2009 NCAA Semifinalists Duke Lacrosse Over the Years

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2007 NCAA Semifinal Duke 12, Cornell 11 Head Coach John Danowski Dan Loftus Duke Lacrosse Over the Years One year later, Pressler and the Blue Devils enjoyed the finest season in Duke history, winning an NCAA single-season record 17 games against three defeats and advancing to the national championship game. Even though Duke fell in the finals to Johns Hopkins, 9-8, the Blue Devils were vastly rewarded for their efforts. Pressler was named the USILA National Coach of the Year while Danowski and Aaron Fenton earned top honors at their respective positions of attackman and goalkeeper, respectively. Danowski led the country in scoring with a school record 92 points on 50 goals and 42 assists while Fenton paced the nation in goalkeeper rating. The Blue Devils swept the ACC honors as Pressler (Coach of the Year), Danowski (Player of the Year) and Greer (Rookie of the Year) claimed the hardware. The league’s top coaching honor marked the third for Pressler in his 15 seasons on the Duke sideline. Duke finished unbeaten in regular season league play — capped off by a 17-2 victory over Virginia in front of over 6,500 fans at Koskinen Stadium in mid-April — for the first time before falling to Maryland in the ACC Tournament finals. Zash joined Danowski and Fenton on the All-America first unit while Peter Lamade and Tony McDevitt received second team honors. Greer, who established a new NCAA single-season goal scoring record for freshmen with 57, was a third team selection and Casey Carroll garnered an honorable mention citation. Duke’s run to the national title game was fueled by Danowski, Dan Flannery and Greer as the trio combined for 54 points over four games, thus becoming the second most prolific scoring trio in NCAA Tournament history. Danowski, who had two goals and four assists in the championship game, and Flannery were accompanied on the NCAA All-Tournament Team by Zash and Nick O’Hara. A long stick midfielder, O’Hara was instrumental in Duke’s national semifinal victory over Maryland, recording two goals and one assist in the 18-9 triumph. The Blue Devils also established a new tournament record for scoring offense, piling up 60 total goals in wins over Fairfield, Cornell and Maryland in addition to the loss to Hopkins. After Duke won six of its first eight games to start the 2006 season, the campaign was suspended on March 31 and Pressler resigned from his post on April 7 following 16 years at the helm. Cassese was named the program’s interim head coach on June 5, and John Danowski, who had successfully guided the Hofstra program to an NCAA record-tying 17 wins in 2006, was tabbed the head coach to replace Pressler on July 21. Danowski Era Begins In John Danowski, Duke found the perfect man to assume the reigns of the Blue Devil program. A former national coach of the year choice who guided Hofstra to eight conference championships, Danowski guided Duke to 17 wins in his first campaign along with the ACC regular season and tournament crowns. In addition, the 2007 Blue Devils earned the program’s first number one seed in the NCAA Tournament but the storybook season ended with a 12-11 loss to Johns Hopkins in the championship game. In the postseason, Duke defeated Providence in the opening round (18-3) before Danowski and Greer combined for 11 goals and nine assists one week later in the Blue Devils’ 19-11 triumph over North Carolina in the quarterfinals. Duke’s national semifinal tilt against undefeated Cornell — which defeated the Blue Devils, 7-6, during the regular season — offered plenty of highlights for the crowd of 52,004 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Fueled by three goals by Greer in an 8-0 run, Duke claimed a 10-3 advantage midway through the third period only to see the Big Red counter with an 8-1 spurt that knotted the game at 11-11 on Brian Clayton’s goal with 17 seconds on the clock. On the ensuing face-off, Duke rookie Terrence Molinari won the draw and fed the ball to Lamade, who then found Greer in front of the net for the game-winning goal with three seconds remaining. Duke’s offense thrived in 2007 as Matt Danowski and Greer finished