The Fightin' Blue Hens advanced with a 10-6 victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Sunday at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis.
UD will meet perennial powerhouse Johns Hopkins University, ranked No. 5, at noon, Saturday, May 26, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins advanced to the semifinals with a 14-6 victory over Georgetown University. The Hens are 13-5 on the season and Johns Hopkins is 11-4. UD has been allotted 800 all-session tickets, which cost $65 and are available at the Delaware Field House ticket office or by calling (302) 831-2257. Single-day tickets can be purchased by calling (410) 261-RAVE.
In the other semifinal game, top-ranked Cornell University, the only undefeated team in the field, will take on No. 2 Duke University at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, also at M&T Bank Stadium, which is the home of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. Cornell is 15-0 and advanced by defeating the State University of New York at Albany 12-11 in overtime. Duke is 16-2 and advanced by defeating the University of North Carolina 19-11.
Both semifinal games will be televised live on ESPN2. The championship game, to be played Monday afternoon, May 28, also at M&T Bank Stadium, will be broadcast live on ESPN. Campus radio station WVUD-FM 91.3 also will broadcast action involving the Hens.
“This is such a special moment for our program and the University of Delaware,” UD Head Coach Bob Shillinglaw, who is in his 29th season. “Our coaches and our team have put in a lot of time and effort and it's great to see these guys accomplish something like this. Hopefully this is a big steppingstone for our program. We just seem to keep playing at another level. We had some concerns in the first half but we didn't panic and we settled down. This is a such a great group because they all seem to be playing on the same wavelength.”
“We are really proud about the way we are playing right now,” UD's Jordan Hall said. “This is a big honor for Coach Shillinglaw. There have been some great teams here at Delaware and its nice to be able to say our team accomplished something like this.“
Hall scored the first goal of the game against UMBC just 1:45 in but the Retrievers came back to take a 3-1 lead. UD tied the game up 3-3 at the half and began to take control in the third quarter.
Both Hall and Dan Deckelbaum finished with three goals and one assist, and Adam Zuder-Havens and Curtis Dickson had two goals apiece. J.J. Moran had two assists and Chris Hichborn and All-America midfielder Alex Smith had one each. Smith, the NCAA career face-off leader, won 12 of 19 draws and picked up nine ground balls.
Of the four semifinalists, UD is the only team that has never before appeared in the Final Four. Johns Hopkins, which has won eight national championships, Cornell, which has won three national championships, and Duke have combined for 37 semifinal appearances.
“We will be looking at a lot of film and just try break down what they do,” Shillinglaw said of semifinal preparations. “We will make the necessary adjustments in the next day or two and we will figure out how we can beat Hopkins.”
For more information on the Final Four or to purchase tickets, visit the web site at [www.lax4baltimore.org/].
Photo courtesy of Dan Cook
