Blue Devils Register 13-9 Win Over North Carolina To Advance To ACC Tournament Final

Friday, April 27

Durham, N.C.

8:30 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

Blue Devils Register 13-9 Win Over North Carolina To Advance To ACC Tournament Final

4/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Senior Matt Danowski scored two goals and added four assists as top-seeded Duke topped fourth-seeded North Carolina, 13-9, on Friday night in the opening round of the 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.

Duke improves to 12-2 with the win, while the Tar Heels fall to 9-5 on the year.

Duke opened the scoring with an unassisted goal by Brad Ross at the 13:51 mark. North Carolina responded with three straight goals, beginning with an unassisted goal by Nick Tintle at 12:31. Bart Wagner assisted on a Rob Driscoll tally just 25 seconds later and Michael Burns scored off a Gavin Petracca pass at the 10:37 mark to give the Tar Heels a 3-1 edge.

The Blue Devils responded with five consecutive goals to take a 6-3 advantage after one quarter. Zack Greer opened the rally with an unassisted goal at the 9:04 mark and Danowski netted goals at 5:43 and 3:44 to give Duke a 5-3 edge. Danowski's second goal of the quarter came with a man down. Long stick midfielder Nick O'Hara capped off the five-goal run with an unassisted goal with 1:10 remaining in the quarter. O'Hara carried the ball from the midfield and split seva pair of defenders before dropping a shot into the upper left corner of the goal.

Tintle cut the Duke lead to 6-4 with his second unassisted goal of the night at the 13:10 mark of the second quarter. The Blue Devils regained the three-goal lead with 10:22 remaining in the half on a spinning goal by Max Quinzani. North Carolina tacked on a goal by Burns with three seconds left in the quarter to trail 7-5 at the half. Burns took a pass from Wagner on the left side of the cage and after a shot fake bounced a shot past Duke goalie Dan Loftus.

North Carolina trimmed the deficit to one goal at the 10:45 mark of the third quarter with a Wagner goal off an assist from Sean Burke. Junior Bo Carrington stretched Duke's lead back to two goals at 8-6 with 4:58 left in the third quarter with an unassisted goal.

Duke came out on fire in the fourth period, scoring the first five goals of the quarter to take a 13-6 advantage. Ned Crotty started the run with unassisted goal at the 13:28 mark. Following an illegal body check near the goal, Duke added an extra man goal by Greer with 12:02 remaining. Danowski, who absorbed the body check, found Greer in front of the net and the junior attackman deposited a shot into the back of the net for a 10-6 Duke lead. Crotty added another unassisted goal (10:39) and Danowski assisted on goals by Josh Coveleski (9:12) and Carrington (7:39) for a seven goal advantage.

North Carolina responded with three straight goals by Burns for a final margin of 13-9.

The Blue Devils posted a 44-35 edge in shots in the contest, while North Carolina had a 14-12 lead in face-offs. Duke was a perfect 3-of-3 in extra-man opportunities, while the Tar Heels were 0-of-4. Loftus recorded eight saves for the Blue Devils and North Carolina goalie Grant Zimmerman was credited with seven saves.

Danowski added five ground balls to his six-point (2 goals, 4 assists) night, while Casey Carroll picked up a team-high six ground balls. Greer recorded a hat trick with three goals and Carrington and Crotty each netted a pair of goals.

Burns finished with a career-best five goals to lead the Tar Heels. Wagner added four points (1 goal, 3 assists) and Tintle finished with three points (2 goals, 1 assist) for North Carolina.

Duke advances on to play Virginia on Sunday in the ACC Tournament championship game. The title game begins at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised live on Fox Sports Net.