Duke Turns Georgetown Into a Quarterfinal Footnote
Duke did not just beat Georgetown on Sunday. The Blue Devils removed the suspense early, locked the door, and spent the second half making sure the Hoyas never found the spare key.
The final was Duke 16, Georgetown 6 in the Division I NCAA quarterfinals at Delaware Stadium, a result that sends the Blue Devils to Championship Weekend and a May 23 semifinal against No. 1 seed Princeton. It also doubled as a fairly blunt correction to last year's tournament meeting, when Georgetown knocked Duke out in Durham. Revenge narratives can get lazy fast, but this one at least had teeth.
Georgetown scored 34 seconds in. Then Duke allowed one goal over the next 44-plus minutes. That is not a typo, though it does read like one.
Sloat Set the Tone, Then Duke Shared the Damage
No. 15 Max Sloat was the cleanest finisher on the field, putting up four goals and an assist on seven shots. His man-up goal at 9:29 of the first quarter tied the game, and his second goal helped push Duke into the first break ahead 3-1. By the time Sloat added his fourth in the fourth quarter, the game had already left Georgetown behind.
Duke's offense was not a one-man act, either. No. 19 Benn Johnston scored three times. No. 2 Kyle Colsey had two goals and two assists, No. 11 Michael Ortlieb scored twice, and No. 20 Thomas Mencke added two goals of his own. No. 51 Brady Scioletti, No. 41 Cal Girard and No. 12 Ian Dykes also scored, giving Duke eight goal-scorers and enough variety that Georgetown could not simply chase one matchup around the field.
The efficiency was the loud part: Duke scored 16 goals on 38 shots and put 30 shots on cage. Georgetown goalie No. 0 Anderson Moore made 14 saves, which sounds sturdy until you remember he still had to pick the ball out of the net 16 times. That is the goalie-stat version of being asked to bail water out of a boat with a coffee mug.
The Defense Made Georgetown Play in Mud
The scoreline belongs to the offense, but the game was really shaped by Duke's defense. Georgetown entered with enough attack talent to make this dangerous. Duke made it look stale.
The Hoyas finished with 32 shots, only 16 on goal, and turned it over 15 times. Duke won the ground-ball battle 32-20 and cleared 25 of 26 chances, which kept Georgetown from manufacturing the cheap momentum swings tournament underdogs usually need.
No. 91 Will Pedicano was nasty in the useful way, finishing with three caused turnovers and four ground balls. No. 44 Buck Cunningham handled the rest in goal, making 10 saves while allowing six goals in 54:22. Georgetown's big names were kept mostly quiet: No. 19 Jack Ransom scored twice, but No. 11 Rory Connor had one goal, and Liam Connor was limited to one assist.
The Run That Broke It
Duke led 6-1 at halftime after holding Georgetown scoreless for the entire second quarter. Georgetown finally broke the drought early in the third, but the Blue Devils immediately answered with the stretch that ended the argument.
Johnston scored. Ortlieb scored. Johnston scored again. Mencke scored. Four Duke goals in 3:29 turned 6-2 into 10-2, and from there the Hoyas were playing math, not lacrosse.
Girard gave Duke a useful possession base with 10 faceoff wins and seven ground balls, even on a day Georgetown won the overall faceoff count 14-12. The difference was what happened after possession. Duke's trips had structure and bite. Georgetown's too often ended in rushed shots, turnovers or Cunningham saves.
Now Duke gets Princeton with a spot in the national title game on the line. That is a different problem entirely. But if this version of Duke shows up — Sloat finishing, Johnston dodging hard, the defense squeezing air out of possessions — the Blue Devils are not just happy to be at Championship Weekend. They are very much there to ruin somebody's bracket.
