Duke Men's Lacrosse 2023

[duke2x]

Duke men host occasional nemesis Air Force tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Koskinen. It’s right on the way from the Science Dr. parking structure to Cameron, so why not go early and make it a double-header?

I took this part of your advice when my schedule opened up at 5PM. It was my first game in Koskinen in person, but I left in the early 4th for the WBB game. Most of the things I noticed aren't of interest to the thread, and there isn't much to add given the score. AF did not warm up before the game and only got there 10 minutes early. I've never seen that before.

We're getting new sod for the field today.

[burnspbesq]

Number four Duke men head north to open a three-game road swing at ORV St. Joseph’s on Saturday. Hawks are 4-3; the won their first three before losing three; their rebound win against St. John’s last weekend was career win number 100 for head coach Taylor Wray (Duke ‘03).

The Hawks are good on offense and dreadful on defense; in LR’s rankings they are number 17 in adjusted offensive efficiency and number 58 in adjusted defensive efficiency (Duke is number five and 17, respectively). Their starting GK has a save percentage of 43.6.

The battle at the faceoff dot could be worth the price of admission. If you disregard the five guys who are one-for-one on the year, the Hawks’ Zach Cole leads Division 1 at a ridiculous 69.6 percent, while Jake Naso’s 65.6 percent is good for fifth.

Noon Eastern, ESPN+. Fire up the recorder; UVa and ND face off at the same time.

[duke2x]

Duke leads 4-2 after 1. I'm not expecting this game to be easy.

[burnspbesq]

Nasir took a big hit after scoring Duke’s fourth goal. Hope he’s Ok.

Just as I was about to suggest moving Pappendick off the second midfield, he gets his first career goal.

[duke2x]

Duke leads 8-4 at the half.

[burnspbesq]

St. Joe’s can’t get anything in settled offense. Their four goals have been a rebound, off a faceoff, man-up, and after Helm got mugged behind the net. Stephenson bageling the Hawks’ leading scorer, with two CTs and five GBs. Nasohaving a good day against Cole, 8-13 so far, getting a lot of help from his wings.

[burnspbesq]

UVA leading ND, 11-7, in Q3.

[chrishoke]

I've got the Duke game on my computer and the Vir. vs. Notre Dame game on the TV. It's snowing a bit in ND. Vir. up 11-7.

[burnspbesq]

Duke leads, 11-5, after three.

[duke2x]

Duke 12-9 Final. I know St. Joe's is ranked, but it wasn't a game Duke could lose and get much credit for it.

[burnspbesq]

Duke went off the boil in Q4, but the game was not as close as the final score would indicate. St. Joe’s got two late when Gray’s late penalty was inexplicably made non-releasable.

Brower took the matchup on Anderson in the second half. Same result: Hawks’ leading scorer finishes with zip and zip. Naso wins the marquee matchup, going 15-24.

St. Joe’s defense is much better than advertised. They made Duke work for everything.

Now the fun starts: four straight ACC games, starting with UVa in C’ville.

[Nepos]

Duke went off the boil in Q4, but the game was not as close as the final score would indicate. St. Joe’s got two late when Gray’s late penalty was inexplicably made non-releasable.

Brower took the matchup on Anderson in the second half. Same result: Hawks’ leading scorer finishes with zip and zip. Naso wins the marquee matchup, going 15-24.

St. Joe’s defense is much better than advertised. They made Duke work for everything.

Now the fun starts: four straight ACC games, starting with UVa in C’ville.

Really like the way they are working together as a defensive unit -- effect slides and difficult to beat one-on-one. The faceoff results also point to deep tourney success. This is a fun team to follow.

[burnspbesq]

First time in 33 games that St. Joe’s has been held under 10. Last team to do it was Merrimack, on 3/20/21.

[chrishoke]

Question for burns. or others - Duke appeared to have 2 men behind the cage on our man up. I don’t remember seeing that before and it did not appear to work very well. Thoughts?

[burnspbesq]

Question for burns. or others - Duke appeared to have 2 men behind the cage on our man up. I don’t remember seeing that before and it did not appear to work very well. Thoughts?

Great question.1-3-2 is one of the three common man-up formations (1-4-1 and 3-3 are the others; St. Joe’s played mostly 3-3 yesterday, and got two man-up goals). They all have advantages and disadvantages. When Duke plays 1-3-2 with Brennan up top, the theory seems to be that defenses have to honor his outside shot, and that opens up passing lanes for guys “sneaking” up from behind. It’s also easier to keep the ball hot and get the defense on the carousel when the guys behind don’t have to take a step to make the next pass.

I can certainly see the potential advantages of a 3-3. If I were running a 3-3 with Duks’s personnel, I would probably put Leadmon - McAdorey - Brennan up top (left to right) and Owen -Dyson -Balsamo down low. I assume that was tried in the fall or in January.

The man-up unit is 11-29 on the season, which is good but not great. I’m not sure I would say it’s broken, and maybe they just had one of those days yesterday. We’ll see what happens the rest of the way.

