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MLAX v #2 Duke Sunday,5pm ESPNU

We were obviously NOT a 15 seed.Committee sorta screwd us.Too bad Hardt not Chairperson.

Georgetown,West Point and Robert Morris were placed as a higher seed.

Nonsense.

Next year looking really bright.Tate Gallagher has potential for All American written on his jersey.

We host High Point Point,Air Force,JAX during the regular season in 2020.
 
Duke uses pair of scoring runs to show Richmond the door in NCAA men's lacrosse tournament

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Sophomore Tate Gallagher scored a season-high four goals for Richmond at Duke Sunday.


DURHAM, N.C. – The University of Richmond 2019 men’s lacrosse season ended the same way the 2018 season did. The Spiders lost at the NCAA tournament’s No. 2 seed.

Duke scored four consecutive goals in the second quarter, and followed that up with five-goal run in the third quarter, on the way to a 12-11 win in the first round. The Spiders scored the final four goals, cutting it to a one-score game with 25 seconds left.

The game was played on Koskinen Stadium’s short grass, on a cloudy but dry early evening. Last year, Richmond also played its first-round NCAA tournament game at the No. 2 seed, Albany, falling 18-9.


The Spiders won back-to-back Southern Conference championships, advancing to the NCAA tournament the past two years. UR won the 2014 Atlantic Sun Conference championship in its first season as a Division I program to qualify for the NCAAs. The Spiders are 0-3 in the NCAA tournament.

The Blue Devils (12-4) scored four straight goals to take a 7-4 lead in the second quarter, and then hit the Spiders (10-7) with five straight scores to go ahead 12-7 after three quarters.

Duke, which made its 23rd NCAA tournament appearance (13th straight year), won at Richmond 11-7 on March 1 after leading the Spiders 8-7 heading into the fourth quarter.


UR coach Dan Chemotti is a 2002 graduate of Duke and former Blue Devils captain. He helped Duke capture ACC championships his junior and senior seasons.

Redshirt sophomore goalie Jack Rusbuldt, a Collegiate graduate, totaled 26 saves in the Spiders’ two-game run to the SoCon championship, and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. The Spiders were physical and effective on defense early Sunday as they took a 2-1 lead after the first quarter.


Duke bounced back with four goals during a 1:29 stretch of the second quarter to lead 7-4 at the break.

Among the seniors who played their final games as Spiders is senior attack Teddy Hatfield, the program and SoCon record-holder in points (223), goals (123) and assists (100).

Duke advances to next weekend’s quarterfinals in Hempstead, N.Y., where the Blue Devils will meet the winner of Sunday night’s first-round game involving Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins.
 
15 MITCH SAVOCA M 2g,1gb
16 TATE GALLAGHER M 4g,1gb
18 TYLER SHOULTS M 1g,5a
33 JACK RUSBULDT G 4gb
6 JASON REYNOLDS D 2gb
10 RAY BARAN D 1gb
23 ROB SCHOTTA D
9 RYAN LANCHBURY A 2g
11 RYAN LEE A 2g
14 TEDDY HATFIELD A 2a,1gb
2 BRETT REID 2gb
3 RYAN MURRAY
5 PATRICK SHEA 1gb
19 LAWRENCE GALIZIA 2gb
27 COLEMAN KISSICK
32 ALEX MORRIS
38 NICK D'AMARO 4gb
40 SEAN MENGES 6gb
43 BRETT RANDALL
45 NATHAN EMERY
46 JACOB GRIFFIN
50 TIM ADAMS 2gb

JACK RUSBULDT G 12saves 12 goals against
 



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Chris Teufel | The Chronicle
Nakeie Montgomery led Duke's offensive attack against Richmond Sunday.
Duke men's lacrosse escapes Richmond in first round of NCAA tournament

Shane Smith | 05/12/2019


Duke's first round NCAA tournament game was marked by inconsistency and sloppiness.

According to the man responsible for the most wins in collegiate men's lacrosse history, that's just not going to fly if the Blue Devils want to bring home a title.

Second-seeded Duke scored four goals over 1:29 late in the second quarter to propel them to a 12-11 win against Richmond Sunday night at Koskinen Stadium. However, it was the Blue Devils' performance in the final quarter that nearly ended their season.

"We just did enough to win," head coach John Danowski emphasized. "We played miserably in the fourth quarter. You've got to tip your cap to Richmond, they beat us 4-0 [in the fourth quarter]. We failed to clear twice, we turned the ball over on the man up, and they did a great job."

Holding a 12-7 lead at the end of the third, and a 12-9 lead with a minute to play, Duke should have been in position to comfortably end the game. However, the Spiders never fully went away after big Blue Devil runs, and Richmond simply outworked their opponents over the final quarter, coming up short of pulling off the upset.

“I said to the guys in the huddle at the end of the three quarters that this had to be the best quarter of the game," Danowski said. "It turned out to be the worst quarter of the game. I can’t really explain that, but I do know it happened.”

It was an all-around scoring effort from Duke (12-4), as five different Blue Devils had at least two goals on the day. Sophomore midfielder Nakeie Montgomery recorded a hat trick with three goals to go along with two assists, and senior Brad Smith also contributed with five points. Goalie Turner Uppgren faltered after the long 15-day hiatus, stopping just seven of the Spiders' 19 shots on goal.

Richmond (10-7) and its zone defense proved stout from the opening face off, making Duke use most of the shot clock just to get a forced shot. Ryan Lanchbury, who came into the contest ranking eighth in the country in goals, scored two quick ones to open the game, but the Spiders coughed up the ball five times in the opening quarter, allowing Duke to stay in the game.

“We were forcing some deeper shots," Smith said. "We practiced it all week; we knew the zone was coming. We shouldn’t have been surprised by it, and we had a plan and we didn’t execute the way we wanted to.”

Smith would finally put the Blue Devils on the board with three minutes to play in the first quarter, cutting hard to his right and just sneaking the shot inside the left post. After the teams traded goals, Duke decided to show Richmond what they were missing.

Carpenter delivered two from straight-on and Manown would score his from right in front of the crease to give their team a three-goal lead. After connecting on just one of nine shots in the opening period, the Blue Devils made six of their next 10 shots, thanks to upperclassmen C.J. Carpenter and Joey Manown, who each had two goals over the run. However, the Spiders were not fazed and used a three-goal run of their own between the end of the first half and beginning of the second to tie the game. Junior midfielder Tyler Shoults led the team with a career-high five assists.

The Blue Devils, however, had one last run up their sleeves. Montgomery tallied two points and an assist in what was a 5-0 spurt for the home team during the third quarter. Through extra man opportunities and slick passing, Richmond regularly gave Duke open looks in front of the crease, and it seemed like no one was missing.

Richmond would not go down without a fight, and outscored the Blue Devils 4-0 in the fourth quarter. Tate Gallagher and Ryan Lee each scored in the final minute, but Duke's Joe Stein controlled the final face off, essentially clinching the win for the home team.

“I think definitely avoid playing not to lose," Smith said on how to avoid collapses in the future. "You play tight when you’re trying not to lose, and you’ve got to play to win. You’ve got 15 minutes left on your home field. You’ve just got to play with the desire that you want it to be the best 15 minutes of your season and for the seniors, in your career.”

Next up, Danowski and his team will travel to Hempstead, N.Y., and await the winner of Johns Hopkins and the No. 7 seed Notre Dame, a potential rematch from the ACC tournament. With a win, Duke would advance to its second straight Final Four, looking for its first NCAA championship since 2014.
 
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