first two years we lost in the semis. Those games are turning points in that they were losses. This time we won and it's another turning point in building our confidence and building our team dynamic.”

Danny Fowler made 12 saves in goal as the Duke defense held Notre Dame to just scoreless droughts of 21:02 and 22:43 in the win. The Blue Devils have won four straight and are allowing just 8.75 goals per game in that stretch.

Justin Guterding recorded his ninth career hat trick and Kyle Rowe chipped in a goal to go with his 14 faceoff wins on 19 attempts. Rowe has won 48-of-60 faceoffs in the past four games for a .800 win percentage.

The first quarter was a sloppy one for both squads as Notre Dame and Duke combined for 10 turnovers overall and just six shots on goal. Fowler was outstanding in net for the Blue Devils in the opening frame with five saves on 12 shots faced. The scoreless first quarter marked just the first time all season Notre Dame had been held without a goal in a period.

Duke's offense, after making seven turnovers in the first quarter, started to click in the second stanza. Matheis got his first of the day just 41 seconds into the period and the Blue Devils added two more from Kyle Keenan and Matheis over the next 2:38 for a 3-0 lead.

Notre Dame stopped its scoring drought at 21:02 with a Nick Osello tally, but the Blue Devils answered with a pair from Myles Jones and Guterding to take a 5-1 lead into the break. The halftime deficit was the first for the Fighting Irish all season.

The Blue Devils continued to cruise in the third quarter scoring five goals on its first shots to extend the lead to 10-1 with 3:55 to play in the period. Meanwhile on the defensive end, Duke stifled Notre Dame's offense in allowing just four shots before the Irish broke its 22-minute scoreless streak with 1:05 to play.

After Duke tacked on two more goals to start the fourth quarter for a commanding 12-2 lead, Notre Dame mounted a furious comeback effort with six unanswered over a span of 6:34 to cut the lead to 12-8 with 4:14 to play.

The Blue Devils got hit with a non-releasable penalty with under four to play, putting Notre Dame's strong man-up squad on the field with a chance to narrow the deficit even more. Duke's man-down squad buckled down and Fowler made two huge saves to slow the Fighting Irish's momentum.

Guterding added a goal off a big ground ball and assist from Jones to ice the victory with 1:28 remaining. Jones finished with a goal and an assist to push his season point total to 68 and two shy of becoming the first midfielder in Duke history to score 70 points in a season. Jones' 32 assists this season tied Jim Gonnella for the most by a Duke midfielder and rank ninth overall.

Duke will play the winner between No. 2 North Carolina and No. 4 Syracuse for the ACC title. Faceoff is set for April 26 at 1 p.m., at PPL Park on ESPNU.

Notes

· Duke advances to its 14th ACC Championship game and is 5-8 now as the No. 4 seed.

· The Blue Devils will vie for their eighth ACC title and fifth under head coach John Danowski

· With three points Myles Jones moved into a tie for 22nd on the Duke career points list with 152. His 68 points this season are 15th on the Duke single season records list.

· Case Matheis moves up to 32nd on the Duke career points list with 124 points

· Justin Guterding has 44 goals, tying him with Matt Danowski for 14th in Duke single season history. The Duke single season record for goals by a freshman is 57 by Zack Greer in 2005.

· John Danowski is 10-4 in ACC Tournament games