Ned Crotty, the ACC Player of the Year and Duke's leading scorer in 2009, will use his fifth and final year of eligibility and return to the Blue Devils next season.
Crotty scored 23 goals and assisted on 53 others, recording an NCAA-leading 76 points. He won the Turnbull Award last week as the nation's top attackman, and was a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist.
After the 2006 season was cancelled midway through the year because of the ongoing legal scandal, Duke's players were granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA, which in effect did not count the 2006 season toward the players' total of four years of athletic competition in one sport.
While Crotty has decided to spend an extra year in Durham, the team's other seniors with a year of eligibility remaining have yet to decide on their futures. Only Brad Ross and Ryan McFadyen--both fifth-year seniors--were taken in the Major League Lacrosse draft last week. Ross was selected by the Toronto Nationals and McFadyen went to the Washington Bayhawks.
In the past, players like Matt Danowski and Tony McDevitt have taken advantage of the NCAA's offer and played an extra season at Duke, and Zack Greer did the same at Bryant under former Duke head coach Mike Pressler this year. Some players, though, have chosen to pass up a fifth year to pursue other opportunities--for example, defenseman Dan Oppedisano graduated and took a job in finance in New York City instead of delaying his career and remaining in Durham.
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