Duke lacrosse: Blue Devils reportedly land top graduate transfer
The Duke lacrosse team has reportedly landed the top rated graduate transfer in the portal in Princeton’s Michael Sowers.
If you thought Mike Krzyzewski and the men’s basketball team was the only Duke athletic program that could land graduate transfers from the Ivy League, you’d be wrong.
A few weeks after the Blue Devils landed Columbia graduate transfer Patrick Tape, Duke lacrosse head coach John Danowski just reportedly landed Michael Sowers, the star of the Princeton Tigers and the top rated graduate transfer in the NCAA.
More from Ball Durham
- Duke basketball: The architect behind digital dominance
- Duke basketball prioritizing frontcourt prospects in 2025
- Duke basketball: Unmasking the hate for the Blue Devils
- Duke basketball: Countdown to Craziness lands another huge visitor
- Duke basketball fills final open scholarship
Sowers was on pace to be the Tewaaraton Award winner in 2020, which is given to the most outstanding men’s lacrosse player in the country.
The news was first reported by Ty Xanders of Inside Lacrosse. Sowers was also reportedly considering a transfer to Syracuse before he picked the Blue Devils.
Michael Sowers has said during his recruitment that his dream would be to return to Princeton, but after the NCAA passed a rule that spring sport seniors would be granted another year of eligibility since COVID-19 forced the cancelation of the season, the Ivy League kept its rule in place that athletes are only allowed four years of eligibility at one of their schools.
In five games this season, the Pennsylvania native scored 16 goals and 31 assists in five games as the Princeton Tigers were off to a 5-0 start.
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound attackman scored a total of 121 goals and 181 assists in 47 total games played, which amassed three and a quarter seasons, and is Princeton’s all-time leading scorer with 302 total points.
As for the Blue Devils, Duke was 6-2 on the season prior to its cancelation with highlight wins over Denver and Loyola, but next season will be highly anticipated in Durham with a solid core returning to be paired with Sowers and Brennan O’Neill, the top recruit in the nation.