Duke Men's Lacrosse 2023

[Indoor66]

Game time is 1pm ET on Monday for those unaware. High of 82 and partly cloudy for the weather forecast. Let's go Duke!!

Is it on ESPN?

[AGDukesky]

Tickets purchased- I’ll be in section 119, hope to see a few of you there!

[MChambers]

Is it on ESPN?

Yep, main ESPN channel.

[duke2x]

My question is for those who went to the game yesterday.

I am aware there are tickets available online. Those won't work for me. Did anybody see a walk-up ticket sales booth yesterday at the game?

If yes, I'll drive up to Philly from RDU (ugh) and back for the game. The last Duke-ND title game I attended turned out OK.

[BigWayne]

Great question.

Defensive players use long poles. A long pole gives more range in terms of defending as you can keep a stick on a attackman from further away, plus you have more range for scooping the ball up off the ground. The downside of a long pole is that it is harder to control the ball with it, so this is why attacks want a shorter pole - they need accuracy, particularly for shooting. Which is also why it is particularly exciting when a long pole scores a goal - not easy to do.

You are allowed four long poles on the field at a time. Usually the three defensemen have them (stepping back - you must have three players in the offensive zone and four players (usually three plus the goalie though rarely a goalie will come forward and a middie will hang back)). When a team is on attack, since there is subbing on the fly, they will try to have their three attacks and three offensive-minded middies with short sticks. When play transitions to the other end of the field, the team will try to sub out their offensive mid unit and bring in more defensive-minded mids, one of whom will have a long pole (who is often referred to as an LSM (long-stick middie) or LSDM (long-stick defensive middie).

You want your long poles on the best offensive players. Usually this will be the three attacks and then a strategic decision about which attacking middie merits a pole. However, with slides (switching on defense) the intended matchups get adjusted so you can end up with a short stick (sometimes called a shortie).

Hope this helps. I tried to keep it in as plain English as possible - as a former Chronicle lax writer, I get annoyed by overboard use of lax-bro terminology as I tried to keep my writing accessible for those less-familiar with the game - the ESPN announcers tend to do a pretty good job on this. Enjoy the game tomorrow. Go Duke!

Pole strategy was key to the overtime goal strategy yesterday. After the faceoff win, Duke did not call timeout, partly to take advantage of the on field defensive personnel. After Leadmon got the ball, they ran a pick and successfully got the long pole midfielder off of Leadmon so he had the short pole wielding Haus on him. When he went down to the right side of the goal, he came to a point where he would usually pass off the ball. However, he was apparently under instructions to take advantage of the short stick defender, so he kept the ball and kept working his man until he got to the goal. PSU failed to give Haus any help and the rest is history.

[Rich]

I know we've had some major success over the years with the OT sudden death rule, but with the large # of goals usually scored in a lacrosse game, it would seem more fair to have something like a 5 minute period. Winning the OT faceoff gives that team a huge advantage. How do they do it in the pros?

[75Crazie]

I know we've had some major success over the years with the OT sudden death rule, but with the large # of goals usually scored in a lacrosse game, it would seem more fair to have something like a 5 minute period. Winning the OT faceoff gives that team a huge advantage. How do they do it in the pros?

Kind of the polar opposite of professional soccer, at least for winner-take-all games which often have next to no scoring but instead have those ridiculous mandated 15-minute extra-time periods. Those seem more appropriate to higher-scoring sports like lacrosse, where the sudden death approach seems more appropriate to sports like soccer which have a dearth of scoring.

[53n206]

I know we've had some major success over the years with the OT sudden death rule, but with the large # of goals usually scored in a lacrosse game, it would seem more fair to have something like a 5 minute period. Winning the OT faceoff gives that team a huge advantage. How do they do it in the pros?

Agree

[AGDukesky]

I know we've had some major success over the years with the OT sudden death rule, but with the large # of goals usually scored in a lacrosse game, it would seem more fair to have something like a 5 minute period. Winning the OT faceoff gives that team a huge advantage. How do they do it in the pros?

Or at least do it more like college football and give teams alternating possessions- maybe with a shorter shot clock at some point.

[DangerDevil]

Or at least do it more like college football and give teams alternating possessions- maybe with a shorter shot clock at some point.

Alternating positions would drastically change the dynamics of the game. It would negate the value of the FOGO and importance of winning faceoffs.

We would not have won the game yesterday if there were alternating possessions. Naso gave us a huge advantage. Throughout the game and winning the faceoff to start OT and giving us the only possession.

