FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Duke's 2006 lacrosse season was scuttled by a rogue prosecutor and a since-debunked rape charge.

In every other year since these Blue Devils seniors were freshmen, Johns Hopkins has beaten them in the Final Four.

Kevin Huntley scored four goals and Johns Hopkins beat top-seeded Duke 10-9 today to earn a spot in the national title game against Syracuse on Monday. The Orange beat Virginia 12-11 in double overtime in the other semifinal.

Hopkins beat Duke in the 2005 and '07 championship games, but Duke's 2006 season was ended by the school after three players were charged with raping a stripper who was hired to dance at a party. Five players on this year's team were granted an extra year of eligibility to make up for the aborted season.

"I came back to win a national championship," said goalkeeper Dan Loftus, who broke into tears at one point in the postgame news conference and later lashed out at a reporter, saying, "What do you think?"

Coach John Danowski, who was hired in the wake of the scandal after predecessor Mike Pressler was forced to resign, again tried to calm the situation.

"Fellas," he told his players, "don't take the bait."

For perhaps the last time, Danowski defended his players against complaints that the extra year gave Duke an unfair advantage in age and experience as it racked up an NCAA season-record 18 wins.

"They've been vilified for choosing to play a fifth year. They love to play lacrosse. It's a no-brainer for these kids," Danowski said. "These are phenomenal kids at every level. We didn't win a game today, but they are going to be very successful in life. This is going to be a small bump in the road for all of them."

Hopkins (11-5) opened a 5-2 lead before Duke (18-2) scored three times in 45 seconds to tie it in the third quarter. Paul Rabil and Huntley scored to make it 7-5; it was 8-6 for all of 12 seconds before Matt Danowski and Nick O'Hara scored 6 seconds apart to tie it.

Hopkins led 10-9 when Duke attacker Max Quinzani, who earlier joined Zack Greer to become the only teammates in NCAA history with 60 goals apiece, hit the crossbar. Huntley scored at the other end to make it 10-8.

Brad Ross pulled Duke within one with 29 seconds left, but after a timeout with 3.9 seconds to play, Danowski's desperation shot was saved by Michael Gvozden.

That set off the celebration for Hopkins, a nine-time national champion that was 3-5 after a 17-6 loss to Duke on April 5.

"Things were going poorly for us, and we all came together in the hard times," Huntley said. "After the way that they beat us in the regular season, we knew that we had something to prove."

Syracuse will also be going for its 10th national title, and it will meet Hopkins in the championship game for the fifth time; each team has won twice. The Orange won the regular-season matchup this year 14-13 in overtime on March 15.

"We have great respect for Syracuse and their tradition," Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. "It's no surprise to us that they were able to win."

The Orange rallied from a season-high five-goal deficit in the early game to beat Virginia, advancing when Mike Leveille scored his fifth goal of the game 2:17 into the second overtime.

Leveille, who also had two assists, scored three times in the final 20:02 of regulation, including the tying goal with 3:00 left in the fourth quarter as Syracuse erased a 9-4 deficit. John Galloway made nine saves and Matt Abbott scored his first career hat trick for Syracuse.

Bud Petit stopped 16 shots and Danny Glading had three goals and an assist for Virginia (14-4). The Cavaliers scored five consecutive goals to take a 6-2 lead with 8:02 left in the first half, and they still led 9-4 with 6:16 left in regulation.

But Leveille and Abbott each scored twice before Glading completed his hat trick to give Virginia an 11-8 lead. Dan Hardy assisted on two goals, the second by Brendan Loftus to make it 11-10 just 9 seconds after Bray Malphus was sent off for a bone-rattling cross-check.