[burnspbesq]

IL game story.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/artic...joseph-s/61024

[chrishoke]

Great question.1-3-2 is one of the three common man-up formations (1-4-1 and 3-3 are the others; St. Joe’s played mostly 3-3 yesterday, and got two man-up goals). They all have advantages and disadvantages. When Duke plays 1-3-2 with Brennan up top, the theory seems to be that defenses have to honor his outside shot, and that opens up passing lanes for guys “sneaking” up from behind. It’s also easier to keep the ball hot and get the defense on the carousel when the guys behind don’t have to take a step to make the next pass.

I can certainly see the potential advantages of a 3-3. If I were running a 3-3 with Duks’s personnel, I would probably put Leadmon - McAdorey - Brennan up top (left to right) and Owen -Dyson -Balsamo down low. I assume that was tried in the fall or in January.

The man-up unit is 11-29 on the season, which is good but not great. I’m not sure I would say it’s broken, and maybe they just had one of those days yesterday. We’ll see what happens the rest of the way.

Thanks. Good stuff.

[DST Fan]

IL game story.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/artic...joseph-s/61024

The article makes the point that Duke has a new defensive identity. By my eye test, Duke has improved in a number of areas that were concerns going into the season and during the first few weeks. The short stick defensive middie play has improved, the goaltending has been decent, the clearing has improved, a solid second midfield unit is a threat to score and there seem to be fewer penalties.

Someone posted an article about a week ago, it may have been Terry Foy at IL, that the top tier of D-1 men’s lacrosse consists of three teams and there is a question as to whether the top tier includes one or more additional teams—Duke and, perhaps, Cornell. UVA, ND and MD have shown that, on a given day, any one of them can beat one of the other two. MD had a number of holes to fill from graduation, but several freshman have stepped up the last few weeks, including goalie Brian Ruppel.

The game against UVA on Friday should provide an indication as to where Duke stands relative to the top tier. In the couple of games I have watched, it appears that UVA has no obvious weakness. The attack is loaded and Xander Dickson and Payton Cormier both have more goals this season than Connor Shellenberger, although Shellenberger has 31 assists in 8 games. By comparison, Brennan O’Neil leads Duke in assists with 23 in 10 games. Also, Petey LaSalla and Matthew Nunes are strong at faceoff and in goal. And, UVA always rides aggressively, so Duke will need to clear consistently on Friday.

The good news is that, if Duke falls short on Friday, the following two games are against ND and UVA and there will be additional opportunities to break through.

Based on the ACC play to date, it seems that an ACC championship tournament would have been quite an event this year.

[burnspbesq]

The article makes the point that Duke has a new defensive identity. By my eye test, Duke has improved in a number of areas that were concerns going into the season and during the first few weeks. The short stick defensive middie play has improved, the goaltending has been decent, the clearing has improved, a solid second midfield unit is a threat to score and there seem to be fewer penalties.

Someone posted an article about a week ago, it may have been Terry Foy at IL, that the top tier of D-1 men’s lacrosse consists of three teams and there is a question as to whether the top tier includes one or more additional teams—Duke and, perhaps, Cornell. UVA, ND and MD have shown that, on a given day, any one of them can beat one of the other two. MD had a number of holes to fill from graduation, but several freshman have stepped up the last few weeks, including goalie Brian Ruppel.

The game against UVA on Friday should provide an indication as to where Duke stands relative to the top tier. In the couple of games I have watched, it appears that UVA has no obvious weakness. The attack is loaded and Xander Dickson and Payton Cormier both have more goals this season than Connor Shellenberger, although Shellenberger has 31 assists in 8 games. By comparison, Brennan O’Neil leads Duke in assists with 23 in 10 games. Also, Petey LaSalla and Matthew Nunes are strong at faceoff and in goal. And, UVA always rides aggressively, so Duke will need to clear consistently on Friday.

The good news is that, if Duke falls short on Friday, the following two games are against ND and UVA and there will be additional opportunities to break through.

Based on the ACC play to date, it seems that an ACC championship tournament would have been quite an event this year.

You can score on Virginia; they are number 32 in ADE. it hasn’t really bitten them yet because LaSala keeps them out of a possession deficit. The game features the number one and three offenses in AOE, so it could turn into a shootout, which would probably favor Virginia. Per LR, Duke has slight advantages at the dot and in goal. It’s a really fascinating matchup. It could come down to home-field advantage vs. the long-standing hex Duke has enjoyed against the Hoos (20-2 under Coach Danowski).

[DST Fan]

You can score on Virginia; they are number 32 in ADE. it hasn’t really bitten them yet because LaSala keeps them out of a possession deficit. The game features the number one and three offenses in AOE, so it could turn into a shootout, which would probably favor Virginia. Per LR, Duke has slight advantages at the dot and in goal. It’s a really fascinating matchup. It could come down to home-field advantage vs. the long-standing hex Duke has enjoyed against the Hoos (20-2 under Coach Danowski).

Regarding the home field advantage, the attendace at Klöckner Stadium for the MD game last week was over 5,700. No doubt, MD fans were well represented. However, with the game scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on a Friday, I expect that the UVA students will turn out in large numbers.

Also, with Lars Tiffany as the coach, I tend to discount the hex quite a bit. But, the 2-20 record is a remarkable statistic for a team with UVA's tradition and history.