https://goduke.com/sports/mens-lacrosse/schedule/2023
Duke has released its 2023 men's lacrosse schedule.
(Women's thread here: https://forums.dukebasketballreport...men-s-Lacrosse )
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https://goduke.com/sports/mens-lacrosse/schedule/2023
Duke has released its 2023 men's lacrosse schedule.
(Women's thread here: https://forums.dukebasketballreport...men-s-Lacrosse )
Thanks for posting - I have been checking frequently for that. Interesting schedule. Carolina and ND once, UVA and Syracuse twice. Two trips to Philly and the final game of the year on Long Island.Quote:
Originally Posted by duke2x
Tough draw getting UVA twice, but Cuse looks to have a tough season. Like the two Philly matchups.
The preseason Nike/USLacrosse polls have the Duke men at 7 and the Duke women at 11. Initial reaction is that that’s about right for the women—but for reasons that I’ll get into in more detail in the coming weeks, I think that’s a little optimistic for the men.
Still waiting for the Duke women’s schedule.
ICYMI, Denver coach Bill Tierney has announced that this will be his last season.
ETA: I’m really excited for the new season, for reasons which have nothing to do with Duke. My alma mater, coming off it’s first ever trip to the D3 championship game, is playing its spring-break game in Austin this year!
I bet Tierney's wife will be pissed.Quote:
Originally Posted by burnspbesq
Why shouldn't she have her turn; he's seems to be perpetually pissed.Quote:
Originally Posted by budwom
he surely is, can't imagine having that guy stalking around the house all day.Quote:
Originally Posted by TKG
USLacrosse pre-season All-America teams were unveiled today, and Duke men and women have four slots each.
For the men, Brennan makes first team, LSM Tyler Carpenter second team, D Kenny Brower third team, and M Andrew McAdorey honorable mention.
For the women, A Maddie Jenner and M Olivia Carner are second team, and A Katie DeSimone and D Cubby Biscardi make honorable mention.
Yesterday was supposed to be our not-so secret scrimmage against Maryland and Mt. St. Mary's. I doubt this was any more than a situational scrimmage, but I would love to have some intel since Goduke has been silent. :o
Hell yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by duke2x
Not a peep on the Twerps’ website. If IL was there, I’d expect to see something tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by duke2x
IL’s box lacrosse guru, Stephen Stamp, has already anointed Dyson Williams as the presumptive number one pick in the 2023 NLL draft, which will happen in the early Fall. Lot of speculation about teams that might tank to try and get the first pick (mostly centered around Georgia and Vancouver). Doesn’t Dyson have one more year of eligibility left after this season?
In a related, and really nice, development, Dyson’s younger brother, who died of cancer a few years ago, was the honorary first pick in the draft for the Ontario junior A box league.
USLacrosse Magazine takes a look at Duke men’s prospects for the season.
https://www.usalaxmagazine.com/colle...-no-7-duke-men
Just in time for Saturday's season opener.
2023 MLax Season Preview
In 2022, Duke missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in John Danowski’s tenure as head coach. When firing on all cylinders, as in dominant wins over Virginia and North Carolina, they could take your breath away. But they couldn’t sustain that level of excellence, leading to some bad losses (Syracuse, Jacksonville, Loyola). In the end, six losses was at least one too many.
The Blue Devils head into the 2023 season with a host of quality returnees all over the field, plus some promising newcomers—and two huge question marks. Depending on how those question marks get resolved, they could return to Memorial Day, or miss the tournament again.
Duke lost three key performers and a handful of other contributors to graduation/end of eligibility. Midfielder Nakeie Montgomery had a solid rookie season in the PLL. Cam Badour and Joe Robertson have caught on with Saskatchewan and Las Vegas, respectively, in the pro indoor league. Grad-transfer attackman Sean Lulley, man-up specialist Cameron Mule, and SSDM Matt Chmil were solid contributors who will be missed. But the most consequential loss is in goal. The Mike Adler era is over, and it’s safe to say that how this issue gets resolved will be a primary determinant of how the 2023 season plays out.
