On Thursday afternoon, Duke men’s lacrosse head coach John Danowski and former women’s lacrosse star Katie Chrest Erbe were inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, further cementing their place in Blue Devil — and the sport’s — folklore.
Danowski, who has since become the winningest coach in Division I history, arrived in Durham in 2006 and almost immediately turned the program around. The Blue Devils appeared in eight straight national semifinals from 2007-2014 punctuated by three national titles in that span, including the program’s first. In total, Danowski has won the ACC regular season eight times, reached championship weekend 11 times and appeared in six NCAA championship games.
En route, he has managed three Tewaaraton Award winners — Matt Danowski in 2007, Ned Crotty in 2010 and Brennan O’Neill in 2023 — and has led Team USA in international competition since 2016. In the summer of 2023, he led the Americans to the top prize at the Lacrosse World Championship in San Diego, where O’Neill finished first in points and was named tournament MVP.
Chrest Erbe led Duke through its most successful era in program history. After winning ACC Rookie of the Year in 2003, she returned from the Blue Devils’ first-round NCAA tournament loss with a vengeance. Chrest Erbe and Duke won their first ACC regular-season title in 2004, and ran it back in 2005 to collect the regular-season conference title as well as the tournament championship.
Chrest Erbe set the then-record for single-season points with 96 en route to a Tewaaraton trophy. The Blue Devils advanced to the NCAA tournament semifinals, and while they fell to Virginia, they returned in 2006 with another regular-season ACC title and national semifinal appearance. Chrest Erbe’s career points, goals and shots tallies all still reign supreme atop the program record books. After graduating, she represented the United States at the Federation of International Lacrosse world championship. Chrest Erbe was inducted into the Duke athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Rachael Kaplan is a Trinity junior and sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.
Andrew Long is a Trinity junior and sports editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.