New year, new team—same dream.
Two-time defending NCAA champion Duke opens its 2015 campaign with a pair of games in as many days this weekend. But this year’s team is far from the one Blue Devil lacrosse fans have come to expect over the past two seasons in Durham.
“We are very young and very different,” head coach John Danowski said in an interview with Blue Devil Network. “This is nowhere near what we’ve been in the last couple of years.”
Despite the two national titles, the No. 3 Blue Devils will have to replace their three starting attackmen from last season—Jordan Wolf, Josh Dionne and Christian Walsh—who combined for 132 goals and 67 assists a year ago—as well as face-off specialist Brendan Fowler—who is now a member of the Duke wrestling team.
“We don’t have many seniors on the offensive end,” junior midfielder Myles Jones said. “It was easy for us to hide behind those guys and run with them and have them take the reins and have us fill our roles. This year we don’t have those seniors, so we have to get comfortable stepping up.”
Duke returns just four starters this season, including its three preseason All-Conference selections in Jones, short stick defensive midfielder Will Haus and midfielder Deemer Class. Haus will join fellow seniors Justin George and Jack Rowe as the team captains for the squad.
“The older guys are always the key to your team,” Danowski said. “They’ve been in these situations before—although the leadership role is going to be new to all of them.”
The new leadership will be put to the test with two quick turnaround games this weekend. Saturday the Blue Devils travel to High Point University (1-0) for their season opener. Faceoff is set for noon.
The Panthers were 9-7 in 2014 and are among the favorites to win the Southern Conference this season. Although a young program—2015 marks the team’s third year of competition—eight players with at least10 games of experience last season return to the lineup.
Duke will have to watch out for two key contributors throughout the game—redshirt senior goalkeeper Austin Geisler and junior attackman Dan Lomas.
Geisler ranked second in the nation last season with 13.63 saves per game and was named the 2014 Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year. Lomas—the 2014 Atlantic Sun Offensive Player of the Year—registered 42 goals and six assists during last year’s campaign. In the team’s Feb. 1 season opener against Delaware—a 15-10 victory for the Panthers—Lomas scored five goals and added one assist.
Jones knows that he has to prepare his younger teammates for the matchup. Even with the two national titles under his belt, it comes down to keeping everything in perspective, one game at a time.
“I always have a quote with the guys that yesterday’s goals don’t win tomorrow’s games,” he said. “We’re working hard, so we’re excited and ready to step on the field Feb. 7 against High Point.”
After Saturday’s matchup, the Blue Devils will take the field the following day at Koskinen Stadium for their noon home opener against Air Force. The Falcons will have revenge in mind after last year’s 20-9 loss to Duke in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Air Force will have to stop Jones this time around if the team hopes to leave Koskinen victorious. Last year, the Huntington, N.Y., native scored three goals and added five assists in the win. This time around, his leadership may be more pivotal than his individual success.
“As a freshman and sophomore I was able to worry about myself and my development as a player,” Jones said. “This year coach has gotten on me about saying something to the younger guys when they aren’t doing something right in order to build that trust with those guys. It’s a lot of teaching as opposed to working on my own development.”
Heading into the game, the Blue Devils are riding a 17-game home winning streak. Their last loss at home was March 2, 2013 to then-No. 1 Maryland 16-7.
The Falcons will look to end that success in the underdog role. Their 11-6 record in 2014—the program’s first winning season since 1997—was the best in school history. With plans to build off that success to start the season, eight seniors—including team captain Davis Gunter—will seek exploit Duke’s youth Sunday.
Jones warns against underestimating the abilities of his younger Blue Devil teammates, however.
“People are going to be surprised about how good we are with our young talent,” he said.
No matter the level of talent his players may possess, Danowski is reluctant to expect immediate success for his squad. The two games this weekend will serve as a litmus test heading into a long season.
“It’s going to take a long time,” Danowski said. “This particular team is going to need to play games. We’re going to need to fail. We’re going to need to lose. We’re going to need to be competitive.”
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