NCAA Tournament Round 2 preview: Duke vs Georgetown

Duke lacrosse will return to action this weekend when the Blue Devils take on the Georgetown Hoyas in the quarterfinals of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament.

Not only will the matchup be a duel of teams that pulled off huge first-round upsets, but it will also be an opportunity for the Blue Devils to avenge last season’s stunning loss to the Hoyas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Duke, which was one of the last teams into this year’s field, had its path start with a stunning comeback victory over the fourth-seeded Richmond Spiders, who supplied the largest opening round crowd in tournament history

The Hoyas pulled off an impressive upset as well, defeating 5-seed Virginia on the road 14-10.

This will be Georgetown’s 14th trip to the quarterfinals as its record improved to 11-4 on the season with the victory.

Hoya head coach Kevin Warne talked about providing his players with an adequate amount of belief going into the team’s game versus Virginia, something that is sure to be reiterated throughout the week as the team prepares for the Blue Devils.

“Part of being head coach is belief, and you work to give kids belief,” Warne said, according to USA Lacrosse Magazine. “In order to give kids belief, they turn around and they do the work during practice. You don’t know until you get to the game, but why go into the game like, ‘I don’t know?’ Let’s go. We have nothing to lose. Nobody thought we were going to win this game, and that was the best thing for us.”

What makes Georgetown a scary sight for any opponent, though, is the fact that they have some serious talent to go along with this “nothing to lose” attitude.

The Hoyas are fourth in the country in assists per game, ninth in points per game, 12th in scoring defense, 12th in scoring offense, seventh in shot percentage, and 17th in ground balls per game.

Georgetown also boasts some of the best players in the country. For example, Rory Connor is one of the best goal scorers in Division I as he sits at 3.53 goals per game, good for third-best in the country. His brother, Liam Connor, leads all of DI in assists per game.

Duke and Georgetown are set to face off at 2:30 p.m. ET at Delaware Stadium on Sunday, May 17, in Newark, Delaware.

This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: duke lacrosse round two preview versus georgetown