@proctorpac on Twitter
Saturday February 7th at 12:00pm–
The Blue Devils start their run for a 3rd NCAA Championship at High Point who is coming off their first win of the season against Delaware. You would think this sounds like a walk in the park for the Blue Devils but when you look at basically an entire attack line graduating it makes you wonder.
The Duke University Blue Devils
This year the only certainty that Duke has is in Junior Myles Jones being bigger and stronger than he was last year. If you watched him in his Freshman year he seemed to be more of a feeder. Then last year really came into his own as a dodger from up top and a matchup problem for almost any team because of his size and strength.
They will need his strength with out a certainty at the face off X. Along side Jones will be Junior Deemer Class who finished the season with 65 points the most by any Duke midfielder in history. After losing 3 senior attackmen who combined for 206 points they still have a couple returners from last season that can stand up to the best of them.
One is Senior Kyle Keenan who registered 35 points of his own. Along side him will be Junior Case Matheis who last season had 43 points. Between the pipes they have a solid goalie in Junior Luke Aaron who finished last season with a .505 save percentage. Joining him on defense will most likely be Ian Yanulis, Jaime Ikeda and Brian Dunne.
Duke is known to start off the season slow and get to their true form by mid season, making a run towards to NCAA tournament.
High Point University Panthers
Coming in to this game with one win under their belts will surely give this team a little momentum going against the defending champs. After a hard fought game against Delaware Coach Jon Torpey will no doubt be looking for his players to step up to the challenge with facing Duke.
The Panthers will need more production from their starters who scored 11 of their 15 goals last week. This team has a lot of depth after playing 28 different players last week which should help out against the Blue Devils.
I have no doubt Goalie Austin Geisler will need to have another 13 saves this week if not a 20 save game against the Blue Devils to get this W.