one-two nationally in scoring and formed the second-most prolific scoring duo in NCAA history with a combined 190 points. The younger Danowski became the most decorated player in school history by earning ACC Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP and National Player of the Year honors following an impressive 44-goal, 52-assist campaign. He was joined on the first team All-America squad by teammates Carroll, Greer and O’Hara. McDevitt (3rd team), Dan Loftus (3rd) and Brad Ross (HM) also received All-America recognition. The records continued to fall in 2008 as the Blue Devils captured an NCAA-record 18 victories while capturing their third consecutive ACC title. Sporting a 16-1 record heading into the NCAA Tournament, Duke earned the No. 1 seed for the second straight year. The Blue Devils defeated Loyola 12-7 in the first round and cruised through the quarterfinal round in Ithaca, N.Y. with a 21-10 rout of Ohio State. Appearing in the NCAA Semifinals for the third time in four seasons, Duke took on Johns Hopkins at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The Blue Jays grabbed an early 5-2 lead before Duke started to chip away, tying the game 8-8 on a Nick O’Hara goal midway through the fourth quarter. Johns Hopkins scored two unanswered for a two-goal cushion with 4:18 on the clock. Brad Ross drew Duke within on with 28 ticks left. The Blue Jays won the ensuing faceoff, but Crotty picked up a loose ball and the Blue Devils called a timeout. Coming out of the break with 3.9 seconds on the clock, Matt Danowski’s bid to the tie the contest was stopped by the Johns Hopkins goalie, his 17th of the day. Duke finished 18-2 on the year. Matt Danowski and Zack Greer finished one-two, respectively, in the NCAA in points and shattered NCAA scoring marks over the course of the season. Greer tallied an NCAA record 206 goals in 67 career starts, while Danowski finished his collegiate lacrosse career with an amazing 353 career points. His 97 points on the season led the nation and earned him the USILA National Player of the Year award for the second straight season. Greer was voted the USILA Attackman of the Year, while senior Nick O’Hara captured the USILA National Defenseman of the Year trophy. Both Matt and Greer earned All-America first team honors and were joined on the top squad by Nick O’Hara. Ned Crotty (2nd), Tony McDevitt (2nd), Dan Loftus (3rd), Max Quinzani (3rd), Ross (3rd), and Parker McKee (HM) also garnered All-America recognition. Despite a new cast of leaders at the forefront of the program, the 2009 squad generated similar results. The Blue Devils defied all expectations and captured their third consecutive ACC title – the first time a Duke team has achieved that feat – and advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the third straight season. In what can be considered Coach Danowski’s best coaching job, Duke upset top-ranked Virginia twice and defeated North Carolina three times, including in the ACC Championship and NCAA Quarterfinals. The offense was led by the dynamic duo of attackmen Ned Crotty and Max Quinzani. The tandem combined for 135 points to leading all scoring duos in Division I lacrosse. Crotty registered 55 assists, falling just one shy Seven-time ACC Champions 2009 NCAA Semifinalists The Returnees 41
Max Quinzani Rob Schroeder Brad Ross Duke Lacrosse Over the Years of Matt Danowski’s school record 56 in 2008 and was selected as the USILA Attackman of the Year and a first team All-America. Meanwhile, Quinzani continued his incredible scoring streak as he scored at least one point in all 19 games to push his streak to 46 games. He led all Blue Devils in 2009 with six three-plus goal performances and was selected to the All-America third team. Crotty and Quinzani represented Duke on the All- ACC squad, while Crotty captured the ACC Player of the Year accolade. Three other Duke players were awarded All-American recognition as well. Parker McKee earned second-team honors as a defenseman, while Brad Ross was a third-team selection. Rookie CJ Costabile rounded out the group as an honorable mention choice. The 2009 season began with a lot of uncertainty after the departure of scoring powerhouses Matt Danowski and Greer and