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Nakeie Montgomery was crunched for time. The senior midfielder from Dallas was also tabbed as the head coach of the “blue” team in the inaugural Duke Outdoor Lacrosse League (aka DOLL) this fall. As part of his added responsibilities, Montgomery needed to decide on an original name. The “white” team went with McSallies, an amalgamation of the street names for two senior off-campus houses.

Montgomery wanted something different. Something classic. He started Googling “cool Greek names.” He settled on Peithos, the goddess of persuasion.

“I picked the one that sounded most like it could be the name of a team,” Montgomery said.

It does not take much persuasion to envision the Blue Devils, ranked No. 1 heading into their 2021 season opener today against No. 7 Denver, making yet another run to the final four like they did as recently as 2019, or claiming another NCAA championship to go with head coach John Danowski’s trifecta from the early 2010s.

After early losses to Air Force and Penn last spring, Duke reeled off a four-game winning streak that culminated in an 18-8 win over Jacksonville. The Blue Devils felt like they were hitting their stride when the ground underneath them shifted overnight. Spring break turned into five months away from campus.

“What are we going to do when we get back?” junior JP Basile, who led the team with 14 assists in 2020, remembers asking fellow attackman Joe Robertson while walking to Koskinen Stadium to take a team picture before everyone went home.

“We’re going to make it count,” Robertson said.

The team that returned to Durham this fall seems as primed as any to do that in 2021. The top six scorers from last spring on an offense that averaged 15.25 goals per game are all back. Then there are the additions. Duke’s six graduate transfers are headlined by Tewaaraton frontrunner Michael Sowers, who averaged 9.4 points per game last spring and held Princeton’s all-time points record even before his senior year.

Duke’s roster, which stands at 56 players, features 15 fifth-years. The Blue Devils also bring in a freshman class of four 4-star and three 5-star recruits, according to Inside Lacrosse. The most noteworthy is IL’s No. 1 overall recruit Brennan O’Neill — the Warrior/US Lacrosse High School Boys’ National Player of the Year in 2019 and a member of the U.S. U21 men’s team.

“I don’t know how they’re doing it,” another ACC head coach of Duke’s roster size.

The Blue Devils’ defense, led by two-time captain and 2021 US Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Defenseman of the Year JT Giles-Harris, should be aided by the return of junior long-stick midfielder Wilson Stephenson, the steal of the DOLL draft, who sat out all of 2020 after suffering a leg injury in Duke’s NCAA quarterfinal win over Notre Dame at Hofstra on May 18, 2020.

Robertson, who scored the overtime winner in that game, was also sidelined last spring after he tore his ACL. While continuing his rehab this fall, he served as head coach of the McSallies.

“It was a lot of teaching and a lot of learning as well,” Robertson said.

While Peithos pulled away thanks to a third-quarter run in the first DOLL exhibition game, the next five contests were decided by one goal each.

“That just speaks for itself,” Montgomery said of the competitive atmosphere in Durham. “We get after it.”

No matchup encapsulated that environment more than Sowers dodging against Giles-Harris.

“You can see that both guys are going to benefit from this relationship and flourish in the spring because of playing against each other so much,” John Danowski said.

Sowers compared the dynamic of the one-on-one battles to when he used to square off against George Baughan during practices at Princeton. While he noted that the shut-down defensemen’s styles differ slightly, both earned Inside Lacrosse first-team All-American honors in 2020.

“You can’t take a day off,” Sowers said of the matchups with Giles-Harris. “If I want to beat him — and rarely does he ever get beat — I have to be moving full speed and I have to be thinking the entire time. He brought out the best of me at certain points throughout the fall and also really just pushed me. Going against a guy like that is a huge luxury on top of him being a great leader out on the field.”

TOP RETURNERS

JT Giles-Harris, D, Gr.

The consensus No. 1 defenseman in the country possesses a unique blend of sound positioning and disruptive takeaway skills, leading Duke in caused turnovers the last two seasons (13 in eight games in 2020).

Dyson Williams, A, So.

Duke’s first Canadian attackman since Zack Greer scored 25 goals in eight games as a freshman.

Owen Caputo, M, Jr.

Imagine a midfield so deep that Nakeie Montgomery helms the second line. Caputo can score (12 goals) and feed (eight assists) off the dodge.

KEY ADDITION

Michael Sowers, A, Gr.

The prize of the transfer portal and the US Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Player of the Year is the most accurate passer with both hands that Duke assistant Matt Danowski said he’s ever coached.

ENEMY LINES

“They are Secretariat and the rest of us are old farm mules.”

“If there’s one team that’s absolutely loaded, it’s probably the Blue Devils. Defensively, they’re good but they could have just become great with the addition of the goalie from Saint Joe’s (Mike Adler). Obviously, a very good offense became excellent with the addition of Sowers. Not to mention they had the best freshman in the country. They’re going to be lethal across the board, but how do you keep everybody happy? It’ll be interesting how that unfolds.”

“I’m curious. Year-in, year-out they get the most talented kids in the recruiting process. They have a roster that’s built really well. The biggest challenge for them is meshing all of what they brought in to not mess up the chemistry. If anybody can do it, Coach Dino can put all that together and make it work.”

NUMBERS GAME

181

Assists doled out by Michael Sowers in just 47 career games, a pace (3.85 per game) that makes him perfectly suited for Duke’s pass-happy offense.