12:45: We are about 19 minutes from game time here at M&T Bank Stadium! It is a beautiful day for some Final Four lacrosse. Both teams have headed to the locker rooms for some last minute stuff after warm ups. We are set for some really exciting games here in Baltimore!
On a separate note, thank you to all the men and women who serve our country and allow us to enjoy such a luxury like this!
1:00: Starters for today’s game is as follows:
Duke:
Attack: Jordan Wolf, Case Matheis and Kyle Keegan. Midfield: Myles Jones, Deemer Class and Christian Walsh. Defense: Chris Hipps, Casey Carroll and Henry Lobb. Goalie: Luke Aaron.
Denver:
Attack: Jack Bobzien, Wesley Berg and Zach Miller. Midfield: Tyler Pace, Erik Adamson and Jeremy Noble. Defense: Christian Bugdorf, Carson Cannon and Teddy MacKenzie. Goalie: Ryan LaPlante
1:08: Wesley Berg gets under Henry Lobb at GLE to strike for the game’s first goal. Denver up 1-0 early.
1:10: Myles Jones dodges down the left alley and beats LaPlate high. Game tied 1-1.
1:12: Deemer Class beats LaPlante on a bounce shot in the five hole to give Duke a 2-1 lead. Kyle Keenan on the assist.
1:16: Duke controls the clock for a bit more but Wolf steps in the crease and Denver gets their second possession of the game.
1;17: LaPlante comes up with a big save on the door step to keep Duke’s lead at 2-1. On the other end Tyle Pace beats Luke Aaron high to tie things up at 2.
1:22: Denver gets the ball but turns it over once again on an easy pass. Denver looking a bit sloppy here early on. A couple lackadasical passes ending in turnovers. Duke takes over.
1:25: Myles Jones draws the penalty for Duke. First man up opportunity of the afternoon coming up. Holding call so a 30 second man up.
1:25: LaPlante holds his pipe and stuffs Wolf as Denver goes down the other end and kills the penalty.
1:26: Sean Cannizzaro with a nice face dodge and gets a shot off from about 6 yards but Aaron records his first save stick side hip to keep the score tied at 2. Duke possession now.
1:27: Chad Cohan beats LaPlante in between the five hole from the right side to give Duke a 3-2 lead. Jordan Wolf on the assist.
1:30: LaPlante makes a save on Deemer Class and Denver forces the turnover as the quarter ends. Duke in the lead 3-2.
1:33: Brendan Fowler called for a false start to start the second quarter. Denver gets another possession. Jack Bobzien then inside rolls at GLE and beats Aaron offstick low to tie the game at 3.
1:35: Deemer Class sweeps over the left side to the middle and gets a wide open rip from up top to give Duke a 4-3 lead. Class’ second of the game.
1:38: Class gets rocked at GLE and LaPlante comes up with a save that almost trickles in for a goal. Denver clears and looks to tie the game up again.
1:39: Denver with another turnover as they draw the slide but Miller can’t catch the ball for the second time. Duke clears and looks for another goal.
1:41: We have a Luke Duprey sighting! He was thought to be done for the year after suffering a leg injury against Virginia several weeks ago. That could be huge for Duke.
1:42: Zach Miller uncharacteristically does not score when left open as Aaron gets the save but Duke can’t get the ground ball and wesley Berg converts to tie the game at 4. Can’t give good teams second chances.
1:45: Kyle Keenan rolls inside and scores as Jeremy Noble goes over the head on the check and whiffs. Duke up 5-4 as we hit a timeout. Coach Tierney will not be happy with Noble for doing that.
1:50: Violation for kicking the crosse on Denver’s Mike Hampton leads to Duke possession. Then a flag is drawn likely for a slash. Duke should get another shot at man up.
1:51: Correction it is a 30 second foul for holding on Jeremy Noble.
1:52: LaPlante makes the save on Myles Jones but allows a rebound on the shot and Jordan Wolf cleans up the garbage. Can’t allow rebounds if you are LaPlante.
1:54: Denver draws a flag. 30 second holding call on Thomas Zenker. Denver gets their first man up try.
1:54: Duke kills the penalty and on the ensuing shot they beat Denver for the back up and get the ball back. Duke possesion up 6-4.
1:55: Jordan Wolf works a little two man game with Christian Walsh as he draws a short stick midfielder on him and beats LaPlante stick side hip as Duke goes up 7-4.
1:57: Timeout Denver with 2:19 remaining in the quarter. Duke gains another possession as they look to extend their lead to four goals.
2:00: Denver gets the ground ball but then turns it over to give Duke another possession with two minutes left.
2:01: Duke calls a timeout with 53 seconds left. Likely will hold for a last shot as they try and extend their lead to four.
2:03: Duke takes their last timeout with 30 seconds left. Based on Coach Tierney’s reaction, he doesn’t seem to pleased. I don’t know why.
2:05: Jordan Wolf with the goal as he beats Garrett Holst topside behind the cage and beats LaPlante stick side high to give Duke an 8-4 lead heading into the second half.
2:07: At the half, Duke is aboslutely dominating Denver as they are leading 25-10 in shots (13-6 on goal). Fowler is also 8-of-14 at the faceoff X. LaPlante has five saves while Aaron has two.
