MLax: Duke 14, Carolina 9

[burnspbesq]

In the event of a basketball overdose, flip over to ESPNU at 7:00 Eastern time and cheer for our rapidly improving men's lacrosse team against the Heels.

[wilson]

In the event of a basketball overdose, flip over to ESPNU at 7:00 Eastern time and cheer for our rapidly improving men's lacrosse team against the Heels, who can go to hell.There, that's better.

[4decadedukie]

Thank you for this reminder, I will be watching. Beating the Heels and Bitter will be very difficult, but our team has demonstrated great improvement during the last month.

[4decadedukie]

At the end of the first quarter, Duke leads 3 to 1 in Chapel Hill . . . this team has improved SO much in the last month, especially defensively.

GO BLUE DEVILS!!!

[killerleft]

At the end of the first quarter, Duke leads 3 to 1 in Chapel Hill . . . this team has improved SO much in the last month, especially defensively.

GO BLUE DEVILS!!!

Now 5-2 at 7:30 of 2nd.

[YourLandlord]

Duke wins 11-6, @ UNC.

[pratt '04]

Duke wins 11-6, @ UNC.

Game's not over yet. Currently 13-7 Duke w/ about 4 minutes left.

[MCFinARL]

Now 14-7. Whoops--14-8. This is awesome, though. Admittedly, UNC may be a bit overrated--their lax program in recent years has a history of getting the best recruiting classes and doing little with them--but our very young team has come a long way in the last few weeks.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Duke wins 14 - 9! I watched the final 19 seconds. LOL! :cool:

[YourLandlord]

Duke wins 11-6, @ UNC.

Wow. Espn website said the game was over. Their college coverage of non-popular sports really is not good.

[captmojo]

Duke wins 14 - 9! I watched the final 19 seconds. LOL! :cool:

It seems if I watch more than that...it isn't good. :cool:

[burnspbesq]

Definitely looking forward to firing up the DVR when I get home! May even have to pop open a Pilsner Urquell.

[4decadedukie]

Duke defeated UNC in Chapel Hill, 14-9;
UNC was highly rated a month ago;
Additionally, the Heel's Billy Bitter was thought by many to be a strong Tewaaraton Trophy candidate;
Duke has greatly improved during the last month, since back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Penn;
Our defense was aggressive and effective, resulting in a very low UNC shot-to-goal ratio;
This, in my opinion, was the fundamental key to this critical ACC win;
Further, our goalkeeper had an excellent outing;
Our offense was efficient, with a far better shot-to-goal ration, and with many individuals scoring at least one goal;
We were adequate in ground ball wins, but quite poor in face-off victories;
Freshman/Attack Wolf is the "real deal," with an outstanding performance.

This is a MAJOR win for Duke, since it makes us 2-0 in the ACC, with victories over UMd and UNC. Obviously, the UVa game will be vitally important.

Kudos to the Blue Devils, as they improve toward a second National Championship opportunity.

[SCMatt33]

This is a MAJOR win for Duke, since it makes us 2-0 in the ACC, with victories over UMd and UNC. Obviously, the UVa game will be vitally important.

ACC Lax, the only place where 2-0 guarantees you a winning record.:D

[devildeac]

Definitely looking forward to firing up the DVR when I get home! May even have to pop open a Pilsner Urquell.

The Pilsner Urquell would be even better on draft (less "skunky") but I see you will be at home. I'd celebrate the Duke W again tomorrow night at a local pub with the Pilsner Urquell fresh out of a keg;).

[burnspbesq]

I'm starting to really like the way this team is coming together. Carolina is a very good team, and they were never in it.

It starts with Wigrizer. He got it back together after a bad outing against Notre Dame. His solid play allows the defense to extend and be aggressive.

Chris Hipps is going to be a first-team All-America before he's done. He's got a very unusual combination of size and athleticism. He at least held his own against Bitter.

