Duke lacrosse upsets 4-seed Richmond in NCAA Tournament first round
Duke lacrosse upset 4-seed Richmond in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils are off to the quarterfinals.
Unseeded Duke mounted a huge 14-12 upset of 4-seed Richmond in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament Saturday evening and will advance to the national quarterfinals for the third time in the last four seasons. The Blue Devils faced great adversity throughout the contest as they had not only overcome a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter, but they faced a crowd of 6,805 on the road, an NCAA attendance record for the first round. “Throw around the word ‘character’ a lot.
In terms of coaching, sometimes it gets overused. But that was as high-character a win as I’ve ever seen. Ever,” Duke head coach John Danowski said to his team after the game.
“Now we’ve got another week together, another week to work. So proud of everybody in this room. ” Duke looked strong early, carrying a 6-4 lead into half after Tomas Delgado potted a shot in the final seconds of the frame.
Liam Kershis then gave the Blue Devils their largest lead of the contest out of the break to make it 7-4. Things then started to unravel for the visitors as Richmond responded with three straight goals in a span of just 4:37 to tie the game, 7-7, with 6:36 left in the third quarter. Action then began to pick up on both ends as Kershis put Duke back in front 8-7 with his third goal of the evening.