Two days ago, I blogged about how the spotlight would be trained on the matchup between Johns Hopkins defensemen Michael Evans and Eric Zerrlaut on Duke attackmen Matt Danowski and Zack Greer, respectively, prior to Saturday’s semifinal.

Evans, a junior from South River, and Zerrlaut, a senior from St. Mary’s, did not wilt in the limelight as their ability to limit Danowski and Greer proved vital in the No. 5 seed Blue Jays’ 10-9 upset of the top-seeded Blue Devils.

Evans marked Danowski, the NCAA leader in career points, to the tune of two goals and an assist. Although Greer registered three assists, the NCAA record holder for most goals in a single season was held to just one goal by Zerrlaut.

Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said the game plan was to play a lacrosse version of a box-and-two, leaving Evans and Zerrlaut on man-to-man coverage with neither of those two players sliding away from their man.

"I was a little hesitant, but once coach and I talked about it and I started watching film, I’ve felt confident over the last couple of games that we could be slower going to me," said Evans, who limited Danowski to a goal and an assist in last year’s championship game. "They kind of left me on an island, but we do that every day in practice. I’m used to that."

Zerrlaut gave up a lone assist to Greer last May, but admitted there was a slight period of adjustment to the game plan.

"At times, it was tough because I felt like we couldn’t use our usual defensive slide packages because I wasn’t meant to really leave him alone very much," Zerrlaut said. "So we were a little tentative in the beginning going through a defense that we don’t usually use consistently. We usually use our crease-sliding as our go-to as most teams do, and a lot of times, we didn’t do that because he would be inside. But I think it was a great game plan. And after it was 2-1 in the first quarter, we thought it was the right game plan. I think we knew right then that we had a good shot at this thing."