Michigan's magical lacrosse season ends versus No. 1 Duke
After rattling off five straight wins to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Michigan's men's lacrosse team saw its magical postseason run come to an end on Saturday against No. 1 Duke.
The Wolverines had a rather mediocre regular season, but head coach Kevin Conry's crew got hot at the right time. Michigan defeated Ohio State, Penn State and Maryland over the span of a week to claim the Big Ten Tournament championship.
It then followed up the conference title with an overtime win against Cornell, before it took on top-ranked Duke on Saturday. However, the magical run came to an end as Michigan failed to solve the talented Blue Devils squad.
After a rather quiet first quarter in which both teams scored two goals, Duke began to take control in the second. Junior Brennan O'Neill was practically unstoppable, and the star scored two goals in each of the first two quarters to total four at halftime.
Thanks to O'Neill's heroic performance, the nation's No. 1 team held a 7-4 lead over Michigan at halftime.
Michigan was unable to get any momentum going against the stout Duke defense, and the Wolverines scored only four second-half goals as the comeback bid came up short.
O'Neill added two more goals in the second half to finish with six in the win, and the junior surpassed 50 goals on the season.
Duke will head to the Final Four where it will take on either Penn State or Army West Point for a spot in the national championship game.
Meanwhile, for Michigan, the Wolverines will head back to Ann Arbor after what was the most successful season in the 12-year history of the program.
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