Best Duke-Cornell Game Coverage

As of Saturday night at 10:00 pm eastern, the Raleigh News & Observer Online is going with a so-so AP report of Duke’s great win today.

At GoDuke.com there's a link to some terrific AP game photos and a fine article by Mike Corey: “Hill & Laettner Would Have Been Proud”

But the absolute best game reporting I've found is by Brian Delaney, sports writer for Cornell’s hometown paper, The Ithaca Journal.

Delaney begins:

Zack Greer’s uncanny ability to score goals cost Cornell its perfect season.

Greer fought off a heavily-draped Danny Nathan to catch and convert a Peter Lamade pass with three seconds left, leading top-seeded Duke to a dramatic 12-11 victory over Cornell and into Monday afternoon’s NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship game.

A record crowd of 52,004 at M&T Bank Stadium watched a fantastic finish that included a furious Big Red comeback from a 10-3 deficit with 21 minutes remaining.

Senior midfielder Brian Clayton drew Cornell even on a goal with 17 seconds left, but Duke won the ensuing faceoff – a rare feat on this day – and Lamade fed the ball perfectly to Division I’s leading goalscorer, who wasted no time turning and firing home No. 67 on the season.

None have been bigger. …

Duke (16-2) will face third-seeded Johns Hopkins (12-4) at 1 p.m. Monday in a repeat of the 2005 national championship game that Hopkins won, 9-8. The Blue Jays advanced with an 8-3 victory over Delaware in Saturday’s first semifinal, a game that set an NCAA record for lowest scoring output in a final four contest.

But Duke and Cornell more than made up for the sheepish opening act.

“It was one of the best lacrosse games I’ve ever been around,” said Duke senior Matt Danowski, who finished with a goal and two assists. ...

You can read Delaney’s entire story here where you'll also see two powerful and touching post game photos.

I plan to write Delaney in a day or two. I’ll post my letter.

Meanwhile, you can reach him at bdelaney@ithacajournal.com.