By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer
June 1, 2010
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Every kid with a lacrosse stick envisions scoring the goal that wins the national championship.
C.J. Costabile thought about it when he was growing up, never believing the opportunity would come his way.
And then it did.
Costabile
scored with five seconds gone in sudden-death overtime Monday, giving
Duke its first NCAA men's lacrosse title with a 6-5 win over Notre Dame.
Asked
if he once dreamed of pulling off such a feat, Costabile said,
"Everyone kind of thinks about that. It's kind of cool. It's fairy tale
stuff. You don't think it's going to happen."
And then, after a slight pause, he added, "I guess it kind of happened."
Costabile
won the faceoff from Trever Sipperly and sprinted downfield before
beating standout goaltender Scott Rodgers with a shot from directly in
front of the net.
"I took my lane, it was open," Costabile said.
"Whether I decided to shoot high or low, I couldn't tell you. I just
kind of let it rip and saw the back of the net move."
The Blue
Devils rushed onto the field and created a massive pile of players,
sticks and helmets while celebrating the fastest goal to start an
overtime in NCAA championship game history.
"For C.J. to make a
play like he did in overtime certainly made it a lot easier for the
rest of us," Duke coach John Danowski said.
Said Rodgers: "That's the kind of shot you don't want to see as a goalie."
Duke
(16-4) twice before advanced to the title game -- and lost by one goal
both times. This time, however, the Blue Devils walked away with the
championship trophy by defeating the unseeded Irish (10-7).
"The best feeling about it was we set this goal at the beginning of the year," Costabile said.
It
was the lowest-scoring title game in history, yet what it lacked in
offense it made up for in drama. There were five ties, and neither team
led by more than one goal.
"We thought we could win a game playing like this, but we came up one play short," Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said.
The previous lowest-scoring game was in 1982, when North Carolina beat Johns Hopkins 7-5.
Zach
Brenneman scored three goals and Rodgers finished with 15 saves for the
Irish, but he couldn't stop the last shot that came his way. That ended
a brilliant postseason run by Notre Dame, which defeated three seeded
teams to advance to the title game for the first time.
The Irish
beat Duke earlier this season, and in the rematch they set the pace
from the outset. But the result wasn't at all what Notre Dame had in
mind.
"It hurts," defenseman Kevin Ridgway said. "We executed
our game plan pretty well. We thought we could beat them. It's kind of
a bummer."
The game was played cautiously by both sides, with
defense and possession the priority. The teams set a championship-game
record for fewest combined goals through three quarters (eight) and
tied the mark for fewest at halftime (five).
Notre Dame went up
5-4 with 11:56 by converting a rare fastbreak. David Earl picked up a
loose ball and ran 30 yards before passing across the field to Sean
Rogers, who pumped a shot past goaltender Dan Wigrizer.
Justin Turri scored for the Blue Devils with 8:44 left to tie the game for the last time.
Duke led 3-2 at halftime after scoring the lone goal of the second quarter.
The
Blue Devils took 13 shots, including nine on goal, but Rodgers -- voted
the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four -- had six saves and Duke
committed five turnovers.
