Duke at Jacksonville
WHERE: @ Jacksonville
WHEN: Sunday February, 9 @ 12:00
Duke opens the season in Jacksonville where it will start its title defense and its quest for back-to-back NCAA Championships. With the team they bring back, they have a very good shot at it as well. Before they get ahead of themselves, however, they will face Jacksonville, a team slated to win the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Duke Offense vs. Jacksonville Defense
Edge: Duke
Look, this isn’t earth shattering news. Duke brings back a ton of talent on attack, led by senior Jordan Wolf. Wolf led the team with 85 points last season and is joined by fellow senior Josh Dionne who recorded 50 points last season, 45 of which were goals. However, Dionne might not be the second best attackman on the team with sophomore Case Matheis outpacing Dionne with 52 points. He also was just as good at setting up other players as he was at putting the ball in the net.
The biggest question for Duke’s offense, and something that we will get a nice first look at, is how they replace their midfield talent of David Lawson and Jake Tripucka. Sophomores Myles Jones and Deemer Class will take the burden of making themselves a threat from up top.
Jacksonville does have experience coming back in junior Austin Curtis, sophomore Joey Pfister and senior goalie Peter DeLuca. DeLuca did not play against the Blue Devils last year but took over in cage for the rest of the season and didn’t record a save percentage below .500 until the last game of the season.
However, Duke’s talent all over the field will be too much for Jacksonville on defense and they will have a tough time handling the best attack unit in the nation.
Duke Defense vs. Jacksonville Offense
Edge: Duke
Another clear advantage for the Blue Devils here. The defense will be strong this year and should easily contain a struggling Jacksonville offense. Three defensemen, Chris Hipps, Henry Lobb and Luke Duprey were all chosen in the MLL Draft. They also bring back junior goalie Kyle Turri who took over for Dan Wigrizer during their big loss to Maryland and Duke went on a tear when he was between the pipes.
On the other side, Jacksonville had a balanced team last season with five guys recording 24 or more points last season. Unfortunately, three of their top five scorers are gone this season, two of which deplete what was a solid midfield unit. Seniors David Goldman and Conor Igoe will have to replace the production left behind by TJ Kenary and Cameron Mann on that unit.
On the attack, junior Ari Waffle, who led the team with 30 points last season, comes back and will have to rely on some young players to help him with a talented and experienced defense down low for Duke.
Faceoffs
Edge: Duke
Sorry to sound like a broken record but the ‘X’ is a clear advantage for Duke. Brendan Fowler was invited to the Team USA tryouts and is a preseason first team All-American this year and won 64.4 percent of his faceoffs last season. He also led the nation by winning 339 faceoffs. Sophomore Derek Andrake will have his hands full against Fowler all afternoon.
Prediction
Last season, Duke handled Jacksonville by a score of 21-9 and this year shouldn’t be any different. Duke will get off to a good strong start before getting their younger guys in for experience purposes. Look for this to be a blowout throughout.
Duke 18, Jacksonville 5
