Notre Dame lacrosse: Late goal pushes Duke past Irish

INDIANAPOLIS — David Lawson scored his career-best fifth goal with 2:16 remaining to lift Duke to a 12-11 win against Notre Dame in the lacrosse quarterfinals Sunday.

The Blue Devils (14-5) advance to play Cornell in Saturday’s semifinals in Philadelphia.

It will be Duke’s seventh consecutive trip to the Final Four.

The Blue Devils won the national championship in 2010.

“We try not to think about that,” Lawson said of the Final Four streak. “You try not to get nervous about being the first team not to get to a Final Four under coach (John) Danowski. But we’re obviously very happy about it.”

Duke and Notre Dame (11-5) traded goals for most of the game with neither team leading by more than two.

The Irish took an 11-9 lead with 9:29 left after consecutive goals to begin the fourth period, but the Blue Devils rallied late. They scored the final three goals.

Matt Kavanagh had three goals and three assists to lead the Irish. Conor Doyle had three goals and Jim Marlatt had two goals and two assists.

The go-ahead tally was scored by Lawson, who netted five goals on just 11 shots.

“I don’t think I did anything in particular. I just kept shooting,” Lawson said of the winning goal. “I hitched my left hand, and I just let it rip.”

Notre Dame had multiple chances late to tie it, but failed to capitalize. The Irish got caught playing the up-tempo style Duke likes, and it caught up with them in the end.

When the teams met in February, Notre Dame played at a much slower pace and held down Duke’s offense in a 13-5 win.

“We play Duke a lot. We know they’re going to pressure us,” Notre Dame’s Jim Marlatt said. “When they pressure, the way to beat the pressure is to attack the goal. That’s what kind of led to a more up-tempo game. At the same time, we wanted to take away any easy opportunities for them.”

Notre Dame’s John Kemp went the distance in goal and had 13 saves.

NCAA Quarterfinal

At Lucas Oil Stadium

Indianapolis, Ind.

Duke Scoring (goals-assists): David Lawson 5-0, Josh Dionne 3-0, Jake Tripucka 1-1, Case Matheis 1-0, Christian Walsh 1-0, Deemer Class 1-0, Jordan Wolf 0-4

Goalie: Kyle Turri (W, 60:00, 2 saves, 11 GA)

Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists): Matt Kavanagh 3-3, Conor Doyle 3-0, Jim Marlatt 2-2,Sean Rogers 1-2, Steve Murphy 1-1, Tyler Kimball 1-0, Jack Near 0-1

Goalie: John Kemp (L, 60:00, 13 saves, 12 GA)