MLax: 2018 Season

[burnspbesq]

Duke enters the 2018 season carrying the weight of outsized expectations. Every poll that matters has Duke in the top two. And the expectations are understandable: the Blue Devils return eight double-figure goal scorers from last year's NCAA quarterfinal squad, along with two studs at the back and a fifth-year senior in goal. There are some question marks, however, and continued development by a sophomore class that more than lived up to its ranking will go a long way to determining whether Duke fans will be tailgating in Foxborough at the end of May.

Who's Gone. Graduation Day was not kind to the Duke lacrosse program. At the top of the list of losses are Jack and Kyle-Bruckner's 45 goals and Rowe's 58.3 percent performance at the faceoff dot. Less heralded, but perhaps more important, are the five departures at the back: poles Ethan Powley, Brian Dunne, and Ian Yanulis and SSDMs Thomas Zenker and Garret Van de Ven.

Who's Back: It starts, of course with Justin Guterding. After a 97-point season in 2017, Gut is the undisputed offensive leader for the Blue Devils and a potential Teewaaraton finalist. Joey Manown returns to run on attack, coming off a 29-goal freshman campaign. In the midfield, the whole crew returns, led by Brad Smith, Kevin Quigley, and four other double-figure scorers, plus SSDMs Sean Cerrone and Terry Lindsey. At the back, both junior Cade van Raaphorst and J.T. Giles-Harris got pre-season All-America mentions, and they are joined by senior Greg Pelton, who split time between close and LSM. Danny Fowler returns for one more season, coming off a solid-but-unspectacular 51.5% performance in 2017, and backup Turner Uppgren looked good in limited minutes.

Who's Arriving. Inside Lacrosse ranked Duke's incoming freshmen as the nation's third-best group, and in my view it's a fair ranking. The Blue Devils bring in three Under Armour All-Americans and a fourth top-25 recruit, plus a handful of other guys who will be expected to contribute. The top two names are midfielders Nakeie Montgomery and Cam Badour. Montgomery, from Dallas Episcopal, has sensational speed and quickness and a well-rounded offensive arsenal. How fast? There is a clip on YouTube of him running back a punt for a touchdown for Episcopals's football team. The acceleration when he hit the seam will explain why Coach Danowski had to out-recruit Coach Cutcliffe to get him. Badour, a big lefty from Ottawa who ran with top freshman Tehoka Nanticoke of Albany at IMG Academy, has the complete box skill set (he sat out the Ontario Junior A season due to injury, which made folks around St. Catherine's sad). It's easy to imagine his career arc looking like Bruckner's, or (do I dare? Dare!) Zack Greer's. Throw in LSM Raines Shamburger from Atlanta and number-two incoming FOGO Joe Stein from D.C., and you've got a really nice nucleus. On top of that, Duke adds two excellent grad transfers, attackman Peter Conley from Georgetown and defender Kevin McDonough from Penn, along with midfielder Cody Brinkman, who joins the squad after four years with the Duke men's soccer team (and yes, Joe Giles-Harris, I am looking at you as I write that).

The Annual Futile Exercise in Predicting the Rotation. It's harder than ever this year, because there is so much talent available up front. At the back, it's something of a different story. All of these predictions assume no major injuries-and because Duke is thin at the back, injuries could derail the season.

On attack, you can write Guterding and Manown on the lineup sheet with a Sharpie. If healthy, they're playing. I expect Conley to be the third starter, although it's possible that Badour could be inserted into the Bruckner role immediately. Freshman Joe Robertson, rated in the top 40 at the position by IL, will provide depth.

So many possibilities at midfield. For Coach Danowski's eleven seasons at Duke, the practice has been to run two lines of offensive mids and a four-man rotation at SSDM, plus two or three LSMs. If that's the way they line up this year, pick six from among Smith, Quigley, Mongomery, Badour, Lowrie, Smyth, Prendergast, Russell, and freshman Matt Chmil. If Prendergast isn't one of those six, he will step back into the SSDM role he handled capably as a freshman, alongside Cerrone, Lindsey, and (if he can finally stay healthy for a full season) Seau. But thinking outside the box … Duke has enough ACC-caliber mids to run four old-school two-way units. Will the staff do it? Only time will tell. Pelton and Shamburger are the guys at LSM, alongside Peter Welch, and Jack Fowler may find his way into the rotation as well.

