Bulldogs earn their ultimate prize
FOXBORO — For Yale, the past few years have been accolade-filled. Three Ivy League tournament championship trophies were placed upon the mantel.
The wins piled up, too — the current Yale seniors hold the school record for wins by a class — and the Bulldogs annually made trips to the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament.
But even with all the success, the prized possession always evaded Yale until yesterday.
After defeating UMass, Loyola (Md.) and Albany in tournament play on its way to the title bout, Yale took down Duke, 13-11, in front of 29,455 at Gillette Stadium to complete its journey to the summit and capture the Bulldogs’ first NCAA Division 1 men’s lacrosse national championship.
“We were one of the better teams to start the season and now we’re the best team at the end,” said Yale coach Andy Shay, who served as an assistant coach at UMass in the early 2000s. “That to me is mission accomplished.”
Sophomore Matt Gaudet, who earned the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award, followed up a sixgoal semifinal performance by pacing Yale (17-3) with a game-high four goals.
Junior Jack Tigh contributed a hat trick while senior captain Ben Reeves recorded one goal and three assists as the Bulldogs never trailed.
Reeves asserted himself to start the third quarter to help Yale add to a 6-4 halftime lead. He made a terrific cross-zone feed to set up Gaudet for a tally, before Gaudet rocketed in another shot for the Bulldogs’ largest lead, 10-5, with 9:08 left in the frame.
“This weekend I thought our midfielders and both Ben and Jackson Morrill were able to draw a lot of attention,” Gaudet said. “As soon as I saw the back of my defender’s helmet, I just went under him. They’d be able to draw the slide, and I was able to get my layups. I just owe it all to my teammates.”
Duke (16-4) responded with three straight goals from Joey Manown, Peter Conley and Kevin Quigley to cut the deficit to 10-8 late in the third quarter.
The Blue Devils couldn’t close the gap any further as Gaudet ripped a shot into the back of the net from the slot midway through the fourth quarter to widen the lead to 13-9.
Duke lost out on more than a chance at a fourth national title this decade. Coach John Danowski, on the precipice of a milestone with 399 career victories, was stopped short.
Star senior attackman Justin Guterding (two goals, one assist), who was bottled up most of the day by Yale’s strong defense, fell three points shy of becoming Duke’s all-time leading scorer.
“You got to tip your cap to Yale. They played great,” Guterding said. “They came out hot and we started on our heels. It’s tough to play from behind.”
Yale scored the first three goals courtesy of two tallies from Tigh and one from Gaudet as the two sides traded shots from there with Yale fending off Duke just enough to put a new trophy alongside the rest of its hardware.
“I’m really proud of my guys for sticking with it,” Shay said. “My guys are just a coach’s dream. It’s just unbelievable that they have accomplished this.”