Duke Earns No. 2 Seed In NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament; Hosts Fairfield On May 14

May 8, 2005

The Duke men's lacrosse team, winner of a school record 14 games this season and ranked second in the national poll, has received the number two seed for the 2005 NCAA Tournament and will host Fairfield University in the opening round on Saturday, May 14. Face-off is set for 1 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils (14-2) will make their 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, all under 15th-year head coach Mike Pressler. Duke made previous trips to the postseason in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 and owns an all-time postseason ledger of 5-9. The Blue Devils' lone berth in the Final Four came in 1997.

"After not making the tournament field the past two seasons, it is certainly refreshing to see our name on the board," said Pressler. "Getting into the NCAA Tournament was one of our goals at the beginning of the year, and the players have worked very hard to achieve that goal. We had an abbreviated practice schedule last week with exams, and now it is time to prepare for a very good Fairfield team."

The top-scoring team in the nation, Duke is led on the offensive end by a trio of attackmen. Sophomore Matt Danowski, the 2005 ACC Player of the Year, leads the team and the league in scoring with 71 points on 37 goals and 34 assists while freshman Zach Greer has established a school scoring record for rookies with 47 goals. Junior Dan Flannery is third on the team with his 53 points on 35 goals and 18 assists. Defensively, senior goalkeeper Aaron Fenton boasts a goals against average of 6.62 along with a .628 save percentage while sophomore defender Tony McDevitt and junior midfielder Matt Zash (14 goals & 16 assists in 2005) joined Danowski, Greer and Fenton on the All-ACC unit.

Fairfield (11-4) earned an automatic bid into the NCAA field by capturing the Great Western Lacrosse League championship. On Saturday, the 17th-ranked Stags upset 12th-ranked Denver, 9-8, in the league title game behind three goals from Tom Werney. Greg Downing paces Fairfield in scoring with 46 points on 32 goals and 14 assists while goalkeeper Michael Kruger owns an 8.59 goals against average and .596 save percentage.

Saturday's tilt will mark the first between the Blue Devils and Stags.

Unbeaten Johns Hopkins picked up the top seed in the tournament and the Blue Jays will host Marist. Third-seeded Maryland will entertain Penn State while fourth-seeded Virginia plays host to Albany. Other first round games include Delaware at fifth-seeded Navy, Army at sixth-seeded Georgetown, Cornell at seventh-seeded Towson and defending champion Syracuse at eighth-seeded Massachusetts.

2005 NCAA Tournament
First Round (Seeds in parenthesis)
Marist at (1) Johns Hopkins
Fairfield at (2) Duke
Penn State at (3) Maryland
Albany at (4) Virginia
Delaware at (5) Navy
Army at (6) Georgetown
Cornell at (7) Towson
Syracuse at (8) Massachusetts

Quarterfinals
at Baltimore, Md. (Johns Hopkins University) - Saturday, May 21
Marist-Johns Hopkins winner vs. Syracuse-Massachusetts winner
Albany-Virginia winner vs. Delaware-Navy winner

at Princeton, N.J. (Princeton University) - Sunday, May 22
Fairfield-Duke winner vs. Cornell-Towson winner
Penn State-Maryland winner vs. Army-Georgetown winner

Semifinals
at Philadelphia, Pa. (Lincoln Financial Field) - Saturday, May 28

Finals
at Philadelphia, Pa. (Lincoln Financial Field) - Monday, May 30