Originally Posted by
burnspbesq
The 2021 season didn’t turn out the way Duke fans expected. The Blue Devils were the nearly unanimous pre-season number one, and at times they looked like they might cruise to the championship. It didn’t turn out that way: although they made it to Championship Weekend for the third straight season, and had a number of highlights along the way, there was something obviously wrong with the offense and the team chemistry, and the whole enterprise collapsed with a resounding thud in the national semifinals.
Heading into 2022, it’s Virginia with the target on its back. Although Duke has questions to answer, its pre-season number three ranking suggests a belief that the answers are at hand.
The Blue Devils lose a lot from the 2021 squad. Defender J.T. Giles-Harris was the heart and soul of the team and an All-American. Attackman Michael Sowers, the subject of so much hype, also departs, along with a ton of offensive midfield depth and two of the four SSDMs who played regularly.
The cupboard is far from bare, however. Starting attackmen Joe Robertson, he of the overtime heroics, and Brennan O’Neill, of the Zion Williamson analogies, are back. So too are positionless sniper Dyson Williams; a host of offensive mids led by All-American Nakeie Montgomery, Owen Caputo, and Aidan Danenza; LSMs Tyler Carpenter (a pre-season All-American) and Braden Burke; SSDMs Jake Caputo and Matt Chmil; starting defenders Kenny Brower and Wilson Stephenson; face-off savant Jake Naso and sidekick Jordan Ginder; and Mike Adler, who at his best is among the best goaltenders in the game.
The incoming freshman class stresses quality over quantity, with five members of the IL top 100 including the top two mids (Andrew McAdorey and Jackson Gray) and number two defender Keith Boyer. There are also a number of potentially high-impact transfers, led by midfielders Sean Lulley (grad transfer, Penn) and Grant Mitchell (Ohio State) and SSDM Gavin Lindsay (grad transfer, Georgetown).
The schedule, which opens with the visit of Robert Morris this afternoon, is, as usual, a thrill ride. The ACC is sticking to last year’s six-game run with no tournamen, so Duke will have home-and-homes with Carolina and Notre Dame, a home game with Virginia, and a visit to Syracuse. All but Cuse are in the pre-season top six. The non-conference slate includes five top-20 opponents: Loyola, Penn, Denver, Delaware, and Vermont.
As far as the Annual Futile Exercise is concerned, a good chunk of the rotation looks reasonably well settled. Robertson and O’Neill are starting at attack. It’s possible that Williams will join them, but I have a hunch that it will be Lulley assuming a “point guard” role at X, with Williams moving to midfield. The most likely six at offensive midfield would seem to be Montgomery, Williams, Owen Caputo, McAdorey, Danenza, and Mitchell or senior Garrett Leadmon. Redshirt senior Cam Badour will slot in on the man-up unit. At SSDM, returnees Jake Caputo and Chmil are likely to be joined by Lindsay (who was the shortie on Georgetown’s top-ranked man-down unit) and either Mitchell, Gray, or freshman Reed Landin, an IL top 100 selection. Carpenter and either Burke or junior Cam Henry, an elite athlete who caught IL’s eye when they looked in on fall practice, will be the LSMs. Brower and Stephenson will start on defense, joined by Henry, sophomore Cole Krauss, or freshman Jake Wilson, an IL top 100 selection. Boyer, who is highly skilled but undersized by ACC standards, will initially slot in on the man-down unit. Adler will be in goal, and Naso will be at the dot.
A trip to East Hartford for Memorial Day weekend is far from assured, but it wouldn’t hurt to make reservations—if they’re refundable.