Duke Secures Final Four Berth With 11-8 Win Over Cornell

Sunday, May 22

Princeton, N.J.

TBA

Duke University

Cornell (Quarterfinals)

Duke Secures Final Four Berth With 11-8 Win Over Cornell

5/22/2005 1:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

Sophomore attackman Matt Danowski scored five goals and added one assist to lead second-seeded Duke to an 11-8 victory over Cornell in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals as 6,315 fans looked on at Princeton Stadium in Princeton, N.J.

Duke improves to 16-2 and advances to Saturday's national semifinals to face third-seeded Maryland, a 9-8 overtime winner over Georgetown, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The other semifinal pits top-seeded and undefeated Johns Hopkins versus fourth-seeded Virginia. Cornell ends the year at 11-3.

Duke got on the scoreboard at 7:19 of the opening period when rookie Zack Greer rebounded a saved shot by Peter Lamade and fired the ball behind his back into the net. Danowski then pushed the lead to 2-0 with an unassisted goal at the 2:32 mark, operating from behind the cage and beating Cornell goalkeeper Matt McMonagle in the low outside corner.

Blue Devil goalkeeper Aaron Fenton keyed Duke's third goal of the afternoon with a save and outlet pass. Danowski finished up the end-to-end break with his second goal of the day on an assist from Dan Flannery.

Duke began the second quarter in a man-down situation following an unreleaseable penalty assessed to Lamade. Cornell used an extra man tally to pull within 3-1 less than 30 seconds into the second quarter when Kevin Nee scored on a pass from Derek Haswell. The Blue Devils responded with a man-down goal when Danowski scored off a feed from Nick O'Hara. Still with a man advantage, Cornell secured the ensuing face-off and Nee scored to make the game 4-2 with 14:04 left in the period.

At the 9:24 mark of the second quarter, Justin Redd tallied for Cornell for a 4-3 Duke lead and the Blue Devils would take the one-goal advantage into halftime.

Just 20 seconds into the third quarter Casey Carroll scored the first goal of his career when he scooped up a loose ball on the right wing and scampered in for an unassisted tally. Danowski then picked up where he left off in the first half with an unassisted tally, his fourth goal of the game, at the 12:47 mark.

Flannery extended the lead to 7-3 with an extra man goal from Fred Krom at the 8:47 mark of the third quarter. With 6:23 remaining, Danowski pushed his game total to five goals with a blast from the left side past McMonagle. Danowski's goal came on a fast break pass from Tony McDevitt, who chalked up the first assist of his career.

Greer and Flannery continued the run with goals at the 4:21 and 3:39 marks, with Flannery's goal on an assist from Danowski making the score 10-3. With 1:38 left in the quarter, Greer matched Duke's single-season goal scoring record with his 53rd tally of the season, an unassisted goal that pushed the Blue Devils' lead to eight.

Cornell stopped the 7-0 Duke spurt at the 12:40 mark of the third period when Joe Boulukos tossed in an unassisted goal. The Big Red then converted a fast break when Sean Greenhalgh scored his 135th career goal with 9:39 left on the clock. Cornell then scored three goals in the final 6:11 to account for the final margin.

In its comeback attempt, Cornell fired 19 of their 40 shot in the final quarter.

Fenton finished with 12 saves on the day while McMonagle posted 13 saves.

DUKE NOTES

Final Stats

*** The Duke-Maryland semifinal is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Saturday with the Johns Hopkins-Virginia contest slated for 2 p.m. ... Both games will be televised live by ESPN2

*** With the win, Duke matches the NCAA record for wins in a season (16) ... Other teams to win 16 games in a campaign are Cornell (1976), Yale (1990) and North Carolina (1991)

*** The victory allows Duke to match the top single-season win total turnaround in NCAA history ... Duke is at +11 (from 5 wins in 2004 to 16 in 2005), equaling the standard set by Towson in 2001 (+11; 3 wins in 2000 to 14 in 2001)

*** Duke will make its second appearance in the Final Four (1997)

*** Duke improves to 8-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament action

*** Zack Greer's 53 goals on the year matches the Duke single-season record set by John Fay in 1997 ... The 53-goal performance also betters the ACC mark for goals in a season by a freshman, passing Stan Cockerton's total of 52 for N.C. State in 1977 ... Greer is now three goals shy of equaling the ACC standard for goals in a season held by Virginia's Doug Knight (1996) *** Greer's total of 53 goals ranks in a tie for 15th place on the NCAA's single-season list

*** The five goals on the day push Matt Danowski's 2005 NCAA Tournament total to 10 ... The Farmingdale, N.Y., native tallied five goals in Duke's opening round win over Fairfield

*** Danowski continues to approach the Duke single-season record for points of 90 held by Tony Cullen (1979) ... Danowski now has a nation-leading 84 points for the year on 47 goals and 37 assists

*** With 84 points on the year, Danowski moves into fourth place on the ACC's chart for total points in a season ... Maryland's Ray Altman (93 in 1963) holds the league standard followed by Duke's Tony Cullen (90 in 1979), Virginia's Doug Knight (86 in 1996) and Danowski

*** Dan Flannery posted a two-goal, two-assist performance in the win on Sunday to give Duke three players with 40 or more goals on the year (Greer - 53; Danowski - 47 & Flannery - 41)

*** It marks the first time in NCAA Tournament history that three teams advanced to the Final Four

*** Duke and Maryland will meet for the third time in 2005 this Saturday in the national semifinals ... The Blue Devils picked up a 10-8 win on March 5 in College Park and the Terrapins secured a 9-5 victory in the ACC Tournament title game in Baltimore on May 1

*** Duke and Maryland have met twice in NCAA Tournament play, with the Terrapins posting a 13-11 triumph in 1992 and the Blue Devils gaining a 14-9 decision in 1994