Duke men’s lacrosse holds off Penn State in overtime, advances to national title game

Moments after the celebration had died down following Garrett Leadmon’s dramatic overtime goal that sent Duke to the NCAA lacrosse championship game with a 16-15 victory over Penn State, someone asked Blue Devils’ coach John Danowski his thoughts on video replay.

“Not today,” he said with a smile, knowing how fortunate his club had been to survive a game where he admitted they had not played their best. “I just saw the ref put his hands up.”

After barely controlling the critical faceoff, Leadmon took a pass and stayed patient to the left of the cage before darting in front of the net to beat goalie Aleric Fyock for the game winner. Officials conferred briefly in the goalmouth before deciding the goal was good, and Leadmon’s teammates poured onto the field in jubilation.

Even though it appeared that Leadmon’s foot was inside the crease, there was no review. The goal stood, and Duke is headed back to the title game for the first time since 2018 with a shot at winning it all for the first time since 2014.

“It’s something we practice every day,” Leadmon said of his game-winning play which came after Jake Naso had to dig deep to win the critical faceoff. “I had the ball at the top of the key. I knew in those moments teams are slow to go. That’s when I knew I could go. I don’t think that was supposed to be the look we wanted, but it ended up that way. I felt had the opportunity to get underneath and score.

“I saw the referee put his hand up in the air, so I was thinking the game was over and started celebrating.”

For much of the day, it hardly seemed like Duke would need such heroics, The Blue Devils seized a 6-4 lead after one and managed to stay in front until early in the fourth. From there, as Danowski sensed, it was up for grabs

“At some point I turned to somebody and said, ‘This is gonna be a 60-minute dogfight,” said Danowski, who also got three goals from Brennan O’Neill, while Dyson Williams, Charles Balsamo, Tommy Schelling and Jake Naso had two apiece.

“I just felt it was gonna be like that. Penn State was terrific. I can’t imagine the hurt they’re feeling right now. That being said, I don’t know if it was our best game or Penn State just played lights out, But offensively we did enough in a very difficult atmosphere which was very pro Penn State. And we’re able to get out with a win.”

Down 4-3 late in the first, Duke rattled off three goals in a 2:28 span to take a 6-4 lead, then maintained a 9-7 advantage through the half.

The margin reached 10-7 early in the third when Balsamo connected for his second of the day at 3:32, only to see Penn State answer back on Malone’s third of the day 1:15 later. The Nittany Lions kept coming after that, twice drawing within a goal.

With Duke clinging to a 13-12 lead heading to the fourth both teams tightened up defensively, knowing how critical the next goal would be. Finally after 5:25 PSU’s Jake Morin tied it up for the first time since the first quarter.

Unfazed, twice more Duke regained the lead. Twice more Penn State answered back. That was it through the end of regulation, Duke overcoming a 30-second penalty to send it into overtime.

Now it’s on to the championship game here Monday, where the Blue Devils will either get a chance to avenge a 17-12 loss to Notre Dame last month, or they’ll take on a Virginia team they nipped 15-14.

“To be able to spend two more night with these guys is special, “ said Naso, who scored one goal directly off the faceoff six seconds after a Penn State score. “This is the best team I’ve ever been on. I’m really looking forward to it.”