Duke Comes Up Short in Final

BALTIMORE — There were hugs, handshakes, and plenty of tears. The Duke lacrosse team had run through a myriad of emotions over the past 14 months, and now it was over.

The Blue Devils had an almost unfathomable comeback fall short in a 12–11 loss to Johns Hopkins in the NCAA championship game yesterday, and afterward the locker room was eerily silent.

No team had ever experienced what Duke had endured. The Blue Devils never even got the chance to finish their 2006 season, and then made it all the way back to the title game.

Minutes after the loss, however, that was no consolation.

"Right now I think everyone in here is thinking, ‘Wow, we just lost the national championship.' In a couple of weeks, maybe we'll say, ‘Look what we accomplished,"' goaltender Dan Loftus said. "But we wanted a national championship. That's what we came here for."

It would have been a Hollywood story: Duke completes its emotional comeback season by winning its first national title before a record crowd.

The result left Duke's players engulfed in an emotion they hadn't experienced in nearly a year — bitter disappointment.

"It's just an extreme feeling of emptiness," said senior Matt Danowski, who broke down in tears during his post-game interview. "Nobody has been through what we've been through."