Five for Friday: Badour Gets Drafted; PLL Semifinals on Tap

Blue Devils Officially Kick off Practice Monday
The 2021 fall season officially gets underway for the Blue Devils, Sept. 6. Duke has had voluntary strength and fitness workouts with sports performance coach Carl Christensen the past two weeks. The Blue Devils will be in their eight-hour weeks for the next month before diving into the 20-hour weeks at the end of September until early November.

Duke welcomes the addition of four graduate student transfers – Jack Frisoli (Harvard), Gavin Lindsay (Georgetown), Sean Lulley (Penn) and Jack Zukowski (Marist) – as well as a talented group of 10 freshmen.

Dennis to be Inducted into Upstate Lacrosse Hall of Fame
Former Blue Devil standout Josh Dennis will be inducted into the Upstate Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame, the organization recently announced. Dennis, a four-year letterwinner for the Blue Devils, will be honored in an Oct. 17 ceremony in Syracuse, N.Y.

Dennis served as a captain as a senior in 1990 and helped the Blue Devils to a 34-20 overall record during his four seasons. As a rookie, Duke finished 11-3 overall and was ranked 13th nationally at the end of the season.

A native of Ithaca, N.Y., Dennis recorded 129 goals and 55 assists for 184 points. He currently ranks 20th in career points and is 13th in career goals. Dennis was one of the earliest Blue Devils to record 100 career points, becoming just the seventh player in program history to do so at the time.

Dennis joins Matt Abbott, Brett Bucktooth, Josh Dennis, Tom Grimaldi, Beth (Ames) Hewitt, Dick Pepper, Carl "Ket" Weist, and the 1971 Cornell Men's Team in the 2021 Hall of Fame class.

Cam Badour Selected by Panther City
Duke senior midfielder Cameron Badour recently was selected in the fourth round of the National Lacrosse League Draft by Panther City. Badour, a native of Ottawa, was picked 48th overall by the club, which calls Fort Worth, Texas home. The National Lacrosse League is the North American professional box lacrosse league. A host of former Blue Devils recently has signed on with clubs in the league, including Justin Guterding, Brad Smith and Michael Manley.

Badour has played in 25 games for the Blue Devils with eight starts on the first midfield line. He started all five games in 2021 before suffering a season-ending injury. He registered five goals and two assists in those outings. For his career, which also includes the shortened 2020 season, he has 20 goals and nine assists.

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Sowers to Return for PLL Semifinals
The Waterdogs of the Premier Lacrosse League announced earlier in the week attackman Michael Sowers is back on the active roster following an injury in his first professional game. Sowers and the top-seeded Waterdogs will face off against two-time champion Whipsnakes in the second semifinal Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Network from Philadelphia.

Sowers was the Waterdogs' top pick in the 2021 PLL draft, going second overall. He scored two goals in his first career game before being sidelined.

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Blue Devils Gearing Up for Run to PLL Title
Five other former Blue Devils will be suiting up for the PLL Semifinals Sunday. Guterding and Smith will look to keep the Whipsnakes hopes of a three-peat alive when it battles the regular season champ Waterdogs. In the quarterfinals, Smith notched two goals and an assist and Guterding threw in a pair of markers to lead the team to a 14-13 thriller over Redwoods.

Cade Van Raaphorst hopes to anchor the Atlas defense to the title game against Chaos Sunday at 11 a.m. In the quarterfinal, Van Raaphorst picked up two ground balls and helped hold the Cannons to just nine goals. Van Raaphorst led the team in caused turnovers for the regular season with 16.

CJ Costabile and Patrick Resch helped push Chaos to a 13-10 quarterfinal win over Archers. Costabile has five points, 13 ground balls and five caused turnovers as an LSM, while Resch has three assists to go with his 12 ground balls
and five caused turnovers as a short stick defensive midfielder.