We're getting big contributions from unexpected sources: DeLuca on face-offs, Tucker Virtue on second midfield, Tom Rynn and Josh Dionne (two goals tonight) on man-up, Ben Belmont on man-down.

Walsh, Wolf, and Duprey are validating the hype. The junior-senior leadership (Howell, Montelli, Molinari, Turri, Costabile) are leading by example.

This could be a really fun ride.

[MCFinARL]

Agreed that Wigrizer looks much better than he did in the Notre Dame game. In his defense, though, there were a lot of defensive breakdowns in that game that allowed Notre Dame wide open shots. I think the entire defense looks a lot better than they did in that game.

[4decadedukie]

ACC Lax, the only place where 2-0 guarantees you a winning record.:D

I truly appreciate the pithiness of your humor. However, for those who are only beginning to appreciate the wonderful sport of lacrosse -- and I hope there are many -- an additional point should be made. While it is true the there are currently only four ACC men's lacrosse teams (Duke, UNC, UVa and UMd), the wondrous thing is all four are virtually always rated in Division I's top-tier (usually, well within the top-ten). Therefore, beating UNC and UMd during regular season play, as Duke now has done, indicates a good deal about our team's potential and will certainly be important for NCAA Tournament seeding in several weeks (especially after the Blue Devil's early losses to Notre Dame and Penn).

[MCFinARL]

I truly appreciate the pithiness of your humor. However, for those who are only beginning to appreciate the wonderful sport of lacrosse -- and I hope there are many -- an additional point should be made. While it is true the there are currently only four ACC men's lacrosse teams (Duke, UNC, UVa and UMd), the wondrous thing is all four are virtually always rated in Division I's top-tier (usually, well within the top-ten). Therefore, beating UNC and UMd during regular season play, as Duke now has done, indicates a good deal about our team's potential and will certainly be important for NCAA Tournament seeding in several weeks (especially after the Blue Devil's early losses to Notre Dame and Penn).

Agreed--these wins are crucial, especially with at least two very challenging matchups coming up in UVA and Syracuse.

It's a shame there aren't more ACC lacrosse teams--Virginia Tech and BC have women's teams, and the sport is increasingly popular at the high school level in both VA and MA--but in addition to Title 9 considerations (football eats up most of the available resources for men's sports) it might be pretty intimidating to start a new men's team in a league where all of the existing teams are already so good. You'd have to be ready to lose a lot, for a long time.

[DukieInKansas]

I DVRd the game - only watch parts of it due to time issues. The team looked good from my novice view and I really loved the outcome. Way to go, Blue Devils!


9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F 9F

[WSW77]

Loving Jordan Wolf's speed! He can really turn the corner and having him for 4 years is going to be a joy.

Go Devils!

[burnspbesq]

Every ACC school that doesn't play NCAA Division 1 men's lax has a club team. GaTech and FSU are pretty good in the MCLA world. Title IX can be finessed; either add women's lax at the same time (a la Marquette, which is starting up in 2013), or add another high-scholarship-limit women's sport like crew.

Adding lax is a big financial commitment. Facilities are expensive, equipment is expensive, travel is expensive, multiple assistant coaches are expensive, etc., etc.

[BD80]

... We're getting big contributions from unexpected sources: DeLuca on face-offs, ...

This absolutely killed us against ND. Winning face-offs is so important and yet too often overlooked.

[wilson]

Every ACC school that doesn't play NCAA Division 1 men's lax has a club team. GaTech and FSU are pretty good in the MCLA world. Title IX can be finessed; either add women's lax at the same time (a la Marquette, which is starting up in 2013), or add another high-scholarship-limit women's sport like crew.

Adding lax is a big financial commitment. Facilities are expensive, equipment is expensive, travel is expensive, multiple assistant coaches are expensive, etc., etc.I wonder if GA Tech will be having conversations to this effect in the next few years. Lacrosse is positively booming in Georgia high schools right now, following solid, steady growth for about the last decade.
However, the Tech athletic department is said to be in financial straits right now, so maybe not.