At the back it looks like van Raaphorst, Giles-Harris, and either McDonough or sophomore Walker Scaglione, who missed the 2017 season due to injury. At 6'7", Scaglione's range would make him a natural choice to step into Ian Yanulis' old spot on the man-down unit, and he could also see time as a faceoff wing.

The dot belongs to the combination of sophomore Brian Smyth, who won 51 percent in limited duty in 2017, and freshman Stein. In goal, Danny Fowler's the guy, period, full stop.

What to Look For. In what is generally considered a down year in the ACC (three teams outside the top ten in a number of pre-season polls), the sky is the limit for this team. The non-conference schedule isn't soft-Denver is a top-five team, and Marquette, Towson, Loyola, and Richmond can challenge-but it's manageable. Duke goes to Notre Dame, but gets Carolina and Syracuse at home. Barring injury, and assuming normal development by the freshmen and continued development by the sophomores, this team could be really, really good. Don't pre-pay for hotel rooms near Foxborough for Memorial Day weekend, but it is not imprudent to make reservations.

[budwom]

thanks for that, Paul. So what's the deal with Seau, he just never panned out?

[burnspbesq]

thanks for that, Paul. So what's the deal with Seau, he just never panned out?

Season-ending foot injuries, three years in a row. Never played more than 13 games in a season. As a freshman, he ran on the second midfield, and scored three goals (which was three more than Dave Lawson scored as a freshman).

[TKG]

Heading to the game on Saturday against Air Force. Hope we can avoid our typical slow start to the season.

[DST Fan]

Nice to see Jake Seau score a goal. Otherwise, Air Force seems to be totally over matched, so it's hard to judge how Duke is playing. 15-3 at the beginning of the 4th quarter.

[DST Fan]

Final score: 18-4.

[budwom]

AFA was ranked #17 FWIW, pretty solid start.

[buddy]

Solid performance, even if AFA is undermanned right now. Need to clean up the FO game. Interesting that Fowler only played one half. Uppgren looked good in goal. Maybe a goalie controversy? Gratifying to see Duke run three excellent midfield units. In the last couple of years we had trouble putting a second unit on the field. If the team can consistently play three units they may run some teams off the field.

[DST Fan]

Solid performance, even if AFA is undermanned right now. Need to clean up the FO game. Interesting that Fowler only played one half. Uppgren looked good in goal. Maybe a goalie controversy? Gratifying to see Duke run three excellent midfield units. In the last couple of years we had trouble putting a second unit on the field. If the team can consistently play three units they may run some teams off the field.

Not only undermanned, but in the middle of a difficult situation with the coaching staff. But I agree that Duke looked impressive on both offense and defense.


http://www.insidelacrosse.com/articl...n-begins/51230

[budwom]

Lacrosse has become one of my very favorite Duke sports, I wish I could get to some of the games...Duke makes few treks to the northeast...(playing in six inches of snow right now could be one reason why, the Vermont team played at Furman a few days ago).

[burnspbesq]

A few random notes from today’s game.

Roster surprises: I didn’t expect Robertson to start, and I didn’t expect to see Greg Shea as part of the SSDM rotation, but they both looked good. Harrington and Jack Fowler played on man down, and the unit held AF to 1-4. After four years of soccer, Cody Brinkman got to hit somebody, in a fourth-quarter GB scrap, and he made the most of the opportunity.

Badour didn’t dress. I think everybody who dressed played.

Cerrone and van Raaphorst had GREAT games on defense. I can’t remember a single time Duke had to slide to Cerrone’s man. Van Raaphorst blanketed Nick Hruby, the Falcons’ number one offensive threat, holding him to one goal on only five shots and forcing a turnover.

Duke took really good care of the ball, going 17-18 on clears and giving up only seven turnovers.

Duke killed a one-minute six-on-four midway through the fourth quarter.

The efficiency stats tell the story of the game. Duke scored 18 on 33 possessions for 54.5 percent while holding AF to 12.5 percent (4-32).

Somewhere in Denver, Trevor Baptiste is smiling.

[DST Fan]

A few random notes from today’s game.

