Danowski warns not to overlook Penn

Last year, the Blue Devils fell in their second game of the year to Notre Dame only to rebound in the following contest with a win over Pennsylvania. After a similarly disappointing loss last week against the Fighting Irish, No. 10 Duke will look to repeat last year’s events with a win against the Quakers Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, Pa.

Although it was an easy victory for Duke last year over Penn, the Blue Devils will still have to greatly improve on their performance against Notre Dame in order to come out on top this weekend.

“Last week, I guess you could say we didn’t do a great job facing off in the middle of the field,” redshirt junior Justin Turri said. “The one area we’ve been focusing a lot on this week is winning face-offs.”

Despite last season’s blowout, the Blue Devils are making sure not to overlook their opponent this time around. The Quakers (0-0) were going through a transitional year last year—which was Penn head coach Mike Murphy’s first at the helm—and ultimately ended up with a dismal 5-8 record. Murphy will have extra motivation this weekend, as he coaches against his alma mater for the second time. A former Duke lacrosse player himself, Murphy was a three-year starter and captained the squad in 1991.

“Nobody is easy on the schedule.... Part of the excitement of this year is that we don’t know who we are,” head coach John Danowski said. “You know that, this game, [Mike Murphy] puts extra time in preparing for this one.”

The Quakers will be buoyed this season by the return of three instrumental players— junior John Conneely, and seniors Corey Winkoff and Al Kohart. Winkoff was 8th in the country with 1.92 assists per game last year and his 3.31 points per game were good for 28th best in the nation.

Furthermore, the Blue Devils enter the game uncertain of how the Quakers shape up this season, without any game film to scout them. Duke could be caught further off guard by a change in Penn’s strategy, as three members of the staff left for other coaching positions, with Chris Wojcik notably becoming the new head coach at Harvard.

“Are they going to look the same? Are they going to play the same?” Danowski asked. “I don’t know that we can beat Penn, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t.”