Turri Adds National Champion To Crowded Trophy Case

West Islip’s Kyle Turri and his Duke teammates capped Memorial Day weekend with a 16-10 win over Syracuse and with it, a national title for the Blue Devils men’s lacrosse team.

The sophomore goaltender is the second Turri to help lead Duke to a national championship. His older brother, Justin, was a junior midfielder and a key part of the Blue Devils’ 2010 title team.

On Monday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Turri made 10 saves and allowed 9 goals. He also had four groundballs and three caused turnovers and became just the fifth goalie in Duke history to register 10 or more saves in three NCAA tournament games.

Turri had 13 saves in Duke’s opening round double-overtime win over Loyola and had 16 saves in the Blue Devils’ win over Cornell in the national semi-final game on Saturday. He finished the season 14-1.

“Kyle is a winner,” said Duke head coach John Danowski. “He makes plays, intercepts passes, picks up ground balls, has got great touch in the clearing game and he does more than just stop the ball. One of the toughest things to do in college athletics now is to be a goalie. But he is; he’s a winner and got better as the weekend went on.”

Winning championships is becoming a habit for Turri. In 2010 he was the starting goalie as West Islip won its fourth New York State Class A state title. During the summer of 2012, Turri was a member of the United States U-19 national team that won a gold medal at the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship played in Finland.

His trophy case now includes NCAA National Champion.