Along with other SIMP alma matres Virginia and Syracuse, Duke Men’s Lacrosse will play in the 2008 Final Four this coming Memorial Day weekend, in Foxboro, Mass. This marks the 3rd time in the last four seasons that the Blue Devils will play in the Final Four — the only time they weren’t there being in 2006 when the school voluntarily canceled the team’s season following the blatantly false indictments of three players by rogue prosecutor and since-discredited and disbarred Mike Nifong. Duke lost in the National Championship games in both 2005 and 2007 to Johns Hopkins.
REVEEEEEENGE!!!!!!!!!
National #1 and top-seeded Duke advanced to the Final Four by defeating Ohio State in the quarterfinals 21-10. No, that’s not a misprint, or a backwards football score. TWENTY ONE to TEN. Duke is now 18-1 on the season, having lost only at then #10 Georgetown back on March 22. Duke now takes on 5th seed Hopkins (10-5), whom the Devils beat 17-6 on April 5. Cuse is the 3-seed, and UVA is the two. Duke beat UVA 19-9 during the regular season, and again 11-9 to win the ACC Title. Duke has not faced Syracuse this year.
Saturday, May 24
Virginia vs. Syracuse 12:00 pm (espn2)
Duke vs. Johns Hopkins 2:30 pm (espn2)
And in a nice little twist of fate - call it kismet, perhaps - the Duke Women’s Lax team will also be joining the men - albeit in Baltimore, at the Women’s Final Four. It’ll be Four Straight Final Fours for the lady Blue Devils as they knocked-off Maryland, 9-7. National #11 and unseeded Duke pulled off its second straight upset in the NCAA Tournament (after beating 6th seeded Georgetown in DC), this time a 9-7 victory in the quarterfinals against 3rd seed Maryland, in College Park. In doing so, the Blue Devils will now make their fourth consecutive trip to the national semifinals, where they’ll play 2nd seed Penn. #5 seed Syracuse is in the other semifinal against #1 seeded Northwestern. Games are this Friday and Sunday. 
11 Comments until now
Would be fun to have a Syracuse/Duke final for both men’s and women’s. From what I understand, the Orange had to rally in the men’s game to make it. Good stuff.
Does anybody OTHER than Duke, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, UVA, and MD play lacrosse?
Those teams are SO DOMINANT when it comes to postseason play, it seems like they are the only teams in the sport.
(FWIW I actually covered the Providence LAX team for the student newspaper, so I of course realize there are several teams besides these. BTW, DID YOU KNOW that only 2 schools west of the Mississippi play D-1 LAX? Can you name them?)
Alas, poor Mike Nifong and Crystal Gail Mangum.
Air Force Academy (all the academies play D1 Lax I believe) and oddly University of Denver both in the Great “Western” Lacrosse League.
The GWLL features teams as far West as Ohio State, Bellarmine in Louisville and Quinnipiac in New York City.
BTW - my alma mater, University of Delaware, has a program that is growing much stronger and has made a few tournament appearances and top 10 rankings recently.
The Delaware head coach, Bob Shillinglaw, has also set an NCAA (all-divisions) lacrosse record for most games coached.
FWIW, Quinnipiac is in Hamden, CT - about a half hour north of New Haven.
As for those two teams west of the Miss, we have been down that road before!
http://www.snakesinmypants.com/2007/03/05/duke-gtown-and-cuse-all-ranked-in-top-ten/#comment-1592
Hmm, sorry, forgot where I heard that factoid!
Snakes In My Pants: You Heard It Here First… And Second.
Egh, not sure how I screwed up Quinnipiac’s location. Guess thats what I get for rush posting at lunch. I lived in Fairfield for a few years, so definitely know where the school is…
Interestingly, they are leaving the GWLL to form a new NEC LAX league.
http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17500&ATCLID=1471086
Not sure if this happened anywhere else, but BC used to have a decent men’s lacrosse program but it fell victim to Title IX so they could have enough male scholarships for a football, basketball and a championship-calibre men’s hockey program. It sucked actually, but I think we still have the most varsity programs in the ACC.
I wonder if men’s lacrosse in 1-A was a victim of IX anywhere else?
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