Duke Reigns Again

Before I get started, if anyone is looking for gear, drills or 'how-to' videos on lacrosse, head over to Lax Lessons Blog and get started today.

In 2010 Duke took the title as the Division 1 Men's Lacrosse Champions. Last year Duke fell in the ranks and played an awful game against Maryland in the Semifinals. However, they must have learned something because Duke just took the ACC mens lacrosse title for the season. Duke is No. 7 seed and they beat the No. 3 seed North Carolina. The ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) is possibly the toughest conference to win. In the ACC are some of the best teams like Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and of course Duke.

No other conference title have been played for yet, most will be played in the first week of May. Then shortly after the NCAA Championship will start. 16 teams compete, and as of right now the top 8 seeded teams are as follows, from 1st to 8th; Loyola Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Notre Dame, Duke, and Cornell. Then again in lacrosse it really is anyones game, if a teams is playing its best all season there is a very good chance that they could take the title.

So far this season there are two undefeated teams, Loyola and Massachusetts. As a few more games play out I will post about the success' behind these teams.

The Story Behind Duke Lacrosse

        When I was a sophomore in high school playing lacrosse everyone was talking about the Duke lacrosse team. Duke was already a rough and fairly dirty team, but no-one every raised an eyebrow until 2007, it was just how they played. In 2007 three players on Duke's lacrosse team were accused of raping and beating a stripper at a post-game party. These three players were headlined everywhere, from local newspapers to sports & lacrosse magazines and websites. Needless to say their careers were ruined, the entire college turned against them, the coach was fired and the season was terminated. It was the greatest 'drama', if you will, in lacrosse history and Duke athletics took a extremely large blow. So, as a lacrosse player growing up with this story happening mid-high school, I was more or less taught to hate Duke.

        In 2010, three years later, the same stripper was found trying to stab her boyfriend to death, and further more all alleged accusations against the lacrosse players were false. So Duke, mostly the  lacrosse program, took a falsely accused blow, a few kids live's were ruined for three years and the coach lost his job all due to false charges. The moral of the story is try not to believe the media, or at least to keep some skepticism towards it. I mean we all saw what happened with the whole Kony 2012 video that everyone seemed so fond of for a few weeks.
        Getting back on track, Duke lacrosse has been doing very well this season, with 11 wins and three losses. In fact they just beat my favorite team, Virginia, 13-5 last friday. With the storm cleared over the team's head, I believe we will continue to see grand things come from Duke. They have been powerhouses in the past and I foresee it continuing in the near future, possibly this season.