Duke vs. Yale 2018: Yale Bulldogs win their first NCAA Lacrosse championship

For the first time in Yale men’s lacrosse history, the Bulldogs are NCAA champions as they took down the Duke Blue Devils 13-11 in a thrilling final. Yale’s victory makes them the fourth team in the past decade to win their first ever program NCAA title in lacrosse and the first Ivy League team to win it all since Princeton in 2001.

The Bulldogs led for the entirety of the game and built a five goal lead with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter. Duke wouldn’t go away, however, getting as close as two goals before time finally ran out on the Blue Devils.

Matt Gaudet led the Elis with four goals (10 goals over championship weekend), and Ben Reeves had one goal and three assists in the victory to finish as the country’s leading point scorer for the season with 115 points. Duke’s Justin Guterding (two goals, one assist) finished second with 113 points.

Yale relied on a big fourth quarter face off performance from Conor Mackie, who finished 14-of-28 at the X, nine of which came in the second half. Jack Starr was outstanding in cage for Yale as the freshman keeper notched nine saves in the win. The Elis edged the Blue Devils in the ground ball battle, winning 35-29.

With the win, men’s D-1 (Yale), D-2 (Merrimack), D-3 (Wesleyan), and women’s D-1 (James Madison) champions are all first time NCAA lacrosse champs.

THE BULLDOGS WIN! YALE HOLDS STRONG TO END THE GAME DEFENSIVELY AND TAKE HOME THEIR FIRST NCAA MEN’S LACROSSE TITLE!

BEN REEVES MISSED THE OPEN NET AFTER BREAKING FREE OF THE DOUBLE TEAM! Duke has the ball, down two, with 43 seconds left. Hold on to your butts, folks.

The Bulldogs were hit with their fifth shot clock of the fourth quarter, but Ben Reeves hit pipe and Sessa tightropes the end line to keep their crucial possession alive.

Duke won the face off and Conley scored his second of the game to pull the Blue Devils within two and keep this one close.

Oooooh, the bounce shot. #gracious

After an incredible defensive stop by Yale, the Bulldogs can’t corral the ground ball and Duke takes it the length of the field and Robertson scores in transition to keep Duke’s hope of a fourth national title since 2010 alive. There’s still time, but Duke has to do work quickly.

Big face off coming up as the Blue Devils will be man up for a minute thanks to a slash called against Yale on that Robertson goal.

Matt “The Undertaker” Gaudet somehow finds room and scores his fourth of the game and his 10th of the NCAA tournament weekend. He’s now 10-for-13 shooting this weekend (77%).

He’s back. Fowler also came up with a save to keep the three goal deficit and give Duke a chance to cut into the lead.

Duke’s Guterding went off the field hurt. He was holding his side...he’s a huge piece of that Duke attack so something to keep an eye on.

YOWZA. Eleven goals scored in the third quarter. Only 15 minutes left until we have a new national champion.

Guterding scores his second of the game on a crease wrap-around with just under 40 seconds left in the quarter, but Yale answers right away on a high bouncer off of the face off.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

Lucas Cotler stems the bleeding for the Bulldogs. After four straight possessions ending with turnovers, Yale (briefly?) kills Duke’s momentum. The Blue Devils have now won 13 face offs to Yale’s nine.

Uh oh, Yale. Duke scores three straight and makes this a game again. Quigley notches his second goal of the day on a skip pass from Sean Lowrie. The Bulldogs are struggling to win any face offs, and the defense is visibly exhausted.

Yale gets out of the first penalty with no harm, but they’re called for a push with possession right after the teams evened back up on the field. Duke takes advantage during the second EMO, pulling back within three thanks to a score from Peter Conley.

Manown scores his second of the day as Duke answers the Bulldogs. Yale’s defense is showing some exhaustion. On the ensuing face off, Yale’s Mackie expressed his unhappiness with being called for movement. The refs did not enjoy that, giving him a one-minute, non-releasable penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The scoring is picking up now. Gaudet strikes again for his third as the Bulldogs match their biggest lead at five goals. Duke holds a slight 3-2 face off win advantage in the third quarter, but Starr has two saves in the period and is saving 54.5% for the game.

