The Chronicle

Oklahoma tornado strikes Duke community

Danielle Muoio — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:29:09 +0000

From afar the tornado looked like nothing out of the ordinary, said junior Anastasia Hunt.

Hunt and her mother assumed that the skinny-looking tornado heading toward their home in Moore, Okla. would pass through with little damage done to their town. A couple of minutes later, however, the two would notice a completely different reality brewing outside. Running to a tornado shelter in time, Hunt and her mother remained safe as the 1.3-mile-wide tornado bore down on the suburban town.

Their home, however, was less fortunate. The tornado completely destroyed the Hunt family’s house and almost all of their possessions.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” Hunt said. “Right now I am more focused on the fact that I am actually alive.”

It is currently estimated that the Oklahoma tornado has killed at least 91 people and injured 145, according to The New York Times.

The National Weather Service classified the tornado as an EF5, the most powerful type of tornado that exists. EF5 tornadoes are estimated to have windspeeds higher than 200 mph on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States and Canada.

Only 58 EF5 tornadoes have occurred in the United States since 1950.

Nobody in Hunt’s family was hurt, but they were forced to relocate to Oklahoma City. Hunt noted that her family had been renting out a house there to a tenant who moved out Saturday, so they are able to stay in the house for the time being.

She noted that it will be a long and expensive process to replace everything that the family has lost.

“We definitely didn’t think it would be this dangerous,” she said. “I went to get a glass of water and I came back with my mom and the tornado had gotten so large in a matter of two minutes.”

Brian Self, a senior who also lives in Moore, said that the tornado hit a mile south of his house and, therefore, did not cause any structural damages. His water, however, has been shut off for two days.

“Currently my immediate surroundings around my house are normal, but if I drive a mile south it looks like a war zone,” he said. “Buildings and houses that I drove by every day are no longer there.”

The Oklahoma tornado did not behave in the way most tornadoes do, said Bob Healy, professor emeritus of environmental policy in the Nicholas School of the Environment. Typically, tornadoes move up and down, which causes damage in several areas. Monday’s tornado was different, however, in that it stayed in one spot, he said.

Hunt said she did not flee the tornado initially because she expected it to pass over her town in the typical manner.

“We didn’t think it was a big deal because they usually come down, but then go back up,” she said.

Healy also noted that tornados are much harder to prepare for than hurricanes because there is little advanced warning for tornados. Hurricanes can be forecasted up to 12 hours in advance, but people may receive tornado warnings as little as 15 minutes before an oncoming tornado hits.

“Honestly, there wasn’t much time to do anything once we were warned of the tornado,” Self said. “We were given 45 minutes of warning from when the tornado first struck to when it had devastated my entire city.”

Healy added that since warnings are typically given through sirens and radio, it is easy to miss a tornado warning.

Senior Cale Hammond witnessed the effects of the tornado from afar as a resident in Tulsa, Okla. Because hundreds of tornadoes pass through Oklahoma each year, he did not expect the tornado Monday to have such severe effects.

Despite being located outside the area affected by the tornado, Hammond said Tulsa residents are getting ready to lend a helping hand.

“Everyone in Oklahoma is really nice and Tulsa is only an hour and a half away so I’m sure some people are driving down to help,” he said.

There are three shelters for those affected by the tornado—one in Moore and the other two in Oklahoma City—said Christopher Summer, who works in public affairs for Oklahoma’s American Red Cross. He added that there are emergency vehicles providing care, and volunteers are providing several thousand meals to people without food.

Evan Anderson, Trinity ’04 and resident of Oklahoma City, said he is impressed by the response of the community.

“FEMA search and rescue volunteers seem to be flocking to Moore from everywhere and people have been very generous in giving to the Red Cross and Salvation Army,” he said.

Summer noted that it is hard to pinpoint the exact number of people who were injured or killed by the tornado.

“We will know more as time comes,” he said. “We are asking people to be patient and make sure they are checking on loved ones.”

Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta sent an email to the student body Tuesday morning to extend support to those affected by the tornado in Oklahoma.

He noted in a separate email Tuesday that Duke will do its best to identify the needs of those affected by the tornado, adding that there may be a fundraising campaign for the Hunt family.

In the meantime, Duke students and alumni are holding strong as the gravity of the situation continues to unfold.

“I’m just so grateful for the support and love I’ve gotten from everyone,” Hunt said.

Duke women's golf tees off at NCAA Championships

Michael Schreiner — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:36:07 +0000

Seeking a sixth national championship, the Blue Devils head down to Georgia.

The No. 3 Blue Devils will tee it up Tuesday for the opening round of the 72-hole NCAA Championship at the par-72 University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga. Duke’s win at the NCAA Central Regional earlier this month earned them the No. 1 seed for the Championship this week.

The Blue Devils also won the ACC Championship last month in Greensboro, N.C., and enter this week having won their last two tournaments after concluding the regular season without a victory. Head coach Dan Brooks noted that in the months leading up to the ACC Championships, his team put up a number of solid finishes of strong performances—just not a win.

“We haven’t been too far off,” Brooks said. “For us to win the last two, it seemed like it was heading that way—we were close enough. I wasn’t terribly surprised.”

After the ACC Championship, Duke captured its eighth regional title in program history at the par-72 Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla. Junior Alejandra Congrejo and seniors Lindy Duncan and Courtney Ellenbogen all recorded top-10 finishes in the win. Junior Laetitia Beck and freshman Celine Boutier rounded out the lineup at the Regional, and the same five golfers will represent Duke this week.

Since last week's victory, Brooks—who has been at the helm for all of Duke’s five national titles—has allowed the team to practice on their own, believing that by this point in the season each golfer will know what she needs to do to prepare.

“I feel really good about the week in between [the Regional and the Championship],” Coach Brooks said. “I believe in letting them have a lot of independence when it gets to the end of the season.”

This week will be the second time Duke has played the University of Georgia Golf Course this season—Duncan, Boutier and Beck were all in the lineup when the Blue Devils played there in October for the NCAA Fall Preview. Duncan also captured the individual title of the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic there in 2010.

Heading into its most important tournament of the season, Brooks said his team seemed ready to compete against the nation's 21 best teams.

“Laetitia, Alejandra, Courtney, Lindy—they are all pretty seasoned and they know what it’s like,” Brooks said. “They all seem pretty calm to me.”

This week will mark the end of Ellenbogen and Duncan’s collegiate careers, the latter of which was one of the most accomplished in program history. In her four-year career, Duncan accumulated a 72.14 scoring average, six victories, 20 top-five finishes and had the lowest total for the Blue Devils in 62 percent of the matches she competed in.

“The cool thing about Lindy is that every time she tees it up, she is planning on winning,” Brooks said. “She is the most calm in this situation of all of the players, because she has put this sort of pressure on herself in every event she has ever played in.”

