No. 2 Duke Ready for Quarterfinal Battle with Loyola

Sunday, May 23

Notre Dame, Ind.

12 P.M.

Duke University

Loyola (Quarterfinal)

Nakeie Montgomery holds his helmet during the national anthem

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 2 Duke Ready for Quarterfinal Battle with Loyola

5/21/2021 3:54:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

GAME NOTES ESPNU LIVE STATS GAME PROGRAM BRACKET

The Opening Faceoff

No. 2 seed Duke advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the 18th time in program history with a 16-10 win against High Point last Sunday. The Blue Devils are 12-5 all-time in the quarterfinals and will meet Loyola for the fourth time in NCAA Tournament history.
Michael Sowers, playing in his first NCAA Tournament game, registered four goals and four assists for eight points to lead Duke offensively. Sixth-year senior Sean Lowrie added a hat trick, while Jake Naso won 19-of-26 faceoffs and picked up 13 ground balls and scored a goal. JT Giles-Harris had two caused turnovers, while Terry Lindsay and Tyler Carpenter picked up five ground balls apiece. Mike Adler had 14 saves.
Sunday's matchup will be the eighth straight game against a top 20 team and the 21st consecutive year Duke and Loyola have squared off.
Duke is 6-2 all-time as the No. 2 seed. The Blue Devils also were the No. 2 seed in 2005 and 2019, reaching the NCAA title game and the NCAA semifinal, respectively.
Loyola earned an at-large bid to the tournament as runner-up in the Patriot League and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 14-13 win over No. 7 seed Denver. It took a last second save by goalkeeper Sam Shafer to keep the Pioneers from completing the comeback.

Duke – Loyola by the Numbers
62 – Consecutive games Michael Sowers has scored a point - every game of his career
39-20 – Duke's NCAA Tournament all-time record
34-18 - John Danowski's record in NCAA Tournament games
30-10 – Duke's record under Danowski in NCAA Tournament games
5.0 – Average margin of victory for Duke against Loyola since 2017
9.80 – Loyola's goals against average this season, 11th nationally
15.13 – Duke's goals per game average, third nationally
.637 - Jake Naso's faceoff win percentage, seventh nationally
22 - Points for Nakeie Montgomery in his eight NCAA Tournament games
14 – Saves for Mike Adler in the first round victory, the most by a Duke goalie in a NCAA Tournament game since 2013

NCAA Tournament Notes

Duke earned its 24th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and 14th consecutive. Duke's 14 straight berths in the tournament are third behind Maryland's 18 and Notre Dame's 15. The Blue Devils have advanced to 18 quarterfinals and in 12 of the past 14 tournaments.
The Blue Devils are a top eight seed for the 20th time and are the No. 2 seed for the third time in program history. Duke has earned one of the top three spots in the bracket eight times. The Blue Devils were the No. 2 seed in 2005 and 2019.
Duke is 4-1 in overtime NCAA Tournament games and 3-1 under John Danowski.
Duke has won 33 of its past 44 NCAA playoff games. Three of the losses came against Johns Hopkins in the 2005 and 2007 title games and the 2008 semifinals.
Overall, the Blue Devils are 34-11 in NCAA action when scoring at least 10 goals and 1-9 when held to single digits.
Duke is one of nine schools with more tournament wins than postseason appearances (Cornell, Denver, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, North Carolina, Princeton, Syracuse & Virginia).
Duke's 23 NCAA Tournament wins since 2010 are second behind Maryland's 24.
The Blue Devils are 39-20 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The 39 wins are fifth among Division I teams.

Danowski in NCAA Tournament

John Danowski has led the Blue Devils to 14 straight NCAA appearances and currently is tied with three active coaches - Bill Tierney (Princeton, 1990-04) and Kevin Corrigan (Notre Dame, 2006-P) - with a streak of 15 consecutive NCAA berths.
A Danowski led team has appeared in 22 NCAA postseasons, eight at Hofstra and 14 at Duke. He is 34-18 all-time in NCAA Tournament action and currently ranks fourth in the records books in overall wins. Tierney leads the way with 44.

