DURHAM, N.C.—It's title chasing and awards season for a host of former Blue Devil lacrosse starts as the Premier Lacrosse League playoffs get underway in Columbus Sept. 7.
Deemer Class, Myles Jones, Patrick Resch and
Brendan Fowler all will be looking to pick up postseason victories for their respective clubs, while
Ned Crotty and
Justin Guterding both were nominated for major postseason awards.
Earlier in the week, Crotty was named as one of three nominees for the Gait Brothers Midfielder of the Year award and Guterding was tabbed as one of three players up for the Welles Crowther Humanitarian Award. Crotty has 27 points from 17 goals and nine assists and is third on the team in points. The top three scorers for Chrome are former Blue Devils – Guterding (35) and Jordan Wolf (32) sitting at one and two. Guterding has been an active member of the community and a key player in Needs for Speed – a non-profit organization that helps improve the physical activity levels of special needs children.
The major award winners will be announced Sept. 21 in Philadelphia.
Class, Jones and Resch will take the field with the No. 1 seed Chaos squad, which finished the regular season with a 7-3 record. They will go up against the Whipsnakes, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. on NBC Sports Network at Mapfre Stadium. Jones has 18 points from seven goals – one two-pointer – and 10 assists, while Class has 13 points from 10 goals and three assists. Resch has played in nine games and has a goal and six ground balls.
This will be the third meeting between the two squads with both getting a one-goal victory. Chaos won the most recent contest 13-12 at the end of July in Denver. The team is coming off of a 12-9 setback to Atlas to close out the regular season.
Suiting up at faceoff for the Archers, Fowler will be playing in his sixth game this season after missing the early portion of the campaign to injury. He is 18-of-41 at the draw and has nine ground balls. Archers will play Redwoods Sept. 6 at 7 pm on NBC Sports Network.
In the two regular season matchups, they went 1-1. Archers fell to Redwoods 9-8 in July after beating them 10-9 in the second game on the inaugural slate.
The winner between the Chaos and Whipsnakes will advance to the title game set for Philadelphia Sept. 21. The unsuccessful team will take on the winner between Archers and Redwoods next weekend at Red Bull Arena in New York.
Also in action for a chance at next year's No. 1 draft pick are Chrome and Atlas. Donning the Chrome jersey are a number of Duke starts, including
Luke Duprey, John Prendergast, Will Haus, Ned Crotty, Matt Danowski, Justin Guterding and
Jordan Wolf.
Cade Van Raaphorst will suit up for Atlas as the teams vie for a bye to Philadelphia for the title game for the No. 1 draft pick.
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