The Championship will be the first and only four-day tournament of the year for the Blue Devils, but Brooks is a fan of the extra round.

“I think it’s good. The more rounds the better when you’re trying to determine a champion. You’d really know who your champion was if you played 50 rounds.”

The Blue Devils’ title pursuit begins at 12:03 p.m. Tuesday.

Light rail may improve Duke-Durham connections

Elizabeth Djinis — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:30:29 +0000

A light rail connecting Durham and Orange counties is scheduled to be completed over the next 12 years. The track—proposed by Triangle Transit—will contain three stops bordering the University’s campus.

The stops will cater to various campus hubs, with one stop located on Erwin Road serving Duke Hospital, one on LaSalle St close to Science Drive, and one on Ninth Street near East Campus. The train track will begin at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Campus and end at North Carolina Central University.

The idea came about through a joint effort between the metropolitan training organization of Durham, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, and Triangle Transit, an organization devoted to facilitating transportation within the region. Notifying the public this early may lead to increased growth in anticipation of the light rail, said David King, general manager and CEO of Triangle Transit.

“Everybody who lives around here knows this service won’t be in place for another dozen years,” King said. “All of the development that will transpire over the next 10 or 15 years will at least have the benefit [for Durham residents] of knowing that this technology is coming.”

Although plans have not been finalized, Sam Veraldi, director of Duke Parking, Housekeeping and Transportation, said he has been in conversations with officials to determine the University’s role in the light rail’s progression. He noted that the light rail has the potential to pave the way for increased student exploration of nearby Durham locations that many students have not been exposed to in the past.

“Today it’s a little bit more difficult to navigate getting there, but if [the light rail] gives people the opportunity to... go all the way up from Durham to Wake Forest, [students can] do things outside of the Duke community and it gives them flexible and easy access,” Veraldi said.

Currently, there are several transportation options affiliated with the University that students can use for travel to off-campus destinations, Veraldi said. He cited the Bull City connector and chartered buses used by student groups as examples.

Sophomore Eleanor Mehlenbacher, a native of Wake County, said that students could use the light rail as an opportunity to enjoy other university campuses, as well.

“If [students] ride it with friends, it becomes a fun kind of group experience and not just casually taking a train to another city,” Mehlenbacher said. “For example, [you could] go party at UNC Wilmington and then take the train back.”

She said that the light rail would be more convenient than the Robertson Bus, which runs between Duke and UNC Chapel Hill, if the rail had more flexible operating hours.

“Usually I’m hesitant to go over to Chapel Hill without a car because the Robertson bus only goes over until midnight,” Mehlenbacher said. “Maybe I would party at Chapel Hill if I knew there was a reliable way of transporting myself back and forth [later at night].”

Veraldi noted that in the future, the light rail may expand its track further to include Wake County. However, before being added to the official plans, Wake County must vote on a half-cent sales tax increase intended to fund the construction of the Wake County portion of the rail. In 2011 and 2012, respectively, Durham and Orange counties voted to approve equivalent taxes.

Researchers pursue invisibility cloak upgrade by printing

Anthony Hagouel — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:53:34 +0000

Duke researchers are using a new method in their efforts to develop more advanced invisibility cloaking devices.

Funded by the Army Research Office, researchers at the Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics have continued their research in cloaking technologies— devices that bend electromagnetic waves around an object so that it appears undetectable in a single plane. Led by Yaroslav Urzhumov, assistant research professor of electrical and computer engineering, the research team strayed away from the previous approach of using advanced metamaterials and precise measurements. Instead, they are using algorithms to optimize invisibility using simple three-dimensional printed materials.

“I am more hopeful than ever that our research in electromagnetic metamaterials is going to lead to practical applications, and even commercially available devices for non-military applications,” Urzhumov said.

The researchers’ current strategy—three-dimensional printing technology—uses numerically based guidelines to create the best model for invisibility using simple polymers. The alternative approach of metamaterials involves highly accurate measurements of man-made compounds that exhibit properties not found in nature.

“There are different competing cloaking technologies right now,” said Nathan Landy, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering.

Both approaches are currently restricted in cloaking objects in only one plane. Although current cloaking devices do not make objects disappear in visible light, Urzhumov explained that technologies to make objects invisible to the human eye will likely use different technologies.

“There’s a big difference between creating illusions for human eyes and completely hiding an object from any kind of radiation sensor,” said Urzhumov, noting that the human eye only uses three colors to form images and has a minimum movement frequency of 25 frames per second.

Cloaking device research and radar systems currently use different portions of the microwave spectrum of electromagnetic waves. Research on cloaking devices utilizes the X-Band of the spectrum defined by a frequency of ten gigahertz. Current radar systems, however, utilize the K-Band, which has waves that have a frequency of 24 GHz. Urzhmov explained that invisibility research aims to increase the frequencies that the devices are able to practically cloak objects to hide them from radars.

There are many technologies that the lab is working on that hope to improve and expand the cloaking devices the lab has previously produced, Urzhumov said.

“What we made is a two-dimensional device, which means that it only have this cloaking effect when it’s illuminated at an appropriate angle,” Urzhumov said. Researchers hope to move past the 2D restriction and go into three dimensional cloaking technologies, something that Urzhomov thinks is more possible with sophisticated 3D printing technologies.

Urzhumov also hopes to make the technology applicable to larger objects. For example, by connecting separate polymer pieces to cloak a human head.

“We are just scratching the surface, and the cloaks are just the tip of the 3D-printing iceberg,” said Urzhumov.

Those outside academia can also appreciate the challenge to current technological limitations.

“The research is really exciting, not only because Harry Potter fans are one step closer to having their dreams fulfilled,” sophomore James Sawyer said. “It really lets you realize what’s possible with new technologies readily available at our fingertips."

Duke lacrosse scores three unanswered to earn seventh straight trip to NCAA semifinal

Daniel Carp — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:01:49 +0000

Heading into Duke’s quarterfinal matchup against Notre Dame, the team’s senior class did not want to break the Blue Devils’ streak of championship weekend appearances.

David Lawson made sure his team would live to play another week.

The senior scored a career-high five goals, including the game-winner with 2:16 remaining as the seventh-seeded Blue Devils (14-5) upset No. 2 seed Notre Dame 12-11 Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Trailing 11-9 with 9:29 remaining, the Blue Devils scored three unanswered goals to survive and advance.

“About a month ago, he started smiling during practice,” said Duke head coach John Danowski of Lawson. “He’s relaxed, he’s playing like a senior and he’s having fun. And it shows—he’s playing with a lot of confidence.”

Lawson’s effort earned Duke a seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA semifinals.