Last Time Out

Turner Uppgren made a season-high 15 saves and Dyson Williams added four goals and an assist to lead No. 12 Duke past No. 11 Loyola, 13-10, at Ridley Athletic Complex in 2020. The win was the fourth straight for the Blue Devils over the Greyhounds.
Duke got goals from six different players, including a hat trick from Nakeie Montgomery. Garrett Leadmon contributed two and Joey Manown notched a pair.
Defensively, Duke held Loyola (4-2) to .222 shooting for the afternoon and forced 13 turnovers. Both Kenny Brower and Walker Scaglione had two caused turnovers apiece as the defense held Loyola leading scorers Kevin Lindley (two goals) and Aidan Olmstead (one goal) to only three goals, two shy of their five-plus goal per game average.
Jordan Ginder was solid at the X, winning 11-of-27 faceoffs against Bailey Savio who came in winning 70 percent of his draws. Ginder also had five ground balls and a goal. Sam Shafer and Colton Teitelbaum shared time for Loyola, combining for nine stops.

Scouting Loyola

Loyola reached the quarterfinals by upsetting No. 7 Denver, 14-13, in the Mile High City. The Greyhounds jumped out to a 9-4 halftime lead and got a final second save from Sam Shafer to keep the Pioneers from completing the comeback.
The Greyhounds have won five straight after going 5-5 in the first 10 games. Among the wins are an 11-9 triumph at home against then No. 6 Georgetown, and Patriot League Tournament wins over No. 15 Navy and No. 11 Army.
Aidan Olmstead leads the attack with 57 points from 31 goals and 26 assists. Kevin Lindley has 40 goals and eight assists. Olmstead has 15 points in the past three games alone. The team is shooting .304 for the season and averages 41.3 shots per game.
Defensively, Matt Hughes is the top takeaway man with 22 caused turnovers. Ryan McNulty and Cam Wyers both have 19 as Loyola features the nation's 11th-ranked scoring defense at 9.80 goals allowed per game. Bailey Savio has taken all by 63 faceoffs and sports a .528 win percentage.
In goal, Sam Shafer has a 9.24 goals against average and a .524 save percentage in 15 outings. He is averaging 8.87 saves per game.

A Win over Loyola Would

Be head coach John Danowski's 432nd career win
Be Danowski's 213th win at Duke
Be Danowski's 35th NCAA Tournament victory
Be the program's 602nd overall victory
Make Duke 40-20 in NCAA Tournament play
Be Duke's 10th top-20 win of the season

Sowers Climbing the Charts

Sowers continues to shine for the Blue Devils, leading the team with 75 points. He has 10 five-plus point outings this season and eight games with at least three assists.
Riding a 62-game point streak, Sowers has 377 career points from 155 goals and 222 assists. He is third on the NCAA all-time chart in assists and points.
Speaking of the records book, Sowers recently reached the 200 assists mark, becoming the sixth player in Division I history to reach the benchmark. He needs 10 assists to break Pat Spencer's NCAA assists record of 231. His current average of 6.08 points per game ranks fifth all time.
To put his productivity into perspective, only six players this century averaged more than five points per game for their careers.

The Streaks Continue

The point streaks continued for Michael Sowers and Joe Robertson last Sunday. Sowers has scored at least one point in all 62 of his collegiate games, dating back to his Princeton debut Feb. 18, 2017. Sowers has been held without a goal just five times and has only been held to a single point twice in his career - against Syracuse and Notre Dame this season.
Senior Joe Robertson pushed his streak to 42 games, dating back to March 24, 2018. Sowers and Robertson are two of 11 players sporting at least a 42-game point scoring streak. Dyson Williams has scored a goal in all 21 of his games as a Blue Devil.

Potential Next Game

The winning team advances to play either Notre Dame or Maryland in the semifinals at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., May 29. Championship Monday is set for May 31.

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