A No. 1 seed, a No. 1 ranking and the No. 1 spot in the ACC. It has been a superb year for Duke, and it was justly rewarded Tuesday afternoon with a series of conference awards.
After leading the Blue Devils to a 13-2 regular-season record and the top spot in the conference, head coach John Danowski was named Coach of the Year while junior attackman Brennan O’Neill garnered Offensive Player of the Year honors. O’Neill, alongside senior attackman Dyson Williams, senior defender Kenny Brower and junior FOGO Jake Naso, also made it onto the All-ACC team.
The award is the fourth of Danowski’s illustrious career and his first since 2012, while O’Neill’s distinction is Duke’s fourth and his most recent personal honor since earning ACC Rookie of the Year status in 2021. Danowski is 236-73 all-time on the Blue Devil sideline and is also the all-time Division I wins leader with 456 to his name. O’Neill became just the eighth player in program history to log at least 80 total points across a season and currently sits 13th on Duke’s single-season points ladder.
Williams’ 51 goals lead the Blue Devil attack while Brower in his senior season has turned Duke’s defense into one of the nation’s most formidable. Naso leads the ACC in faceoff percentage with a 63.8% success rate.
Up next for the Blue Devils is a date with one of Marist or Delaware at home to kick off NCAA tournament action Saturday at 5 p.m.
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Andrew Long is a Trinity senior and recruitment/social chair of The Chronicle's 120th volume. He was previously sports editor for Volume 119.