“We tried not to think about that because you try not to get nervous about being the first team not to get to [championship weekend] under Coach Danowski,” Lawson said. “But we’re obviously very happy about it.”

With 8:31 to play, attack Christian Walsh cut the Duke deficit to 11-10 with a quick goal off the restart.

Five minutes later, after a save by Fighting Irish goaltender John Kemp, Notre Dame recovered a ground ball and headed back to Blue Devil territory. Fighting Irish attack Sean Rogers’ shot from point-blank range was stopped by sophomore goaltender Kyle Turri, who recorded just two saves in the game.

“The defender tripped on the back of the goal and I just saw the ball all the way,” Turri said. “It was nice to get that last one.”

Turri threw a long outlet pass to midfielder Greg DeLuca, who pushed the ball to attack Jordan Wolf and found attack Josh Dionne wide open in the middle for his third goal of the contest to tie the game. The score was Dionne’s third of the game, and Wolf recorded a team-high four assists in the contest.

Lawson scored an unassisted goal with 2:16 remaining to put Duke ahead for good, and key ground balls and pressure defense by the Blue Devils in the game’s closing minutes helped seal the victory.

“I hitched it to my left hand and I just let it rip,” Lawson said.

Duke held an advantage in possession throughout the fourth quarter thanks to the play of faceoff man Brendan Fowler. The junior won 16-of-26 draws on the afternoon, including 5-of-6 faceoffs in the fourth quarter.

Duke and the Fighting Irish traded scores for the game’s first four goals. It appeared the Blue Devils and Notre Dame would go into the second quarter tied at 2-2, but a Jake Tripucka goal with four seconds remaining in the quarter gave the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead.

Rogers tied the game for the Fighting Irish just 25 seconds into the second period, but back-to-back goals by Lawson gave Duke a 6-4 advantage. Notre Dame scored two unanswered goals to head into the locker room tied at six goals apiece.

Kemp limited the Blue Devil offense, recording 13 saves throughout the contest. Turri went nearly 40 minutes without a stop, but bounced back with his crucial fourth-quarter save to aid Duke’s comeback.

“Kyle Turri didn’t have a great day in the goal statistically, but comes up with a big save and the outlet and keeps his poise and helps us to score the tying goal,” Danowski said. “I think that was indicative of the spirit of our group—keep competing, keep playing and at the end of the game see what happens.”

The Blue Devils and Fighting Irish have squared off seven times since the 2010 season. Duke has dropped all four contests in the regular season, but has won all three matchups in the postseason, including the 2010 national championship game.

With the victory, the Blue Devils advance to face Cornell Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Duke men's golf ties for seventh at Tempe Regional, fails to advance to NCAA Championships

Michael Schreiner — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:53:58 +0000

A record-setting season for Duke came to an end Saturday.

Needing to finish in the top five to advance to the NCAA Championships, the No. 7 Blue Devils finished tied for seventh in the NCAA Tempe Regional with a 10-over-par 850. Playing at home on the par-70 ASU Karsten Golf Course, unranked Arizona State earned the last advancing berth by posting an 832 to finish fifth. No. 4 UCLA won the tournament with a 30-under-par 810 after leading the all three days.

“The initial sting of not advancing doesn't feel good,” Duke head coach Jamie Green said. “We just didn't play as well as we could play today and other teams did just that.”

Seeded second in the Regional, Duke began the final day tied for fifth with Arizona State at two-under-par. But the team’s 292 was the second-highest Saturday score of any of the 14 teams and dropped the Blue Devils out of contention to advance. By contrast, the Sun Devils closed the tournament with a six-under-par 274 to advance.

Saturday also marked the final day of four seniors' collegiate careers—Adam Sumrall, Julian Suri, Brinson Paolini and Tim Gornik. Sumrall and Paolini both finished under par as individuals and earned top-20 finishes in the Regional. Suri’s closing 81 dropped him into a tie for 63rd, and Gornik was not in the lineup this past week.

Paolini, this year’s Byron Nelson Award recipient, finished the year with the second-lowest scoring average in Duke history, both in terms of a season and a career. He finished in the top-20 in all 11 tournaments he played in this season.

Suri, an All-American in 2012, had both the Blue Devil’s best individual finish and lowest single round, tying for first at the Rod Myers Invitational in October and posting a 66 in the second round of the ACC Tournament last month.

“I want to applaud and thank our senior class. What they have meant to Duke golf, Duke athletics and Duke University is immeasurable,” Green said. “They contributed to record setting performances as a group. Individually I know Brinson and Julian are going to have their names etched in a lot of record books.”

Among the records the Blue Devils set as a team this year was the mark for most victories in a season, which they broke when they gathered their fifth victory of the year at the ACC Championships. They also set a school record with 18 rounds of even-par or better, the final two of which came in the first two rounds of the Tempe Regional.

“I hate to have our guys feel the way that they do right now when they have had such a good year and played so many good rounds of golf,” Green said. “Anybody who competes in athletics, at one point or another, feels this.”

In addition to the three seniors, junior Austin Cody and freshman Mads Soegaard rounded out this past week’s lineup for Duke. Cody, playing under the weather for much of the week, finished the Regional tied for 63rd with a 13-over-par 223. Soegaard posted a 215 to finish tied for 41st.

Greg Eason of Central Florida put up a 198 to win medalist honors by four strokes.

Duke women's lacrosse falls to Maryland in NCAA quarterfinals

Matt Pun — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:43:03 +0000

Blue Devil Kelsey Duryea matched a career high with 15 saves, but that would not be enough to slow down the relentless Maryland offense as the Terrapins kept their undefeated record and ended Duke’s season.

Outshooting the Blue Devils 34-18 for the game, top-seeded Maryland (21-0) downed Duke 14-9 in College Park, Md. Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

“Maryland being Maryland, you give them too many opportunities and they’re going to capitalize,” Blue Devil head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “Even if they misfed the ball, they scooped it up quick and put it right back on the cage.”

The Terrapins entered the contest boasting the nation’s third-best scoring offense. When the teams met earlier this season, Maryland defeated Duke 15-6 Feb. 24.

Maryland scored the first two goals of the game, but the Blue Devils (14-6) answered back to keep the game within one through 10 minutes of play.

To keep the Terrapin offense in check, Duke took a deliberate approach to its offensive sets and kept the ball out of Maryland’s possession as much as possible early. Due to their efficient shooting effort, the Blue Devils kept the game close.

“Once we released the girls to go to goal, we were able to score pretty quickly—or at least get a good shot off quickly so maybe we didn’t score every time, but we got the looks we wanted,” Kimel said.

Despite its effectiveness attacking the cage, Duke struggled to keep possession, giving the dangerous Terrapin offense more opportunities.

