Brennan O’Neill isn’t the only freshman who looks ahead of the curve in Durham.
Jake Naso, who like Duke classmates O’Neill and Aidan Danenza, attended St. Anthony’s (N.Y.). He looked dominant at the faceoff stripe in his first ACC contest.
Naso took every draw and went 24-for-32 to help the No. 1 Blue Devils outlast Syracuse 15-14 last Thursday at Koskinen Stadium. Naso is the US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Player of the Week for his efforts.
Naso entered the game ranked 12th nationally in faceoff percentage, but he now stands No. 8 having won 121 of 180 attempts — 67.2 percent. Since he took the bulk of the faceoff in the second game of the spring against Robert Morris and secured the starting job, Naso has yet to win less than 50 percent in a single game.
It’s the first time Duke has started 9-0 since 2005.
Previous Players of the Week
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Feb. 16 — Ryan Tierney, Hofstra
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Feb. 23 — Jake Carraway, Georgetown
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March 2 — Joe Robertson, Duke
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March 9 — Logan Wisnauskas, Maryland
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March 16 — Collin Krieg, North Carolina
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March 23 — Ryan Lanchbury, Richmond