Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/26/14
By David A. Willauer and From Press Release
BALTIMORE – Senior attacker Jordan Wolf (Lower Merion/ Duke’s L.C.) tallied two goals and four assists and the Blue Devil defense held off a fourth quarter charge by Notre Dame to lead Duke to its second consecutive NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championship with an 11-9 victory over the Irish at M&T Bank. The national championship is the third for the Blue Devil program.
Under the direction of head coach John Danowski, Duke became the first team to win back-to-back titles since Syracuse accomplished the feat in 2008 and 2009. Wolf was named the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player. Deemer Class, Will Haus, Myles Jones, Kyle Keenan and Henry Lobb (Malvern Prep) joined him on the NCAA All-Tournament Team.
Wolf, who had a hand in each of the Blue Devils’ final five goals, led all scorers in the contest with six points. Junior Kyle Keenan and sophomores Deemer Class and Myles Jones also had two goals apiece while senior Brendan Fowler went 13-of-22 at the faceoff X to help seal the win.
With Duke leading 8-2 midway through the third quarter, Notre Dame put together a 6-2 run to narrow the margin to one with five minutes on the clock. Brendan Fowler won the ensuing faceoff, but Irish goaltender and all-tourney pick Conor Kelly (Haverford School) made the save and Notre Dame cleared for a chance to tie the game.
The Irish got a look at goal, but Duke’s Luke Aaron made the stop and Jones picked up the ground ball. Looking to stop Notre Dame’s momentum, Wolf found Keenan on the crease for the junior attackman’s second and most important goal of the game that put Duke ahead 10-8 with 2:39 to play.
A goal by Sergio Perkovic of the Irish made it a one-goal game at 10-9 with just 49 seconds left on the clock, but Brendan Fowler won the ensuing faceoff for the Blue Devils and Wolf beat a pair of Notre Dame defenders to get the open net goal and send Duke to its second consecutive title.
“I give the credit to all my teammates and coaches,” said a juibilant Wolf. “Notre Dame is a great team and we knew that they could make a run
“We needed plays to get them off their rhythm a little bit. One of my teammates told us to take deep breaths and get ready for the next play. It’s sad to leave Duke. I love this school, my coaches and teammates and I could not ask for four better years than these. Coach Danowski has helped me to mature into a man and to help me to grow up.
“I am glad to be at a place like this and it’s a good way to walk off.”
Fowler won 13-of-22 faceoffs and picked up six ground balls for the Blue Devils, while Chris Hipps and Lobb recorded two caused turnovers apiece. Lobb held Notre Dame single-season scoring leader Matt Kavanagh to just two goals and one assist and only four shots on the day after he recorded seven in the semifinal against Maryland.
“The first half we played well the long stick was really behind my teammates did great and got the ball we have to find ways to manage the ball we sat back in and played out of ourselves and we did well Coach Deluca is awesome he is a special person for us to coach and has helped me for the first six years has helped developed me to be a better defensive player he has confidence he welcomes you to a part of the family.”
Aaron posted nine saves in the victory and had one ground ball to finish the year 15-3. Kelly made 12 stops for the Irish.
“He’s one of the best,” Kelly said of Wolf. “This team has been one play away the past couple of years and we know that.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys coming back in our locker room, but we’re going to miss the seniors and their leadership and the example that they set. They’ve been great all year, and yeah we’ve just been one play away. It’s bad right now, but we’ve got a lot coming back for 2015.”
Notes
· The NCAA Championship is the 16th in Duke Athletics history and the second in three days after women’s golf won the NCAA title May 23, 2014
· Casey Carroll caps off his Duke career that started in September of 2003 with a NCAA title … He finishes his career with 214 ground balls and 77 games played
· Duke’s senior class departs Durham with a 62-19 record, one ACC title and two NCAA Championships
· With six points Jordan Wolf set the Duke and ACC single-season points record with 103 … He passed Matt Danowski’s 97 set in 2008 and is just the 13th player in NCAA history to surpass the century mark in a season … The 103 points are the eighth most in a NCAA single season
· Wolf finishes his career with 304 points to rank second at Duke and in ACC history and tied for eighth in NCAA history … He is the second in ACC history to reach the 300-point career mark and ninth to do so in NCAA history.
· Wolf scored at least one point in the final 61 games of his career … He was held pointless in just five of his 81 career games
· Brendan Fowler finishes his career with 816 faceoff victories – fourth all-time in NCAA history … His 1,340 faceoffs attempted ranks second all-time in the NCAA records book
· Fowler’s 301 faceoff wins in 2014 are fifth in NCAA single-season history
· With 474 ground balls in his four seasons, Fowler moves to fourth in NCAA career history … His 192 in 2014 are fifth in NCAA single-season history
· John Danowski is the ninth Division I head coach to win at least three national titles and the eighth to win at least two consecutive
· For his career John Danowski is 347-171 overall and 128-32 in eight seasons at Duke
· Deemer Class finished the year with 38 goals and 65 points overall – the most by a Duke midfielder in program history
· The first midfield line of Class, Christian Walsh and Myles Jones departs as the highest scoring midfield in school history with 97 goals, 79 assists and 176 points
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