“The thing that hurt us was our turnovers,” Kimel said. “Last weekend we did an exceptional job of taking care of the ball and that’s something we pride ourselves in. Today, if you look at our clearing, I think we were 9-for-13.”

Duke also finished the game with nine turnovers. Maryland, on the other hand, recorded just five turnovers and cleared successfully on each of its 10 opportunities.

With two 50-goal scorers on the squad—seniors Katie Schwarzmann and Alex Aust—the Terrapins took advantage of their opportunities.

“We did an awesome job limiting Schwarzmann today, but then we gave up five goals to Alex Aust,” Kimel said. “They have a lot of weapons.”

Aust, who ranks second in the nation in points, also notched two assists. Redshirt sophomore Brooke Griffin added three goals on six shots and an assist for Maryland.

Duke’s Duryea, who made her collegiate debut in College Park less than three months ago, opened the game by saving nine of the first 14 shots she faced.

“[The Terrapins] do a great job behind the crease and feeding in,” Duryea said. “This week in practice, we definitely looked at their sets and tried to simulate them.”

The freshman, who entered the game with the nation’s fourth-best save percentage, could not keep up with the Terrapins’ relentless attack for the whole game however, allowing nine more goals the rest of the way.

Although Duke managed to stay within four goals at the half, Maryland put the Blue Devils away at the start of the second half, launching a 6-1 run that left Duke trailing 14-5.

Despite the efforts of juniors Molly Quirke and Maddy Morrissey, who each notched three goals in the game, the Blue Devils’ 4-0 run to close out the game proved too little to salvage the contest.

“Maryland plays a great, scrambled game, and if you allow too much of that , you can dig yourself into a hole really quickly,” Kimel said. “We did too much of that.”

Duke lacrosse aims for seventh consecutive NCAA semifinal appearance against Notre Dame

Daniel Carp — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:56:11 +0000

Duke will need to top a familiar foe to reach the NCAA Tournament’s championship weekend for the seventh consecutive season.

Fresh off a double-overtime victory against defending national champion Loyola, the seventh-seeded Blue Devils (13-5) will square off with No. 2 seed Notre Dame (11-4) Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The opening faceoff for this NCAA quarterfinal matchup is slated for 2:30 p.m.

“At this time of year, we focus specifically on ourselves,” senior midfielder Dave Lawson said. “If we get it right, and we play our game, there isn’t much that anybody else can do to stop us.”

Duke has faced the Fighting Irish in the regular season each of the last four years, falling to Notre Dame each time, including a 13-5 loss Feb. 16 in the teams’ last meeting.

“We like to think that we’ve gotten better as the season has gone on, and I’m sure that Notre Dame feels that they have gotten a lot better as the season has gone on to get them to this point,” Duke head coach John Danowski said.

But the Blue Devils have also defeated the Fighting Irish twice during that span in postseason play, including the 2010 national championship game and the NCAA quarterfinals in 2011.

Sunday’s contest features two teams whose offensive trajectories have been going in opposite directions in recent weeks. The Blue Devils have not scored fewer than 11 goals in a contest since March 8—a span of 11 games.

Notre Dame has had a tough time scoring as of late, averaging just 4.7 goals per game in its last three outings. The Fighting Irish have not scored more than seven goals in a game in nearly a month, since it posted 13 tallies against Villanova April 20.

On the offensive end, Notre Dame is led by freshman attack Matt Kavanagh, who has posted 29 goals and 13 assists in his first collegiate season.

“Kavanagh and [Jim] Marlatt are extremely dangerous and terrific shooters,” Danowski said. “We had no game film on them, and now we have film on them and they have film on us.”

Sophomore goaltender Kyle Turri also said that the pace of play will be crucial in Sunday’s contest, which pits Duke’s up-tempo style against a Notre Dame squad that grinds out offensive possessions.

“We just have to be ready to bear down against a team like Notre Dame,” Turri said. “They’re going to slow it down and we’re going to have to be ready to play against them for long possessions.”

The Fighting Irish are one of the top defensive teams in the country, ranking eighth in the nation in scoring defense at just 8.07 goals per game. John Kemp has been one of the nation’s top netminders for Notre Dame this season. The senior posted a 7.94 goals against average and has saved 54.1 percent of the shots he has faced in 15 contests.

After winning 19-of-26 draws from the faceoff X in Duke’s first-round victory against Loyola, junior midfielder Brendan Fowler hopes to control the faceoff battle once again for the Blue Devils. Notre Dame’s faceoff combination of Nick Ossello, Liam O’Connor and Trevor Brosco has combined to win just 51.9 percent of its draws this season, compared to Fowler’s 65.1-percent clip.

Duke’s comeback victory in the first round was also keyed by the play of three freshman Blue Devils—attacks Case Matheis and Deemer Class and midfielder Myles Jones. All three scored goals down the stretch for Duke, with Matheis tallying both the game-tying and game-winning goals.

Lawson said the play of Duke’s rookies will be crucial to keeping the team’s streak of NCAA Tournament success alive.

“Every year it seems like there are a couple of freshman that the team needs to play, and there’s no doubt that Case, Deemer and Myles are those three guys that we need to be successful for the team to be successful,” Lawson said.

Duke women's tennis swept by top-seeded Florida in Round of 16

Staff Reports — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:53:57 +0000

After sweeping Florida 4-0 during the regular season, it was the Gators who put a swift end to Duke’s season.

The Blue Devils (16-10) fell 4-0 to top-seeded Florida (25-2) Friday at Kahn Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Ill. in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16. Duke took just one set in the match.

After forfeiting the sixth singles position to start the match, the Blue Devils quickly dropped the doubles point when Hanna Mar and Mary Clayton fell to the nation’s 11th-ranked doubles team of Lauren Embree and Sofie Oyen and gave the Gators a 2-0 lead.

Senior Nicole Lipp was the next Duke player to falter, losing 6-1, 6-2 to No. 123 Olivia Janowicz at the fifth singles position.

No. 89 Brianna Morgan clinched the match for Florida with a 6-3, 6-0 victory against Marianne Jodoin at the fourth singles position.

Duke concluded its season with NCAA Tournament victories against Mississippi and Texas Tech, despite playing with a lineup consisting of just five players. The Blue Devils will lose just two seniors—Nicole Lipp and Mary Clayton—heading into next season, and will return multiple players that they lost for the season due to injury.

Duke was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation during the regular season.

Duke women's lacrosse hopes to hand No. 1 Maryland its first loss of the season

Matt Pun — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:51:56 +0000

The last time the Blue Devils traveled to College Park, Md. Feb. 24, the Terrapins handed Duke its first loss of the season, a 15-6 rout in what had been a battle of undefeated ACC powerhouses.

