With all that has happened to the Duke lacrosse program in the last year, Saturday was a time to accentuate the positive, which came in the form of a blowout 18-3 win over Providence, in the opening round of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament at Koskinen Stadium in Durham.
The Blue Devils were led by the father-son duo of Coach John Danowski and senior attackman Matt Danowski (#40), who dished out a career-high seven assists. The younger Danowski has been named one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy, an award presented annually to the nation’s top men’s lacrosse player.
The two became the sixth head coach-son duo to participate in NCAA Tournament action. Coach Danowski, now in his 25th season as a collegiate head coach after 21 years at Hofstra, replaced Mike Pressler in the aftermath of the alleged rape scandal.
On coaching his son, he says: “Sometimes I have to bite my tongue a little bit with Matt. He’s stubborn. I think we all were at that age. But he has that desire and determination to be the best that he can be, and, as a coach and a father, you can’t ask much more than that.”
