Virginia, Duke, Cornell and Notre Dame meet in Baltimore for title
Saturday in Baltimore, Notre Dame will face Cornell and Virginia will take on Duke in the NCAA lacrosse Final Four. On Monday, the winners will meet to decide which is the best team in the nation. Here are a few pressing questions heading into Saturday:
Best player
No attackman, perhaps for several years, has had the playmaking instincts of Duke senior Ned Crotty, who leads the nation with 60 assists. When Crotty started slowly, the Blue Devils followed suit, but with his game in high gear, Duke has averaged 15.8 goals in its last 11 games.
Best defender
Virginia senior Ken Clausen, doesn’t have prototype size at 6-2, 200, but no defender in the Final Four can create more havoc and offensive opportunities. Clausen has 52 ground balls and 37 forced turnovers this season.
Best goalie
After an injury and a slow start, Notre Dame senior Scott Rodgers has had a king-sized impact in the postseason (.687 save percentage) to match his king-sized (6-4, 254-pound) presence.
Most exciting player
This is a toss-up between explosive Virginia midfielders Rhamel and Shamel Bratton. We’ll give the nod to Shamel, a superior playmaker (23 goals, 17 assists) and shooter (30.3 percent) to his twin Rhamel (22 goals, 7 assists, 23.7 percent).
Best coach
In recent years, Cornell’s Jeff Tambroni has achieved more with less. This year’s run to the Final Four came after the Big Red graduated their starting midfield and goalie. Last year’s 15-6 win in the semifinals over top-seeded Virginia was testament to Tambroni’s power to game plan.
Best local player
Notre Dame junior Kevin Ridgway has been the leader of a defense that has limited two seeded teams to 10 goals. The 6-6, 215-pound Ridgway is one of six players from Georgetown Prep on the Notre Dame roster.
Most talented team
Attracting players with his run-and-gun style, no one has had as much success establishing recruiting outposts in New York, Baltimore, and Washington than Virginia coach Dom Starsia.
Who’s hot
Despite a tough draw, Duke has throttled tournament opponents Johns Hopkins and North Carolina by a combined 35-14, dominating possession by winning the ground ball (67-41) and faceoff (36 of 55) battles. “It seems like we’re getting better every week,” said Duke coach John Danowski.
Who’s not
Getting a difficult draw, playing at Stony Brook in the quarterfinals, Virginia had to sweat out a 10-9 victory over a team it had beaten in the regular season, 13-8. The Cavaliers won despite winning fewer ground ball (32-28) and faceoffs (5 of 23).
Best fourth period team
Deep Duke plays 13 midfielders and its depth is apparent with a 54-34 scoring edge in the fourth period, and a 3-1 record in games decided by three or fewer goals.
Worst fourth-period team
Depth issues are evident at Cornell. The Big Red have a 54-27 edge in the first period, but have been out-scored in the fourth, 47-45.
Best faceoff team
No squad has a better situation at the X than Duke which relies primarily on Sam Payton (22 of 33 in tournament) and is spelled by C.J. Constabile (11 of 17), who has finally regained his form after breaking an ankle in December. The Devils also have skilled faceoff wings, such as Tom Montelli (4 goals), to spark quick-strike transitions. Duke’s faceoff ability is bad news for a Virginia team that struggled at the X Sunday.
Achilles’ heel
Despite its domination of two tournament foes, Duke has serious problems in goal, where three keepers have made just 8 saves in the tournament (.364 percentage). When asked Tuesday which goalie would start, Danowski said: “Who knows?”
Who will win
Motivated by past failures in the Final Four, Duke is the pick, as the nation’s most prolific attack — Crotty, Max Quinzani (64 goals) and Zach Howell (47 goals) — proves unstoppable.