Three months later, the Blue Devils (14-5) will have a second chance to give top-seeded Maryland (20-0) its first loss of the season, facing off in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament Saturday at 12 p.m. at Maryland's Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

“Our first game of the year, we were not aggressive enough playing them at all,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “We clearly got in a hole early against them, but I think we’ve evolved a lot since then so I’m looking forward to going up there and giving them a real challenge.”

In their matchup earlier this season, the Terrapins put the Blue Devils away early, building a 9-2 lead before the halftime whistle.

Replacing senior Kaitlin Gaiss in the cage with freshman Kelsey Duryea, Duke opened the second half on a 4-1 run. Duryea, in her collegiate debut, saved eight shots but could not stop Maryland from scoring five goals in the last 10 minutes to secure the victory.

Starting all of Duke's 14 games since, Duryea has developed into one of the nation’s top netminders and ranks fourth in save percentage for the NCAA by stopping 51.4 percent of the shots she has faced.

The freshman is also coming off one of the Blue Devils’ best defensive performances of the season. Against eighth-seeded Navy last Sunday, Duryea made 10 saves and tied a season-low by allowing just five goals. Duke also held the Midshipmen scoreless for a 41-minute stretch in the second-round match—just two days after the Blue Devils held Princeton scoreless through an overtime period and a half to squeak away a victory last Friday night.

“The tough games that we’ve played have taught us a lot about ourselves as a team and prepared us for where we are now,” Duryea said. “Coming off beating Navy and Princeton is really good for us. We have that momentum that we need to go up to Maryland and play as a team and use everything that we’ve learned so far this season and win.”

Duryea’s development will be particularly important for Duke this weekend against the Terrapins, who rank third in scoring average nationally and are led by senior Alex Aust, who ranks second in points nationwide.

The Blue Devil squad that is traveling to College Park this weekend also differs from the one that made the trip three months ago in the way it approaches the game. Having played recently without two of its top five scorers, Duke has had to work on modifying its gameplan as each game unfolds.

“We’ve done a really good job, especially the latter half of the season, putting in as many new things, adjusting on the fly,” Kimel said. “We made tons of defensive adjustments throughout our game Friday and on Sunday.”

Since bowing out in the first round of the ACC Tournament to Virginia, the Blue Devils have succeeded in making in-game adjustments to win their last three contests.

“Our experience from last weekend has us feeling really good, really excited to go up to Maryland,” Kimel said. “We know it’s a challenge, but we have nothing to lose. They have not lost a game all year.”

Duke men's tennis ousts Kentucky to reach NCAA quarterfinals

Daniel Carp — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:28:36 +0000

A rivalry that is usually reserved for the hardwood created an instant classic on a different court.

Battling late into the night, ninth-seeded Duke and eighth-seeded Kentucky gave tennis fans at Kahn Outdoor Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill. a reason to stay awake. The match’s momentum swung back-and-forth throughout, but a three-set victory by Raphael Hemmeler clinched a 4-2 victory for the Blue Devils (25-5), sending the team through to the NCAA quarterfinals for just the eighth time in program history.

“The goal for this match was to have no regrets,” assistant coach Jonathan Stokke said. “We told each other that if we could look at each other after the match and legitimately say that we gave everything we had, we didn’t care what the result was.”

No. 74 Hemmeler defeated the Wildcats’ Grant Roberts 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to close out the match for Duke.

“He felt like he had to win for our team to win, and he stepped up,” Stokke said. “He played aggressive tennis, he played loose and positive. At that point it was more of a mental thing, and he aced that test. It was awesome to see.”

The Blue Devils opened the contest by competing in a doubles point that lasted a grueling 90 minutes. Fred Saba and Bruno Semenzato fell 9-7 to Kentucky’s Anthony Rossi and Juan Pablo Murra to give the Wildcats (22-12) the doubles point. It was the first point Duke had surrendered in NCAA Tournament play.

Stokke—who was filling in at the helm for head coach Ramsey Smith after the unexpected birth of his daughter earlier this week—said that instead of discouraging his team, losing the marathon doubles point gave Duke a renewed focus and energy heading into singles play.

“That was rare,” Stokke said. “It was an hour and a half doubles point normally that’s pretty devastating to lose. But I looked around at the guys and knew that they were ready to put forth a good effort in singles.”

Playing at the sixth singles spot, Jason Tahir was the first to respond for the Blue Devils, taking a swift 6-3, 6-2 victory against Kentucky’s Beck Pennington.

After No. 43 Fred Saba fell to No. 23 Tom Jomby to give the Wildcats a 2-1 advantage, senior Henrique Cunha, the ninth-ranked singles player in the country, took on No. 5 Rossi at the top singles position. With the match tied at 4-4 in the first set, Cunha remained firmly in control thanks to his groundstroke play from the baseline.

After taking the first set 7-5, Rossi put up a fight in the second set, but Cunha notched a 6-4 victory to keep his perfect season in singles play alive.

“He doesn’t want his career to end,” Stokke said. “He’s just going to dig in. He’s going to take that one extra step, put a little extra spin on the ball—he’s got that look in his eye that he’s going to find a way to get it done.”

Chris Mengel notched a 6-2, 7-5 victory against the Wildcats’ Kevin Lai at the fourth singles position. Duke held a 3-2 advantage with two matches entering their third sets. Both Hemmeler and freshman Michael Redlicki had won their first sets but allowed their opponents to take the second. But as Redlicki fell behind in the decisive set, Hemmeler responded by taking control.

“I got a little bit tired in the second set because I knew that we needed my match—we needed my point,” Hemmeler said.

With the third set tied at 2-2, Hemmeler’s creativity and shot-making ability was on display as he posted back-to-back breaks to take a 5-2 advantage and give Duke an opportunity to serve for the match.

“It was a huge, huge moment in the match,” Hemmeler said. “I knew that if I broke him right then, it was going to be the end.... Getting the break was the best feeling and I was very confident in my ability to serve it out.”

Hemmeler took the final game and set the Blue Devils up for a showdown with No. 1 seed UCLA Saturday at 5 p.m. Smith is planning to rejoin the team for Saturday’s contest.

Although the Bruins’ lineup features three singles players ranked in the top 30 in the nation, Duke’s ability to win at the bottom of the ladder has it feeling confident heading into its quarterfinal match.

“UCLA is the No. 1 team. They earned that ranking,” Stokke said. “But we’re in a position that only eight teams in Duke history have been in, and we’re trying to go somewhere that no other team has been. So no better way to do it than trying to take down the top team in the country.

Duke women's tennis squares off with top-seeded Florida in the Round of 16

Olivia Banks — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:05:27 +0000

Entering postseason play with just five healthy players, no one predicted the Blue Devils would make it to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament this year.

