Annapolis, Md. — Fourth-seeded Duke appeared ready to take control of Sunday’s NCAA tournament quarterfinal on more than one occasion, but either fifth-seeded Johns Hopkins would refuse to give in and make a momentum-changing play, or Duke would hurt its own cause with a self-induced error.
In the end, the Blue Devils, who have lived in late May often under 12th-year coach John Danowski, did what they had to do late in the fourth quarter to return to Championship Weekend.
On a day when Duke never trailed and senior attackman Justin Guterding became the all-time goals scorer in NCAA history, the Blue Devils turned back determined Johns Hopkins in the fourth quarter by scoring five of the game’s final six goals, including two huge goals by freshman midfielder Nakeie Montgomery, to put away the Blue Jays, 14-9, before 13,047 at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Three straight seasons had passed since Duke last appeared in the NCAA tournament semifinals, but the Blue Devils are headed there for the ninth time in the Danowski era. Duke, in pursuit of its fourth national title under Danowski, will face top-seeded and defending NCAA champion Maryland on Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
The winner of the Maryland-Duke game will take on the Yale-Albany semifinals winner in Monday’s NCAA final. The Blue Devils (15-3) are trying to win their first title since 2014.
For the Duke seniors, this marks the first time they will play at a final four.
“We really didn’t have any pressure [on us]. We weren’t really expected to get there. This senior class is determined and we showed it today,” said Guterding, who finished with a game-high three goals and five points and has 207 career goals, the most in NCAA history. His 103 points are the most in a single season in school history.
“You come to a school like Duke to make it to championship weekend,” added fifth-year senior goalie Danny Fowler, who redshirted as a freshman and watched the Blue Devils win it all in 2014. He contributed 11 saves on Sunday.
“I feel like we were handed a [great] program. It’s our job as a group to keep it at a high level,” he added. “This one feels really good. Every group has a story. I’m really proud of so many guys stepping up.”
On Sunday, nine different Duke players scored, and the Blue Devils did their damage mainly with one-on-one athleticism against a Blue Jays (12-5) man-to-man defense hesitant to slide. Eleven of Duke’s goals were unassisted.
Despite taking a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and taking four-goal leads at the end of the second and third, the Blue Devils could not silence Hopkins, which made a habit of coming from behind to win close games throughout the 11-2 streak it brought into the quarterfinals.
Thanks to Hopkins’ grit and some timely help from Duke, which committed nine penalties, the Blue Jays kept hanging around, despite a horrific day of shooting. The Blue Jays converted on just nine of 44 attempts (20.5 percent). In addition, Duke’s Brian Smyth dominated the faceoff dot, as the Blue Devils controlled 18 of 25 draws (72 percent).
“You can’t lose the possession battle the way we did, against a team like that,” Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said.
Still, Hopkins, which made just three of 23 attempts in the first half and put 20 of its 44 shots on goal, was right there midway through the fourth quarter.
Trailing, 9-5 to start the fourth, the Blue Jays started a 3-0 run with a man-up goal by senior Pat Fraser, who followed a tripping foul on Duke midfielder Peter Conley by raking a 13-yard blast by Fowler to cut the lead to 9-6 with 12:06 left. That marked Hopkins’ third extra-man goal of the day.
Following a faceoff win by Hopkins, Duke made a defensive stand, but Fowler botched the clear that was picked off by Fraser, who found Christopher Hubler, who scored to make it 9-7 with 10:19 left. Duke defenseman Cade Van Raaphorst committed an unnecessary roughness foul on the play, but Duke won the ensuing faceoff and killed the penalty.
Duke then failed in a timer-on situation, as Hopkins defenseman Patrick Foley scooped up the ground ball and pushed the ball downfield. Fowler stuffed Hopkins senior midfielder Joel Tinney, but the Blue Jays got the ball back and scored, as Christopher Hubler assisted attackman Kyle Marr, who scored his second goal to cut the lead to 9-8 with 7:11 left.
Following an official timeout, Duke put the final hammer down, as Montgomery got loose on the left wing twice with hard dodges and beat senior goalie Brock Turnbaugh (nine saves). That gave the Blue Devils an 11-8 cushion with 5:25 left, and there would be no give-back.
Senior LSM Greg Pelton finished a faceoff win with a goal, and Guterding and freshman attackman Joe Robertson (two goals) wrapped up the scoring for Duke.
“It was the kind of game we expected. No lead is safe when you play Johns Hopkins,” said Danowski, who is 9-1 at Duke in the quarterfinals. “I’m proud of our boys. When it was 9-8, we took a couple of deep breaths, won a couple of faceoffs, and got two goals from our freshman [Montgomery].
“The transition from playing high school lacrosse in [Dallas] Texas to playing here is so large,” added Danowski, referring to Montgomery, who spent most of the season on the second midfield before being bumped up to the first recently. “You don’t advance [in the tournament] with [just] your star players. Everybody has got to make plays that are available to them.”
As for the Blue Devils’ penalties, which gave the Blue Jays eight extra-man chances, Danowski said, “You’ve got to live with it. There’s no time to mope and complain. Not everybody is going to be perfect, officials included.”
Marr and Cole Williams led the Blue Jays with two goals apiece. Senior attackman Shack Stanwick finished his career with a two-assist day.
For the Blue Jays, who bounced back from a 1-2 start by going on a run that culminated with the school’s second Big Ten championship and continued with last week’s come-from-behind, 10-9 win over Georgetown in the first round, it was an emotional ending.
In three previous playoff meetings with Duke dating to 2010, the Blue Jays had lost by an average of 11.3 goals. Last year, Hopkins suffered a 19-6 rout by Duke at Homewood Field, the worst playoff loss at home ever.
“I can’t emphasize enough how proud I am of this team,” Pietramala said. “Coming off of last year and the drubbing we tool at the end, there was a lot of soul-searching, a lot of changes made – coaches and players – and we decided we were going to readjust our culture and clearly, we’ve done that.
“I don’t know how to lose a senior class appropriately anymore. This group has been unbelievable. I’m going to miss them terribly.”