2:08: Wolf has three goals and one assist while Class has two goals, and Keenan and Cohan have one. For Denver, Berg has two goals while Pace and Bobzien each have one.
2:23: As usual Jamie Faus takes over in net in the second half for LaPlante. Fowler and Hampton facing off again and Hampton wins it clean to give Denver the first possession on the second half.
2:26: Jack Bobzien scores a wrap around goal to cut Duke’s lead to 8-5.
2:27: Kyle Keenan scores off a pass from Christian Walsh to put Duke back up four. Simple carry and curl action. Fundamental stuff here from Duke.
2:31: Faus with a nice save off a quick stick to keep hte Duke lead at 4 as Denver clears and looks to cut the lead back to three again.
2:33: Christian Walsh gets his first goal off a pass from Myle Jones. Jones simply attracts Walsh’s man and Walsh has a step down rip. This is getting into dangerous blowout territory for Denver. 10-5 Duke.
2:36: Kyle Keenan is open for a rip from up top but hits it stick side high and an easy save for Faus. Denver tries to stop the bleeding.
2:38: Jack Bobzien comes around the cage and beats Aaron near pipe to cut the Duke lead to 10-6. Nice job pushing opposite off the pass from Zach Miller. Giving Miller the assist as well which is a little surprising.
2:43: Denver draws a penalty as Noble and Brian Dailey collide knees. Should be a tripping call as Denver goes on the man up. One minute penalty.
2:43: Wesley Berg gets the hat trick as he beats Aaron five hole to cut the Duke lead to three. Assist goes to Zach Miller. Denver is making a run here as it is now 10-7 after the man up goal.
2:44: And just like that Duke responds right off the faceoff. Keenan gets the easy goal in transition off a pass from WIll Haus. Keenan also draws the penalty on Mike Riis for a late hit. Man up.
2:46: Faus with a huge stop on the foor step on Jordan Wolf to keep the score 11-7 in favor of Duke.
2:47: Wesley Berg scores with the flag down as he pulls a Lyle Thompson and scores underhanded to cut the lead to 11-8. Denver goes man up as well as Casey Carroll is called for a cross check to the head. Denver gets possession on the faceoff.
2:49: We have ourselves a ball game here in Baltimore! 11-9 Duke as Denver scores on man up. Tyler Pace gets the feed from up top from Jeremy Noble and spins and scores high on Aaron. 29 seconds remaining.
2:51: Crucial penalty just as time expires in the third quarter on Duke. Henry Lobb called for interference. Denver now has 29 seconds left in the penalty heading into the fourth.
2:56: Duke kills the penalty but Denver keeps possession after the shot. On the restart, Wesley Berg beats Aaron five hole for his fourth goal of the game. Aaron tipped it as well. 11-10 now the score.
2:58: Kyle Turri now in net. Very interesting to see what happens here for Duke.
3:00: Myles Jones gives Duke a much needed goal to put them back up two at 12-10. Dodges down the left side off a feed from Christian Walsh.
3:01: Zach Miller showing off some of that Native American skill. Sick toe drag and then beats Turri high and it is back to a one goal game. 12-11 Duke.
3:03: Denver misses a great chance to tie as they cannot convert eh quick stick and hit the back of the net. Duke now takes over.
3:05: Duke responds with a goal by Kyle Keenan, his fourth of the day! Duke back up two at 13-11. Denver having trouble getting over that one goal hump.
3:06: Deemer Class gets his third of the day and just like that, Duke’s lead is back up to three at 14-11. Faus has allowed six goals while making three saves.
3:08: Chad Kohan scores his second of the game and it looks like this one is getting away from the Pioneers. 15-11 Duke. Wolf with the assist and he now has five points.
3:12: Denver wins the faceoff and Denver looks to chip away at the lead once again.
3:12: Tyler Pace with a lefty rip stick side high on Turri to cut the lead back down to three. 15-12 Duke.
3:14: Turri makes his first save of the day on Noble on a low to low shot. Denver retains possession though. Then comes back and makes another off stick high save on Wesley Berg. Duke gets possession with 4:30 left.
3:17: After a nice move by a Denver attackman, Turri makes another big save off stick hip from in close to keep the Duke lead at three. After a slow start, he has made three big saves.
3:18: Faus makes a door step save high on Class to keep it 15-12. Denver now has the ball with 1:06 remaining.
3:19: Turri makes a save as Pace takes a bad shot but Pace is saved by Coach Tierney calling a timeout. 57 seconds left, Duke up 15-12.
3:22: Duke will close this one out and win 15-12. Nice defensive stand there in the last minute by Duke. Miller hit the cross bar and a couple of shots went wide.
3:25: Fowler finishes 15-of-29 for the game, Keenan had four goals and an assist, Class has three goals, Wolf had three goals and two assists. Jones had two goals and an assist and Walsh had 1 goal and three assists.
For Denver Berg had five goals, Pace and Bobzien had three each, and Miller had one goal and two assists.
LaPlante had five saves and allowed eight goals. Faus had four saves and allowed seven goals. For Duke, Aaron had three saves and allowed 10 goals while Turri made four saves and allowed two goals.
Make sure to follow our next live blog for the Maryland/Notre Dame game. About 30 minutes away.