But they surpassed all expectations when they took down Ole Miss and 16th-seeded Texas Tech in the first and second rounds of the tournament to advance to the Round of 16 where they set to face a familiar opponent in top-ranked Florida (24-2) Friday at 10 a.m. in Urbana, Ill. at the Kahn Outdoor Tennis Center.

“Because of the way the regular season ended, we didn’t have a lot of belief in ourselves,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “What we needed was something to get us some confidence and that came from those first two matches.”

Last season, the Blue Devils (16-9) took on Florida in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament and fell 4-3. The Gators went on to capture their second consecutive NCAA Championship.

The two teams will meet for the second time this season after the then-No. 2 Blue Devils swept then-No. 4 Florida 4-0 at Ambler Tennis Stadium Feb. 17. The match came when Duke was competing with a full and healthy lineup, long before injuries took a toll on the Blue Devils’ roster.

Although the Blue Devils are expecting a competitive match, Ashworth said that there are few aspects of Florida’s game that the team has not seen before.

“Everyone’s in a good frame of mind and knows that they’ve worked hard, Ashworth said. “Even though there are some different match-ups, it works both ways. We’re familiar with them and they’re familiar with us too, and there’s nothing that they do that we don’t know.”

Junior Hanna Mar will take on top-ranked senior Lauren Embree, who boasts a perfect 19-0 record in dual matches this season. Ashworth suspects that the rest of the Florida squad feeds off of Embree’s energy and competitive spirit which, along with good coaching, he feels makes Florida one of the most dangerous teams in the NCAA.

Although the Duke will take on the Gators with only five competitors, Ashworth feels that the situation has actually proven to be more of a psychological advantage for the Blue Devils, which makes them a significant threat to teams that take them for granted.

“It is tougher for teams to play us with only five people,” Ashworth said. “The longer we can stay on the court, the better because teams start to get nervous and tight, but it’s also better for the girls because they are playing more freely.”

With the team’s newfound confidence and freedom to stay loose on the court, Ashworth said he thinks his squad can still give Florida a competitive match.

“We’ll fight and we’ll compete and we’ll give Florida everything we have,” Ashworth said. “There’s nothing for us to be nervous about and we’re going to leave everything on the court and see what happens.”

Q & A with Melinda Gates

Raisa Chowdhury — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:32:01 +0000

Melinda Gates, Trinity ’86 and Fuqua ’87, visited campus last weekend to deliver the commencement speech and receive an honorary degree. A former member of the Board of Trustees, Gates is an entrepreneur and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to improve health outcomes and eliminate poverty in developing countries. Through the years, Gates has helped fund University initiatives such as DukeEngage, University Scholars and the construction of the French Family Science Center. The Chronicle’s Raisa Chowdhury talked to Gates before commencement to discuss her relationship with Duke, her philanthropy and her daily life.

The Chronicle: What are your thoughts so far on being back at Duke this weekend?

Melinda Gates: It’s really fun to see so many students and parents excited about their journey through Duke and so it’s really fun to be back at Duke again.

TC: Why have you maintained a relationship with your alma mater over the year?

MG: Duke is an incredible institution and I was lucky to go here. I got a great education here. For any university to stay on the cutting edge, it requires alums to remain involved with the University. I was on the Board of Trustees and I was also involved through the University Scholars program and DukeEngage.

TC: As an accomplished businesswoman, philanthropist and activist, along with being a mother, how do you balance it all?

MG: For any woman balancing those things it is difficult, so it’s a day-by-day decision and also a week-by-week, month-by-month decision…. I’m super passionate about my family but I’m also passionate about global health. My children are a little bit older now. They’re in elementary, middle and high school now. I’m also lucky that I have great care at home so I can be gone like this and know that they’ll be ok and that’s a nice situation to be in.

TC: How have you found your interests and navigated your path?

MG: Well, Bill and I took our first trip in the fall of 1993 into Africa and we went to see the animals and the savannah, but what really captured us—I mean it was beautiful—but what really captured us were the people. I mean, what’s really going on here? We were in what now is the [Democratic Republic of the Congo], it was Zaire then and there were street blocks...[where] the men would be wearing shoes and the women wouldn’t, and the men would be smoking and the women wouldn’t, and women would have a baby in their belly or on their back and so [I got started] asking questions [about] that. It just led us on a learning journey. How do you create a catalytic change that really affects people’s lives? I’ve made many, many trips around the world sitting down with women and learning what women might need to lift themselves up and their families.

TC: Some students have said that having you here to speak to students, is a “step forward for women at Duke.” Any thoughts on that?

MG: As I travel around the world and I see gender inequity and I see things that women need around the world, it’s really made me ask myself the question—how far have women come in the United States? For me, the answer is not far enough. We need to see more companies headed by women and more philanthropies headed by women. So, part of what I do as a woman is show that Bill and I are equal co-chairs and show that when I think about my daughters in the United States, I want them to be accomplished women. So if I can be a good role model for students I’d like to do that…but that’s not why I took on the speech.

TC: How did you decide how to concentrate your various interests?

MG: One thing you have to understand about the foundation is you have to look at where the most disease and poverty is around the world and where you can be the greatest wedge to affect changes. I go to two northern states in India because that’s where there’s the most poverty and disease [in India] and the foundation is also making progress in Nigeria and Ethiopia. We go where there’s the most need. We also call on governments as well, so when I go to India I also go to Delhi.… I go to Senegal because I really believe in family planning and I’m leading a push for birth control in Africa and they can affect other places in West Africa.

TC: Do you have any advice for students?

MG: My advice is to find what really fires you up. You end up in places that you sometimes never expected you would be and it’s the people you meet. If you stay curious and keep learning, you kind of never know where your passions will take you. For your generation, I hope you really think about how do you make the world equal for all people. Not all students have a chance to go to a place like Duke and if you grow up in a place like India or Bangladesh, your chances are really slim. So how do we make the world more equal so everyone has a chance at equal education?

If students really think about all these amazing tools of technology you have to connect with people around the world, if you meet someone in another place in the world, you can stay connected to them…. If you meet a woman and give her a microloan, you can stay connected with her with things like Kiva and Catapult where people, including me, post great projects that need help.

Rubenstein exemplifies University ideals

Editorial Board — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:27:03 +0000

We applaud the Board of Trustees for electing David Rubenstein, Trinity ’70, as chairman of the Board of Trustees this weekend.

Having served eight years on the Board and two years as vice-chair, Rubenstein has accumulated enough experience to understand how the Board works in conjunction with the University. Additionally, Rubenstein has been actively engaged with Duke outside of the Board, suggesting a true dedication to the well-being of the University.

