The best team in the country was crowned national champions this Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore.

The Duke Blue Devils won their second straight national championship and third in five years.

For Duke, it’s seemingly endless list of offensive weapons were the main reason they had scored at least 15 goals in 11 straight games coming into Monday’s championship game. Notre Dame managed to hold them to 11, but it proved to be enough as Duke’s defense stepped up en route to an 11-9 victory.

Jordan Wolf was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and used a six point (2G, 4A) performance in the championship game to become the first Duke player to top 100 points in a single season, finishing with 103 on the year, and a casual 303 for his career.

Myles Jones, who has appeared unstoppable thus far in the tournament, added two goals and an assist. First team All-American midfielder Deemer Class, playing in his hometown, added another two goals. Kyle Keenan, arguably one of the best stories of the weekend, tallied two goals and had six on the weekend as he filled in admirably for an injured Josh Dionne.

But, as the saying goes, “defense wins championships,” and that was certainly true in this game. Duke’s defense was stifling in the first half, holding Notre Dame to one goal and forcing 11 turnovers in the process. While Notre Dame certainly didn’t help their cause with poor decision-making and ball protection, Duke’s defense played their most complete game of the tournament.

On a team whose offense has been so prolific, it’s easy for the defense to be overshadowed. However, Duke has four All-American defenders and it showed in the championship game. Luke Duprey, who received first team honors, had been banged up, but, alongside his backup Brian Dailey, turned in an excellent performance at the LSM position. Henry Lobb, another All-American, drew the assignment of Notre Dame’s leading scoring and held Matt Kavanagh to a quiet three-point effort. Chris Hipps played well, backing up his third team honors. Will Haus, one of Coach Danowski’s favorite players, turned in a performance worthy of much more than honorable mention All-American for the short-stick defensive midfielder.

Luke Aaron, whose performance in the semifinals left much to be desired, made the saves he needed to make and finished with nine on the day. The final member of the Duke defense that deserves recognition has earned many accolades for his contribution off the field.

Casey Carroll left the field Monday a national champion, over ten years removed from playing his first game for the Blue Devils. He played three years, starting in 2004, and graduated in 2007 after a first team All-American season. Despite one year left of eligibility, he moved on to a new team: The United States Army. After four tours of duty as an Army Ranger, Carroll returned to Duke as a graduate student. The 29-year-old, husband, father of two, picked up right where he left off and helped lead Duke to its program’s third national championship.

The only thing Duke didn’t seem to do right was keep an eye on Notre Dame’s towering freshman midfielder Sergio Perkovic. The Michigan-native had a career high five goals and spearheaded the Fighting Irish’s comeback bid that fell short.

Goalie Connor Kelly was the only other bright spot for Notre Dame, as he turned in back-to-back solid performances and single-handedly kept the Fighting Irish in the game through their early struggles. He finished with 12 saves, following up his 14-save, 70% save percentage performance in the semifinals.

Notre Dame’s poor first half saw them trailing 8-2 in the third quarter. A four goal run led by Perkovic’s hot shooting, saw that lead trimmed to 8-6. A timely goal from Wolf pushed the lead back to 9-6 and after Notre Dame cut the lead back to 9-8, Wolf found Keenan for what proved to be the game-winner. A late goal by Perkovic made the game interesting, but Wolf beat a Notre Dame double team and scored the clincher on an empty net.

The less than impressive crowd was treated to a thriller after it certainly was not shaping up to be through the first 35 minutes. Attendance for this year’s championship weekend declined for the seventh straight season.

A record 123,225 spectators piled into M&T Bank Stadium for the 2007 Championship Weekend, and eventually saw hometown Johns Hopkins defeat top-seed Duke. This year, only 78,234 attended over the course of the weekend in the event’s return to Baltimore.