[camion]

Alternating positions would drastically change the dynamics of the game. It would negate the value of the FOGO and importance of winning faceoffs.

We would not have won the game yesterday if there were alternating possessions. Naso gave us a huge advantage. Throughout the game and winning the faceoff to start OT and giving us the only possession.

I'm reminded that basketball used to have a jump ball after each made basket. Changing to alternating possessions drastically changed the game.

[DangerDevil]

I'm reminded that basketball used to have a jump ball after each made basket. Changing to alternating possessions drastically changed the game.

Understood.

And there are people that understand lacrosse a lot better than me that think that the concept of a FOGO and their importance is a bad thing.

But in my opinion if those changes are made they should apply to the entire game, not just overtime.

Similar to the changes made in basketball regarding the jump ball.

[camion]

Understood.

And there are people that understand lacrosse a lot better than me that think that the concept of a FOGO and their importance is a bad thing.

But in my opinion if those changes are made they should apply to the entire game, not just overtime.

Similar to the changes made in basketball regarding the jump ball.

I agree with the entire game thing.

[msdukie]

My question is for those who went to the game yesterday.

I am aware there are tickets available online. Those won't work for me. Did anybody see a walk-up ticket sales booth yesterday at the game?

If yes, I'll drive up to Philly from RDU (ugh) and back for the game. The last Duke-ND title game I attended turned out OK.

My understanding is all tickets are digital. I have 2 extras if you, or anyone on the boards, is interested - located in the Iron Dukes section (122, Row 26) as two from my group can’t make the championship game. Text me at (813) 293-2416 if interested.

[UrinalCake]

As someone who grew up in Maryland but hasn't followed lacrosse in a while, I have to ask: what happened to all the Ivy league schools? They used to dominate the sport (along with Hopkins, Syracuse, and other northeastern schools) but now the ACC has three of the final four and will take home the title no matter what.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

As someone who grew up in Maryland but hasn't followed lacrosse in a while, I have to ask: what happened to all the Ivy league schools? They used to dominate the sport (along with Hopkins, Syracuse, and other northeastern schools) but now the ACC has three of the final four and will take home the title no matter what.

The Ivies have had some really good runs - Cornell was runner-up last year and Yale in 2019, and Yale won the title in 2018. They are not dominant at the very top now, but they are still very good. Here is the final rankings for this year: Cornell 8, Yale 9, Penn 11, Princeton 13. That's pretty good.

My guess is that they have been limited a bit the past few years by their policy of not allowing fifth year players - most of the other top programs have benefitted from players using their bonus Covid years (often including Ivy League transfers).

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/lacros...s-lacrosse-rpi

[Bluedog]

The Ivies have had some really good runs - Cornell was runner-up last year and Yale in 2019, and Yale won the title in 2018. They are not dominant at the very top now, but they are still very good. Here is the final rankings for this year: Cornell 8, Yale 9, Penn 11, Princeton 13. That's pretty good.

My guess is that they have been limited a bit the past few years by their policy of not allowing fifth year players - most of the other top programs have benefitted from players using their bonus Covid years (often including Ivy League transfers).

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/lacros...s-lacrosse-rpi

That and the fact that they can't offer scholarships. I mean, that has to have SOME impact on their ability to attract top recruits, right? With college costs now $80k/year, that maybe enters the calculus more. Yes, I recognize Ivy League schools have great financial aid programs so that lessens the blow to an extent, but lacrosse has a reputation of attracting those with more means (allowing those families to perhaps afford paying full fare more, but also not benefiting from financial aid perhaps).

[sagegrouse]

If families are well off, being recruited for lacrosse is a ticket to admission to an elite college. If not well off, there are generous grants available.

[Dopeshop]

I ‘m sure we’ll hear. A lot from the announcers about the Corrigan connection to Duke .
Coach Kevin’s father Gene -Duke ‘52 ; 2 time Lacrosse All American

[Nepos]

As someone who grew up in Maryland but hasn't followed lacrosse in a while, I have to ask: what happened to all the Ivy league schools? They used to dominate the sport (along with Hopkins, Syracuse, and other northeastern schools) but now the ACC has three of the final four and will take home the title no matter what.

The ACC has been one of the dominant leagues for a long time (the old dominance by UVA, UNC and UMD). I think the main change has been the rise of the Big 10 -- pulling in JHU, UMD and Rutgers, and the rapid development of OSU, PSU and UMI. The Ivy and ACC were the conferences of note in lax, and now there are three.