Rubenstein is an exceptional example of the potential power of a Duke education. Coming from humble roots—neither of his parents graduated from high school or college—Rubenstein attended Duke because of the generous financial aid package he was offered. The success he had post-graduation as co-founder and co-CEO of private equity firm the Carlyle Group is an inspiration to all current and aspiring students of what Duke can help them achieve regardless of their background.

Rubenstein exemplifies knowledge in the service of society in that he uses the success he received from his Duke education to give back to both the University and society.

To date, Rubenstein has given over $50 million to the University. This year Rubenstein gave $10 million to the Sanford School of Public Policy; in 2012, he committed $10 million to Duke’s athletic departments; and in 2011, he made a gift of $13.6 million to support renovations to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Rubenstein’s commitment to funding different areas of the University demonstrates an understanding of the different facets of Duke life.

Rubenstein’s philanthropic commitment has also served the public. Having signed The Giving Pledge, Rubenstein has committed himself to donating half of his wealth to philanthropic causes. He donated $13.5 million to the National Archives for a new gallery and visitors center in 2011. The museum features the Magna Carta, which Rubenstein acquired for $21.3 million and has since loaned to the National Archives. Following an earthquake in Virginia, Rubenstein donated $7.5 million to repairs of the Washington Monument.

Succeeding Richard Wagoner, who was asked to step down as chair and CEO of General Motors as part of the company’s restructuring program in 2009, Rubenstein will serve as an appropriate figurehead of the University. In exemplifying Duke’s commitment to knowledge in the service of society, Rubenstein will do well as a spokesperson of the Board and as someone who represents the values of a Duke education.

In conjunction with his involvements with the University, his experience outside of Duke-related activities demonstrate how Rubenstein lives out the beliefs of the University. He demonstrates an understanding of what innovation means through his role as co-founder and co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, currently one of the world’s largest private equity firms. Before entering into finance, he worked as a lawyer and served as a deputy assistant to President Jimmy Carter for domestic policy. Rubenstein has a background in finance, law and politics, bringing a full array of experiences to the Board that will allow him to be an educated leader of internal discussions. Having already served as a public figure, Rubenstein will do well as the external spokesperson for the Board.

We look forward to seeing what the Board will do under Rubenstein’s leadership.

Apples to interest rates

Chris Bassil — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:03:37 +0000

Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) added to her reputation as a populist heroine when she brought her first piece of stand-alone legislation to the Senate floor. The bill, which she calls the “Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act,” aims to drastically reduce the interest rate attached to federal student loans. It would force the government to lend to students at the same low rate it sometimes offers to major investment banking institutions, appealing to supporters of federal student loans and skeptics of the financial industry alike.

The BSLFA appears just weeks before the interest rate on federal student loans was set to double from its current rate of 3.4 percent to the former rate of 6.8 percent. Warren’s bill, however, would reduce that rate to a mere 0.75 percent, the rate the Federal Reserve currently charges banks through a program known as “discount window lending.”

“The federal government,” Warren claims, “is going to charge students interest rates that are nine times higher than the rates for the biggest banks.” Economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate known for his popular writings on income inequality, called Warren’s bill a “step in the right direction” and echoed her pointed rhetoric.

Warren and Stiglitz must be aware, though, that not all borrowers are necessarily alike. The discrepancy in interest rates between the federal student loan program and the Federal Reserve’s discount window lending policy actually has much less to do with morality and societal values than it does with maturity, collateral and the credit- worthiness of specific borrowers. Further investigation of these two types of loans should lay clear why students pay higher rates of interest than big investment banks do—and might begin to suggest that Sen. Warren’s BSLFA is less insightful than it initially appears.

When Warren explains that “banks pay interest that is one-ninth of the amount that students will be asked to pay,” she is not making a statement regarding the overall borrowing practices of investment banks. Banks, quite obviously, take on a variety of debts subject to a wide range of interest rates, and many of these rates may in fact be commensurate with or even higher than the rates paid on student loans. Warren is instead referring to one very specific type of loan program offered by the Federal Reserve—generally known as the Fed’s discount window. Banks with strong financial foundations can borrow cash overnight from the Fed at a rate of 0.75 percent. As a result of three main considerations—the short duration of these loans, their collateral requirements and the perceived credit-worthiness of the banks—the Fed can consider these agreements to be relatively risk-free.

To put it simply, the Federal Reserve’s discount window interest rates remain relatively low due in part to a high level of confidence that the loans will be repaid. But are there really any similar low-risk indications when it comes to the case of the federal student loan program? Is there anything at all to suggest that federal student loans are equally likely to be repaid in full and on time? Student loans, after all, differ from the discount window loans in essentially all of the most important ways.

First of all, they are not mere 24-hour, overnight commitments, but instead typically take a full ten years to mature. This fact alone substantially increases the risk associated with student loans, since it leaves a longer period of opportunity for borrowers to unexpectedly default on their loans. On top of this, there are no collateral requirements associated with federal student loans—meaning that the lender does not have immediate access to anything else of value in the event of a default. Lastly, a student seeking a loan in order to pursue a college education will generally have little in the way of wealth and assets, which in turn undermines their credit-worthiness as borrowers. In fact, student loans have overtaken credit card debt as the leading source of 90-day delinquency, which attests to the level of risk that is associated with them.

In the end, this debate really comes down to a case of comparing apples to oranges. The significant differences in structure between federal student loans and the Fed’s discount window loans provide little reason to think that the interest rates associated with these programs should track together in any meaningful way. Of course, as many have already noted, Warren’s BSLFA has little hope to pass a vote in any case and is most likely intended to be a symbolic statement rather than a serious policy proposal.

“It’s a populist values statement,” said one journalist. “We like students, we don’t like banks.” If Sen. Warren wishes to make a meaningful impact on the cost of higher education, however, she might consider bringing more to the table than a symbolic statement of progressive values.

Chris Bassil, Trinity ’12, is currently working in Boston, Mass. His second summer column will run on June 6. You can follow Chris on Twitter @HamsterdamEcon.

Let's begin at the end

Benjamin Silverberg — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:01:59 +0000

Ten years later and I’m already “the old guy.” As my Facebook newsfeed flooded this past weekend with photos from Duke University’s 161st Commencement (as well as those from other universities), I couldn’t help but feel a mix of pride and envy for the Class of 2013. Behind the graduates’ smiles, sunglasses and tassels were young ambition, excitement for the unknown and the promise of tomorrow. Everything was fresh and everything a new opportunity. I miss that. Having already finished my doctorate and post-graduate training, I’m now several hurdles down the track, remembering with nostalgia how it felt to be just starting out.

It was a frustratingly grey day in Chapel Hill. We had all hoped for warm, Carolina blue, spring skies to anoint our heads as we moved in procession through our own football stadium. Bill Cosby was the graduation speaker. George “Dubya” Bush was in his first term as president. Harry Potter was just about to begin his fifth year at Hogwarts. Facebook didn’t yet exist. Rasheed Sulaimon had barely turned nine years old.

