The more you know: JT Giles-Harris is the key to Duke men's lacrosse's defensive success
By Sasha Richie | April 22, 2021Giles-Harris is this week’s ACC Defensive Player of the Week as well as a member of the USILA Team of the Week.
Giles-Harris is this week’s ACC Defensive Player of the Week as well as a member of the USILA Team of the Week.
Apparently when in overtime, get the ball to Joe Robertson and he’ll come in clutch.
The Blue Devils have found a secret weapon where they least expected it this season, and his name is Jake Naso.
Coming off two miraculous one-goal victories, it was clear that the Blue Devils were beatable, especially going into a matchup against yet another top-five opponent. But few could have predicted the beatdown that occurred Saturday afternoon.
Duke's Abby Landry scored the final goal of the game with 8:15 left, but that wasn’t remotely close to the end of the action.
After a back-and-forth grind for 60 minutes filled with highlight-reel goals and clutch saves, the blockbuster matchup went into sudden-death overtime, where it was anyone's game.
Both squads blitzed through their nonconference competition before securing a top-10 win to begin ACC play and swapping the top two spots in the polls, making Thursday's contest a regular-season rivalry matchup of epic proportions.
The Blue Devils are solidly in the upper echelon of women’s lacrosse, but remain in the middle of the pack in their own conference, unable to find that signature win that would vault them up the rankings.
With just a second on the clock, Duke clinging onto a one-goal lead and Syracuse on the man-up, Orange All-American Stephen Rehfuss launched a rocket at the net.
"Just as a fan of the sport and somebody that's always enjoyed the sport, this is the stage that you dream about playing on. You go to play college lacrosse to play in a game like Duke-Syracuse."
An 11-0 run propelled Duke to its eighth straight win to begin the season.
The 27 goals were the most Duke’s scored against a Division I opponent since 1989.
Duke scored four goals in the first eight minutes Sunday and never looked back.
In many ways, Duke's performance against the second-ranked Orange mirrored last weekend’s matchup against the top-ranked Tar Heels, albeit on a slightly different time scale.
Robertson scored his 100th career goal to complete a hat trick in the first 20 minutes of play Saturday afternoon. Then he decided that wasn’t enough, and scored four more.
There may not have been any sun shining Friday night for the Blue Devils. Instead, it was the essence of the team itself that provided a spot of light, despite the loss.
When Duke found itself down 5-4, head coach Kerstin Kimel sent in LeRose, and the rest is history.
Is there an absolute recipe for a perfect lacrosse team? No. But do the Blue Devils have one that makes Martha Stewart look like an amateur? Yes.
Joe Robertson went 630 days without playing in an official game for Duke men's lacrosse. But on Saturday he finally returned to the field, and made an immediate impact.
While Duke boasts the No. 14 recruiting class in the nation this season, the real difference-makers Friday evening were the team’s more experienced players.