There will be no repeat for the Maryland men’s lacrosse team.
Fourth-seeded Duke jumped out to a 6-0 in the first half, then blanked the top-seeded Terps for more than 20 minutes in the second half en route to a 13-8 victory in the NCAA semifinals Saturday in front of 30,616 fans at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Tewaaraton finalist Justin Guterding led the way with three goals and three assists, while freshmen Nakeie Montgomery and Joe Robertson added three goals apiece for the Blue Devils (16-3), who will meet third-seeded Yale in the NCAA championship game Monday.
Fifth-year senior Danny Fowler made 12 saves to backstop a stellar defensive effort for Duke — notably limiting Tewaaraton finalist Connor Kelly to just one goal (and three assists) on 1-for-10 shooting.
“Best game of his career,” Blue Devils coach John Danowski said afterward on ESPN2. “He saw the ball, he stopped it, [and] he cleared it well. For a fifth-year senior, I’m very happy for him.”
Montgomery, who scored two crucial goals in Duke’s NCAA quarterfinal win over Johns Hopkins, managed a hat trick in the first half alone Saturday. After scoring just six goals in 16 regular season games, he has eight in three NCAA tournament games.
“It looked like we didn’t prepare early on,” Maryland coach John Tillman said during a halftime interview. “He’s a terrific player, and he made us pay.”
Despite going down big early, the Terps clawed their way back into the game, scoring five second-quarter goals and then pulling to within 8-7 when Tim Rotanz bulldozed a Blue Devils defender in transition to set up a fast-break goal with Bubba Fairman on the finishing end.
But Duke methodically put Maryland (14-3) away from there, scoring four unanswered goals while keeping Duke off the board for 20 minutes, 24 seconds.
Terps goalie Dan Morris made 14 saves in the losing cause.
The Blue Devils will play in the national championship game for the sixth time in program history, having won NCAA titles in 2010, 2013 and 2014.