DURHAM – The Duke men's lacrosse team enters the 2023 season ranked seventh in the Nike/USA Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason Top 20, as announced by USA Lacrosse Magazine Tuesday. Virginia lands at No. 1 in the poll.
Reigning NCAA Champion Maryland is second, while Georgetown, Cornell and Princeton round out the top five, respectively. Notre Dame edged the Blue Devils for the No. 6 spot. North Carolina is 17th to cap the ACC teams represented.
Duke is set to play seven of the top 20 during the regular season, including three in the top 10.
The Blue Devils enter the 2023 campaign following an 11-6 record in 2022. Duke returns three of its top five scorers, including top point producers junior
Brennan O'Neill and senior captain
Dyson Williams. Overall, the Blue Devils have 64 percent of their scoring back from a season ago. Both O'Neill and Williams are on pace to score their 100th career goals, coming into the year with 98 and 91, respectively.
Defensively, captains
Kenny Brower, Tyler Carpenter and
Wilson Stephenson will lead the effort around the crease again. Brower and Carpenter both picked up USILA All-America and All-ACC honors last season in helping Duke rank second in the league in scoring defense. All three ranked in the top 10 in the ACC in caused turnovers.
Junior
Jake Naso returns to the faceoff dot for the Blue Devils. Winning nearly 60 percent of his faceoffs in his career, Naso will be bolstered by the addition of graduate student transfer
Jamie Zusi from Penn. Zusi was honorable mention All-Ivy in 2022.
Graduate student goalkeeper
Andrew Bonafede is the most experienced goaltender returning for the Blue Devils. He has played in 22 career games and a sports a 9.47 goals against average.
Duke opens the 2023 campaign Feb. 4 against Bellarmine at 12 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils first top 20 opponent will be No. 13 Denver Feb. 17.
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