Monday, May 28, 2007

Hopkins wins 2007 NCAA Lacrosse Title!

Johns Hopkins defeated Duke, 12-11, to capture the 2007 NCAA D1 championship, May 27. The game drew a lacrosse record 48,000 (+) fans, the seventh largest NCAA tournament event crowd ever. Le Moyne and Salisbury claimed the D2 and D3 titles, respectively.

Hopkins came ready to play, and built a big early lead on game-day. The Blue Jays lead 10-4 at the half, but Duke rallied back to tie it up late in the game! Still, it was Hopkins who was able to withstand the furry and convert the game-winning goal with just over 3 minutes to play... The goal came off a failed Duke clearing attempt, that allowed Huntley to get behind the D and fake low-high...

Duke had it's chances to tie it back up... with 2:40 remaining Ross rang post.. and w/ under 2 to play, Greer was stopped by Schwartzman. The blitz wasn't done though. The Devils then got a man-up adv... however, they couldn't convert, and tender Swartzman made another a kick save off Ross with just 8 seconds to play to end the game.

Schwartzman, who posted 15 saves in the game, earned his second tournament Most Outstanding Player award. Other top Blue Jay performers were: Jake Byrne (4G,1A), Rabil (1G,5A) and Huntley (3G).

All-Tournament Team selections for Hopkins were: Schwartzman, Byrne, Rabil, Peyser and Zerrlaut (who limited Greer to just 1A). Not on the All-Tournament team, but worthy of notice was Evans (who limited Danowski to 2 points)... Greer and Danowski entered the game with a massive 187 points combined on the year, however, it was Crotty and Lamade who led the Devils in this final with 4 points apiece. The deadly Duke combo of Greer and Danowski were blanketed all game long.

Final: Johns Hopkins 12 - Duke 11. The NCAA D1 title is the ninth for the Blue Jays storied club. Hopkins finished the season with 9 straight wins after starting the season off 4-4.