Duke Comeback Falls Short Against Irish

Friday, April 28

Durham, N.C.

8:30 PM

Duke University

11-4

Notre Dame (Semifinals)

8-3

Notre Dame

Duke

Duke Comeback Falls Short Against Irish

4/28/2017 11:46:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score MLAX vs ND: Danowski INT MLAX vs ND: Bruckner INT MLAX: Duke vs Notre Dame Highlights Season Statistics Box Score Box Score (HTML)

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.—Sixth-ranked Notre Dame scored a pair of goals 24 seconds apart in the fourth quarter and held off a last-minute charge from the No. 3 Blue Devils for a 7-6 victory in the ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship semifinal. The Irish advance to play North Carolina in the ACC title game Sunday at 12 p.m.

Duke suffers its first loss since March 25 and falls to 11-4 overall, while Notre Dame improves to 8-3 on the year. The setback was the first to Notre Dame in postseason play under head coach John Danowksi.

Jack Bruckner tallied three goals to lead the Blue Devils in the comeback effort. Duke trailed 4-0 before rallying to tie the game, only to come up just short in the final seconds. Three of Duke's four losses have been by a single goal.

The Blue Devils struggled offensively in the opening half, being held scoreless for the first time this season and in recent memory. Duke managed just 13 shots and only six on goal, while Notre Dame scored three times on its 12 shots.

Danny Fowler made four saves in the opening half, but a pair of goals from Bryan Costabile and a third from Mikey Wynne sent Notre Dame into the locker room up 3-0. Costabile finished the game with three goals.

The Blue Devils ended their scoreless streak at 35:56 when junior Mitch Russell threw in a man-up score midway through the third quarter. Brad Smith provided the assist. Less than three minutes later Justin Guterding cut the Irish lead in half with his 41st tally of the year.

Duke continued to chip away at the Notre Dame lead as Jack Bruckner scored a pair 48 seconds apart to tie the game for the first time with 9:59 left in the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame's Drew Schantz answered just over two minutes later to give the Irish the 5-4 lead, but Bruckner responded 49 seconds later with his ninth hat trick of the year to make it a 5-5 contest.

Ryder Garnsey and Wynne came up big for the Irish in the waning minutes, scoring 24 seconds apart to give Notre Dame the two-goal cushion with 2:34 left to play. Garnsey posted three points on the night, while Wynne finished with two markers.

After a couple defensive stops from the Blue Devils, Duke gained possession in the final minute. Rookie Kevin Quigley took a Guterding pass and fired it past Notre Dame Shane Doss to make it 7-6.

Kyle Rowe won the ensuing faceoff and Duke called a timeout with 17.3 seconds left. Coming out the huddle, Brad Smith got open in the middle and found Bruckner. The senior captain fired it on cage, only to be denied by Doss to ice the victory for the Irish.

Doss finished with 10 saves, including three in the fourth quarter. Fowler posted seven overall for the Blue Devils.

Notre Dame had a slight 9-8 advantage at the faceoff X, while Duke won the ground ball battle 24-20.

Duke closes regular season play against Boston University in the Battle at Bethpage, May 7. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m., at Bethpage High School.

#GoDuke