Roster surprises: I didn’t expect Robertson to start, and I didn’t expect to see Greg Shea as part of the SSDM rotation, but they both looked good. Harrington and Jack Fowler played on man down, and the unit held AF to 1-4. After four years of soccer, Cody Brinkman got to hit somebody, in a fourth-quarter GB scrap, and he made the most of the opportunity.

Badour didn’t dress. I think everybody who dressed played.

Cerrone and van Raaphorst had GREAT games on defense. I can’t remember a single time Duke had to slide to Cerrone’s man. Van Raaphorst blanketed Nick Hruby, the Falcons’ number one offensive threat, holding him to one goal on only five shots and forcing a turnover.

Duke took really good care of the ball, going 17-18 on clears and giving up only seven turnovers.

Duke killed a one-minute six-on-four midway through the fourth quarter.

The efficiency stats tell the story of the game. Duke scored 18 on 33 possessions for 54.5 percent while holding AF to 12.5 percent (4-32).

Somewhere in Denver, Trevor Baptiste is smiling.

Agree with your last comment. If Duke can develop a face-off guy, this team appears to have final four potential. Although Joe Stein took only 4 face-offs today, Inside Lacrosse suggested in its preview of Duke that he could be the one.

[WiJoe]

A few random notes from today’s game.

Roster surprises: I didn’t expect Robertson to start, and I didn’t expect to see Greg Shea as part of the SSDM rotation, but they both looked good. Harrington and Jack Fowler played on man down, and the unit held AF to 1-4. After four years of soccer, Cody Brinkman got to hit somebody, in a fourth-quarter GB scrap, and he made the most of the opportunity.

Badour didn’t dress. I think everybody who dressed played.

Cerrone and van Raaphorst had GREAT games on defense. I can’t remember a single time Duke had to slide to Cerrone’s man. Van Raaphorst blanketed Nick Hruby, the Falcons’ number one offensive threat, holding him to one goal on only five shots and forcing a turnover.

Duke took really good care of the ball, going 17-18 on clears and giving up only seven turnovers.

Duke killed a one-minute six-on-four midway through the fourth quarter.

The efficiency stats tell the story of the game. Duke scored 18 on 33 possessions for 54.5 percent while holding AF to 12.5 percent (4-32).

Somewhere in Denver, Trevor Baptiste is smiling.

Thanks for the great post. Please continue, before and after games.

[jimsumner]

http://www.theacc.com/news/2018/2/5/...ly-honors.aspx

[chrishoke]

Congrats to Guterding and Giles-Harris! Guterding's 10 point game vs. Air Force was simply amazing.

[burnspbesq]

Who foresaw that Thursday night’s home game against High Point would turn out to be a trap game? Watching Jacksonville’s stunning win over Navy, and it doesn’t look like a fluke. In former Duke assistant John Galloway’s second year as head coach, the Dolphins play smart, disciplined lacrosse, and they have a stud at the faceoff dot in Hunter Forbes (19-22).

This is not your father’s Jacksonville.

[duke2x]

Duke defeats High Point 18-6 where it looks like everyone played as expected. I know some may be frustrated with basketball (and perhaps still with football), but this team is fun to watch against lesser competition. The first real test against Denver next week. I just wish I could go.

Kudos to Coach Danowski for rescheduling tonight's game so High Point's coach could attend a military induction tomorrow night. The extra rest against Jacksonville won't hurt either.

[BigWayne]

Who foresaw that Thursday night’s home game against High Point would turn out to be a trap game? Watching Jacksonville’s stunning win over Navy, and it doesn’t look like a fluke. In former Duke assistant John Galloway’s second year as head coach, the Dolphins play smart, disciplined lacrosse, and they have a stud at the faceoff dot in Hunter Forbes (19-22).

This is not your father’s Jacksonville.

Saw this article earlier this week on Jacksonville lacrosse. They have big aspirations.

[burnspbesq]

Duke leads Jacksonville 9-4 at the half. Atfer a 5-0 first quarter, the Dolphins picked themselves up and fought Duke to a standstill in Q2. They aren’t going away, but they need to take care of the ball (12 turnovers).

[burnspbesq]

19-8 is your final score. Huge day for freshman attacker Joe Robertson, with eight points (3g, 5a). Duke’s defense caused 12 of the Dolphins’ 25 turnovers.

Now the fun starts. Denver comes to Koskinen next Friday at 5:00 Eastern.