Jays outlast Duke to win NCAAs

After years of frustration and heartache, the 2005 Johns Hopkins lacrosse team won the national championship and a trophy that had eluded them for 18 years. The senior class never lost a game at Homewood Field during their tenure at Hopkins, and the 9-8 win over Duke in front of a record crowd of 44,920 on Memorial Day was the perfect end to their collegiate careers.

"I can't explain why we didn't win in previous years, but the reason we won this year was that our hard work and preparation finally paid off," said senior attackman and co-captain Peter LeSueur. "Things fell into place for us this season."

And the season was perfect. The Blue Jays finished with a 16-0 record, giving the senior class a 55-6 record.

"We were more focused this year than we have been in the past four years," said senior midfielder and co-captain Kyle Harrison. "We were unselfish as a team. All of us had one purpose only -- to win."

After four years of having their eyes on a national title, the seniors almost had another season end in heartache when the Virginia Cavaliers scored what appeared to be a game-winning goal with 13 seconds left in the semifinal game.

"Even at this point in the game we never doubted ourselves," said Harrison. "We weren't cocky, but we were confident and we stayed calm."

Junior midfielder Greg Peyser showed poise by winning the next face-off, and tossed the ball to sophomore attackman Jake Byrne, who netted an almost miraculous goal with 1.4 seconds remaining on the clock.

Hopkins was able to win in overtime due to a goal from an unlikely hero, unheralded senior defensive midfielder Benson Erwin. The team was spared their 18th straight disappointing season finale by Erwin's fourth goal of the season, which he scored with 50.4 seconds left in overtime.

On Memorial Day, the Jays got their chance at the big win against the No. 2 ranked Blue Devils. After an exciting 11-10 Hopkins win in double overtime at Homewood in April, both teams were ready for a rematch.

"Guys were really excited for the chance to play Duke again," said senior defender and co-captain Chris Watson. "The talk around Philly was about Duke's high-powered offense. That was a great challenge for our defense and our whole team took it personally. The best programs are measured by years of final fours and successful seasons." Hopkins' senior class made it to the final four every year during their careers on the team.

Just 33 seconds into the anticipated game, freshman attackman Paul Rabil scored the first goal for Hopkins, but Duke quickly answered back with three successive goals to close the first quarter.

In the second quarter, junior midfielder Greg Peyser got Hopkins back in the scoring, but the Blue Devils held off the Jays. Harrison and freshman attackman Kevin Huntley both scored twice in the quarter to bring Hopkins within one goal, breaking for the half down 7-6.

"The coaches made some halftime adjustments and we finally got ourselves going in the second half," Watson said.

Watson and the Hopkins defense were fortunate enough to have the tournament MVP tending the goal; sophomore Jesse Schwartzman allowed only one goal in the second half. Duke's Matt Danowski scored the lone Duke goal of the second half just over two minutes into the third quarter. Rabil and Peyser then scored goals of their own to tie up the game, 8-8, for the first time.

Byrne scored an unassisted goal with 13:35 remaining on the clock. For the remainder of the game, the Hopkins defense shut down Duke's top-ranked offensive, and the Jays managed to hold for the final nerve-wracking minutes of play.

"There is nothing more that I could ask for than to win the national championship in my last year here and to go out on top," said LeSueur.

With the win, head coach Dave Pietramala became the first person in the history of college lacrosse to win an NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship as both a player and a head coach.

"He's brought Hopkins lacrosse back to what it used to be and he's amazingly successful at what he does," said Harrison.

"Winning a national championship is the perfect culmination to the best four years of my life," said Watson. "To do it with such an incredible group of guys and coaches makes it even more memorable."