the addition of senior Robert Schroeder being a first-year starter between the pipes. Getting off to a bit of a slow start with a 2-2 in their first four games and losing back-to-back games for the first time since 2004, the Blue Devils were unfazed and quickly bounced back. Focused on the task ahead, Duke rattled off four straight wins, including a crucial ACC win over North Carolina, before dropping a contest to No. 3 Cornell in Durham. Duke brushed off the loss to the Big Red and cruised through the next seven games, which included two wins over No. 1 Virginia, and an ACC Championship. In the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils dominated the Cavaliers behind Crotty’s eight points. In the title tilt against rival North Carolina, it was Costabile leading the way by scoring three goals and winning 10-of-17 restarts. He was rewarded for his efforts, becoming the first rookie in ACC history to win the ACC Tournament Most Outstanding Player award. Earning the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Duke quickly dispatched Navy in the first round to set up a third game with the Tar Heels. The third time was not the charm for North Carolina in 2009 as Duke came away with a nailbiter 12-11 win to earn a berth in the NCAA Semifinals. An unusual suspect in Tom Montelli tallied what proved to the game-winner that afternoon and pushed Duke to its third straight NCAA Semifinal appearance. Going up against the defending national champion Syracuse Orange, the Blue Devils had their work cut out for them. The Orange took an 8-4 lead into halftime and outscored Duke 9-3 in the second half to beat Duke 17-7 on its way to another national title. Following the end of the season two Blue Devils were selected in the Major League Lacrosse draft with Ross going ACC Tournament 1990 Virginia 18, Duke 13 1991 North Carolina 11, Duke 8 1992 Maryland 8, Duke 6 1993 North Carolina 13, Duke 6 1994 Virginia 19, Duke 13 1995 Duke 17, Virginia 10 Duke 14, North Carolina 6 Tournament MVP: Ross Moscatti 1996 North Carolina 18, Duke 8 1997 Duke 17, Maryland 10 Virginia 12, Duke 6 1998 Virginia 11, Duke 9 1999 Duke 9, North Carolina 7 Virginia 8, Duke 7 2000 Maryland 7, Duke 6 2001 Duke 11, North Carolina 9 Duke 10, Maryland 6 Tournament MVP: Scott Bross 2002 Duke 8, Maryland 7 (OT) Duke 14, Virginia 13 Tournament MVP: A.J. Kincel 2003 Duke 7, Maryland 6 Virginia 12, Duke 6 2004 Maryland 10, Duke 7 2005 Duke 13, North Carolina 11 Maryland 9, Duke 5 2007 Duke 13, North Carolina 9 Duke 12, Virginia 9 Tournament MVP: Matt Danowski 2008 Duke 17, North Carolina 6 Duke 11, Virginia 9 Tournament MVP: Dan Loftus 2009 Duke 16, Virginia 5 Duke 15, North Carolina 13 Tournament MVP to the Toronto Nationals and Ryan McFadyen getting picked by the Washington Bayhawks. In his rookie MLL season, Ross joined former teammate Nick O’Hara to help lead Toronto the MLL Championship. O’Hara had one goal in the championship and Ross tallied a two-point score in the semifinals. NCAA Tournament 1992 Maryland 13, Duke 11 1994 Duke 14, Maryland 9 Syracuse 12, Duke 11 1995 Notre Dame 12, Duke 10 1997 Duke 11, Brown 6 Duke 12, Johns Hopkins 11 (OT) Princeton 10, Duke 9 1998 Duke 16, North Carolina 14 Princeton 11, Duke 9 1999 Georgetown 17, Duke 14 2000 Duke 13, Hobart 1 Virginia 10, Duke 9 2001 Towson 12, Duke 10 2002 Duke 22, Hobart 6 Syracuse 10, Duke 9 2005 Duke 23, Fairfield 4 Duke 11, Cornell 8 Duke 18, Maryland 9 Johns Hopkins 9, Duke 8 2007 Duke 18, Providence 3 Duke 19, North Carolina 11 Duke 12, Cornell 11 Johns Hopkins 12, Duke 11 2008 Duke 12, Loyola 7 Duke 21, Ohio State 10 Johns Hopkins 10, Duke 9 2009 Duke 14, Navy 5 Duke 12, North Carolina 10 Syracuse 17, Duke 7 42 Seven-time ACC Champions 2009 NCAA Semifinalists
Page 1 and 2: Roy Skinner Duke Lacrosse Over the
Page 3: Joe Kirmser 1997 ACC Champions Duke
Page 7 and 8: Koskinen Stadium Over the past 12 y
Page 9 and 10: Clockwise From top left: The 2008 s
Page 12: In 2009, Duke captured its seventh
Page 16 and 17: Former Duke players have enjoyed th
Page 18 and 19: Four players with Duke ties — Kev
Page 20: • Three Duke student-athletes wer

2009 NCAA Semifinalists Duke Lacrosse Over the Years

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