Michigan
10-7
Duke
15-2
U-M's Season Ends With Loss to No. 1 Duke in NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
5/20/2023 6:27:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The No. 15-ranked University of Michigan men's lacrosse team fell 15-8 to No. 1 Duke in an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game on Saturday (May 20) at Casey Stadium.
Top-seeded No. 1 Duke (15-2) took an early lead with a pair of goals from Brennan O'Neill at 12:41 and 11:46 of the opening quarter. Michigan (10-7) cut Duke's lead in half with a goal from junior Isaac Aronson with 5:24 left in the first quarter. Bryce Clay recorded a goal at 2:41 during an extra-man opportunity to tie the score at 2.
In the second quarter, Duke scored three unanswered goals to take a 5-2 lead. Michigan took advantage of another extra-man opportunity as Josh Zawada scored at the 8:23 mark to cut the deficit to 5-3. Duke responded with two goals in 20 seconds With 2:32 left in the second quarter, senior Jacob Jackson recorded his 20th goal of the season to bring the score to 7-4, where it stayed until the halftime break.
» Josh Zawada led the Wolverines with three points, while five Wolverines scored at least one goal. Peter Thompson and Jacob Jackson both recorded two-goal performances.
» Michigan shot a season-low 8-of-38 on the contest, with three of the eight goals coming on man-up opportunities.
» The loss concludes U-M's season with a program record 10 wins and a bevy of program bests.
In the second half, a goal from Tommy Schelling increased Duke's lead to 8-4 at the 10:41 portion of the third quarter. Michigan responded quickly as graduate Peter Thompson scored on an extra-man opportunity with 10:03 on the clock. Duke scored another pair of goals to take a five-goal lead, 10-5, with 6:51 left in the third. Jackson scored his second goal of the game at the 3:45 mark before Duke's scored again one minute later for an 11-6 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Michigan scored first with Zawada's second goal of the game at 12:42. Duke answered with four consecutive goals to put the Blue evils ahead 15-7 with 5:37 remaining. The final goal of the game came from Thompson late in the fourth quarter (2:58) to bring ther game to its 15-8 final.
Michigan was led by Zawada (two goals, one assist) while Thompson and Jackson also had two-goal performances. Junior faceoff man Justin Weitfeldt went 12-for-20 on at the dot and added nine ground balls.
Michigan shot a season-low 8-of-38 in the game (21 percent), while the eight-goal output tied a season low as well. Freshman goalie Hunter Taylor totaled eight stops on the day after starting hot with four saves in the first quarter. Clay and Thompson led all non-FOGOs with three ground balls.
Tweet of the Game
??????? shout-out to WOLVERINE NATION for the support today, and all season.
— Michigan Men's Lacrosse (@UMichLacrosse) May 20, 2023
FINAL: No. 1 Duke 15, No. 15 Michigan 8#GoBlue?? pic.twitter.com/NgsraHuSyq
The result ends the best season in Michigan program history which included securing a program-record 10 wins and earning its first Big Ten Tournament championship and first NCAA Tournament berth and victory. Three players were named first-team All-Big Ten, and seven players were named to the All-Big Ten Tournament Team. Zawada set the school record for goals in a career en route to becoming the first Wolverine to reach 200 points in a career, while junior Michael Boehm, graduate student Clay and Ryan Cohen all reached 100 career points. Additionally, graduate student Nick Rowlett became the first player to reach 300 ground ball pickups in a career.