For whatever reason, Duke has had very little success in recruiting top-flight goaltenders. So the staff turned to the transfer portal, and came up with … Will Helm. Helm, as far as we can tell, is the second transfer to come to Duke from Division III St. Lawrence, which isn’t a bad qual since the first transfer from St. Lawrence was a key contributor to the 2010 NCAA championship team (remember Will McKee?) Helm has extremely solid credentials: second-team D3 All-American, and co-DPOY of the toughest conference in D3 last season, the Liberty League (both D3 finalists, champion RIT and runner-up Union, came from the LL). He helped lead the Larries to the round of 16 in the D3 tournament, posting a 9.1 GAA and a .579 save percentage. Stylistically, he’s almost the polar opposite of Mike Adler: he’s big (listed at 6’3” and 195), quiet in the cage, and plays angles extremely well (there is some footage available on IL). On paper, there is no reason to say that he can’t successfully make the jump from D3; just ask the Duke defense, which got lit up for six points by D3 transfer Max Waldbaum in last year’s loss to Jacksonville. But he has to actually do it, because if he comes up short, the cupboard looks awfully bare.
Fortunately, Helm should have a pretty solid defense in front of him. On close defense, two starters return: preseason All-American and U-21 gold medalist Kenny Brower and fifth-year Wilson Stephenson. Incoming freshman defender Henry Bard (Wynnewood, PA/Lower Meerion) was rated in the top 20 of incoming freshmen by IL. If he’s not ready to go, then junior Cole Krauss or sophomores Keith Boyer or Jake Wilson, all of whom saw playing time in 2022, are available to step in.
In the defensive midfield, Duke has one elite LSM, preseason All-American Tyler Carpenter, and one elite shorty, U-21 gold medalist Jake Caputo. Braden Burke, who was the number two LSM last year, chose not to use his extra year of eligibility, so one slot is open, but there are plenty of candidates, including any of the close defense depth pieces and incoming freshmen Charlie Johnson (Greenwich, CT/Brunswick) and Preston Whitehurst (Annapolis, MD/Andover). There are potentially three slots open for shorties, but I think you can pencil grad student Garrett Leadmon and senior Grant Mitchell into two of them, and possibly Harvard grad transfer Jack Frisoli into the third.
Despite the departure of Montgomery, the offensive midfield has plenty of returning firepower. The presumptive first unit—senior Owen Caputo, junior Aidan Danenza, and sophomore Andrew McAdorey—combined for 40 goals in 2022. The second unit will likely consist of senior Conor Drake, junior Charlie O’Connor, and sophomore Reed Landin, although its possible that highly-regarded freshman attackman Charles Balsamo (Manhasset, NY/Chaminade) will move to the midfield; he’s too good to be just a depth piece and man-up specialist.
On attack, Brennan O’Neill and Dyson Williams are back, and that likely means 100 or so goals (they combined for 96 in 20220). O’Neill is the only college player named to the USA senior men’s national team for the upcoming world championship, and Williams may very well make the Canadian squad. Want more? How about grad transfer Tommy Schellling, Lehigh’s leading scorer in 2021 and 2022, sliding into the spot vacated by JoeRob? With all due respect to our friends in Charlottesville, that’s the best attack unit in the country.
On special teams, the man-up unit pretty much picks itself: starting attack plus first midfield, although the precise alignment remains to be seen. Similarly, the man-down unit is likely to be the starting close D plus Carpenter and J. Caputo. On faceoffs, U-21 gold medalist Jake Naso is now part of a three-headed monster: Penn grad transfer Jamie Zusi won 54.5 percent on the way to honorable mention All-Ivy in 2022, and incoming freshman Luke Engelke (Westfield, NJ/Pingry) was an IL top-50 selection (the last FOGO to come out of New Jersey prep lacrosse with similar hype was Trevor Baptiste).
On balance, there is plenty of room for optimism, and it must be acknowledged that Duke has won championships with barely-better-than-average goaltending (say hi to Dan Wigrizer and Kyle Turri). But in 2023, Duke will go as far as Will Helm can take them, and no farther.
Thanks for the great preview burnspbesq! Once again, lots of talent and lots of questions. Let's hope the team plays with an edge after missing the NCAA tournament last year. I'm looking forward to some exciting games!
Yes, thank you for the insightful preview. I wonder about three things: Might Bonafede be more of a positive factor than expected in goal? Will the SSDMs be strong enough defensively to complement the long sticks well this year? And, will the 1st middies be a consistent strength, or too often the weak link on O?Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleBlue
(1) Maybe, but the available evidence doesn’t strongly support that hypothesis; (2) Potentially, but we’ll have to see; (3) I think the first midfield is good for 50 goals or so; they’re likely to get plenty of time-and-room opportunities as opposing defenses collapse to try and contain the attack. Less optimistic about the second midfield.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nepos
Sounds like a top heavy team.Quote:
Originally Posted by burnspbesq
The latest from IL.
https://www.insidelacrosse.com/artic...ome-fun-/60618
That's encouraging. Glad to hear about fundamentals, it seemed we had WAY too many sloppy turnovers last year...Quote:
Originally Posted by burnspbesq