Another Reeves assist leads to Gaudet’s second of the day, but Duke responds quickly off of the ensuing face off as Guterding gets his first of the game.

Let’s check in with Yale mascot

Handsome Dan:

Brian Tevlin corrals a pass from Reeves (who quickly has three points now) and Yale has their largest lead of the game.

Ben Reeves gets on the board and re-establishes the three goal lead. Reeves switched from attacking from behind the goal and took on Duke’s superstar defender J.T. Giles-Harris from out top of the cage and found pay dirt on a bouncer. Solid start for the Bulldogs in the second half.

The Blue Devils had a chance to pull within one as time expired in the first half, but Yale’s defense held strong and preserved their two goal lead heading into the break. Duke was never tied with nor led the Bulldogs at any point in the first half.

Jack Tigh has three goals to lead the Bulldogs and keeper Jack Starr had four saves on 17 shots from Duke. Defensively, Yale limited NCAA all-time goal leader Justin Guterding to just one shot.

Duke got goals from four different scorers and assisted two of their four goals.

Yale led in ground balls (18-10) and shots (21-17), while Duke had a slight advantage in saves (5-4) and face offs (7-5). Both teams had four first half turnovers.

Joseph Sessa (5’5, 155) dips under the defense and finishes inside through traffic to answer the Blue Devil score. Every time Duke puts the pressure on, Yale has an answer. The Bulldogs have doubled up Duke 18-9 in groundballs here in the first half so far.

Freshman Joe Robertson gets one right back for Duke after a shot from Yale hits a foot and creates an easy transition opportunity for the Blue Devils.

Jack Tigh notches the hat trick in the first half with an outside bomb, assisted by Yale superstar and Tewaaraton finalist Ben Reeves. It’s the first point for Reeves in the game.

Duke pulls within one on an outside laser from Brad Smith on an extra man goal. Now it’s a game.

After a back-and-forth sequence that saw two spectacular saves from Yale goalie Jack Starr, cat-like reflexes from Fowler, and a Joey Manown score in transition, Duke closes the deficit to two goals.

This is Starr’s fourth save of the game:

Fowler followed that up with this huge save. He was beaten initially, but never gave up on it:

The Bulldogs extend their lead on an extra man goal from Brendan Rooney, who went five-hole on Fowler for the score. Yale is executing in all facets of the game with only one turnover so far in the game.

There it is. Sophomore Kevin Quigley puts the Blue Devils on the board.

Huge defensive stand for the Blue Devils to keep Yale from going up 4-0. Fowler with a big doorstep save, and Ben Reeves hit pipe to end the threat (for the time being). Duke still looking for their first goal.

Matt Gaudet, who had six goals in the semifinals, gets his first of the day to give the Bulldogs all the momentum early. Yale jumped to a 7-0 lead against Albany, and look comfortable again today - on both sides of the ball.

That didn’t take long. Yale midfielder Jack Tigh gets things started for the Elis with a moving zinger high past Duke goalie Danny Fowler. Yale is looking for their first ever NCAA lax title.

After a pair of upsets in the semifinals, No. 3 Yale will play No. 4 Duke for the 2018 NCAA lacrosse championship on Monday afternoon at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. (1 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

Both teams got off to quick starts in Saturday’s semifinals. Yale scored the first seven goals in their matchup with No. 2 Albany, eliminating the Great Danes 20-11. Yale got six goals from Matt Gaudett plus five more and four assists from Ben Reeves.

Duke ran out to a 6-0 lead against No. 1 Maryland, the defending champion, en route to a 13-8 victory.

This is the sixth trip to the lacrosse championship game for the Blue Devils, who won titles in 2010, 2013 and 2014. This is the first title game for Yale, who has reached the NCAA Tournament four straight seasons and made their first Final Four in 28 years.

ESPN2 will televise Monday’s championship game, with Anish Shroff on play-by-play joined by analysts Quint Kessenich and Paul Carcaterra. Online streaming is available through Watch ESPN.

Teams: No. 3 Yale vs. No. 4 Duke

Location: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough

Time: 1 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN2

Streaming: Watch ESPN