As I looked through the seating, I realized I barely recognized anyone. This struck me as sad, because despite being just one member in a class of around 6,000, I had always needed about ten extra minutes to cross campus for when I’d inevitably run into a classmate who wanted to chat. There were still so many people to meet and stories to hear. We were emerging from the cocoon of Kenan Memorial Stadium as a heterogeneous set of alumni, but certainly the majority of us had never met one another.

My next step was certain—graduate school (the best choice, of course, for a freshly-minted college graduate who didn’t quite know how to get where he was going yet)—and I was working toward medical school. For some programs, my GPA wasn’t high enough; for others, it was my MCAT score. The answers were never consistent, and it was never both numbers that were culpable. Despite much rejection, I never gave up. Thinking back, it wasn’t my pursuit of another degree that gave my career focus—it was thinking pragmatically for a moment, deciding what I would gain the most from and doing that. In my case, it meant learning Spanish.

Through a quick Google search, I found WorldTeach, an NGO based in Cambridge, Mass. that places volunteer teachers around the world by working with various foreign Ministries of Education. And so I packed up and took a job as an English teacher for a year in a small Latin American country I had previously been unable to locate on a map. Serendipity takes many forms.

As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “all that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost.” While reaching for the proverbial brass ring, I urge you neither to lose sight of your goals nor to overlook other opportunities en route to them. Your most valuable experiences may not present themselves as thick red crosses on your treasure map. Nonetheless, you will be all the richer for investing in the unexpected. Things won’t always turn out the way you thought they would, and you won’t always see the good things coming. The same goes for the bad.

I never would have guessed on that overcast day in May 2003 that I would find myself in Guayaquil, Ecuador a few years later. But my time there inspired a passion for all things Latino. It became my raison d’être. The flavor of life became instilled in my blood which, in turn, blossomed into an interest in immigrant and refugee healthcare. This thread continued throughout medical school and residency, and it led me back to my adoptive home in the Raleigh-Durham area. Fine, I’m not a movie star, recording artist or Olympic athlete, but I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out.

Now I’m in your classes, working toward another degree that aligns with my career objectives, trying to follow the idle chatter about Instagram, LDOC or how to score a fake ID to get a wristband at Shooters. I feel like a big brother of sorts, trying to guide you around the mistakes I made and taking pride in your accomplishments. But it’s also incredibly hard not to recognize that I keep aging while the freshmen stay the same age. Might as well wrap a pack of cigarettes in my left sleeve, let me grow an un-ironic hipster mustache, and cast Matthew McConaughey to play me in the story of my life.

But I’m also content in a way—who would want to stay in the same position his whole life? This is my path. I am experienced. I shouldn’t look back with regret; my mistakes and missteps brought me to today, probably just as much as or more so than my successes. More are bound to come. Each experience I have and each person I meet punctuate the story, and it’s hard to predict which will stay with me for the long-term and which are supporting players.

Take it for what it’s worth. It’s commencement. It’s just the beginning.

Benjamin Silverberg is a second-year graduate student. His second summer column will run on June 6. You can follow Ben on Twitter @hobogeneous.

You don't understand what that's like

Mousa Alshanteer — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:18 +0000

Three days into my summer internship, I found myself with only a glass wall separating me from our defendant. I sat down and picked up the phone to start the conversation. After blankly staring at me for well over a minute, the defendant wearily rubbed his eyes, picked up the phone and solemnly stated:

“All I know is that it is better for me to sit in here than it is for me to be back on the streets.”

I was perplexed by the introduction offered by the defendant, who had been charged with aiding and abetting another person in an armed robbery.

“Don’t say that. Do you have any place to stay other than your mother’s residence?” I asked rather superficially.

“No,” the defendant plainly responded.

Considering his multiple prior convictions and numerous aggravating factors, the defendant could serve an active prison sentence anywhere between 70 and 90 years if convicted of a Class D felony. Though numerous potential witnesses had indicated that he did not actively commit the robbery, the district attorneys charged the defendant with being a principal to the commission of the crime. Since the defendant had entered a plea of not guilty, he is required by law to be offered a trial by jury.

“Look—I’m innocent. I know the way the system works, and because of these other mistakes I made in the past—because I am black—they’re going to punish me.”

After listening to the defendant’s statement, I sat quietly, dropped my head and closed my eyes. He swiftly set the phone on the desk in front of him, covered his face with his hands and began weeping.

“Everything’s going to be alright; I promise,” was all that I could say to encourage this presumably-innocent man.

“Don’t tell me that,” he interrupted. “Don’t give me false hope. You sit there with your suit and your tie, and you tell me that everything is going to be alright? I grew up poor. My father was killed and my mother was in and out of prison for selling drugs. You haven’t experienced that. You don’t know what that’s like. There’s no way for your lawyers to defend me because they don’t understand what that’s like.”

The tears continued to pour down his face. At that point, the sheriff walked up to where I had been sitting, tapped my shoulder and told me that the defendant’s family had arrived. I placed the phone back onto the wall and left the visitation room—never realizing that this would be the last time I spoke to the defendant before he was convicted of all charges and sentenced to 73 years in prison.

On Monday, after the jury had returned the verdict, I began to sob uncontrollably and had to excuse myself from the court for fear that I would disrupt the proceedings. The defense council had less than half of their potential witnesses testify, and important evidence was deemed inadmissible several times throughout the trial. Angered, I began to question the system of criminal justice—a system in which it is almost impossible for lawyers and jurors to understand what occurs throughout a defendant’s life and the resulting consequences.

Such lack of understanding lends itself to rather disturbing trends in the criminal justice system.

More black defendants are incarcerated than white defendants, despite committing equivalent crimes. Almost 48 percent of the 2.3 million people currently incarcerated in the United States are black, despite the fact that they comprise only 13 percent of the U.S. population and 15 percent of drug addicts nationwide. One-third of all black males between the ages of 18 and 30 are either in prison, on probation or on parole. In urban cities, such as Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, this number increases to 50 or 60 percent.

Though I am a strong advocate of law and order, I am an equally strong advocate of accounting for defendants’ personal circumstances. The fact that the lawyers defending and the jurors sitting in judgment of defendants are not likely to understand their life experiences manifests itself in the disparities of the criminal justice system.

Our criminal justice system not only results in a greater chance of incarceration for black people, but for impoverished civilians as well. Bryan Stevenson, famed founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, summarized this best when he said, “We have a system of justice in this country that treats you much better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.”

This is not to say that defendants ought to be released from all sentences if they are of a racial minority or impoverished. Yet, we ought to actively implement a system in which such disparities do not exist—for justice should not result in greater incarceration rates for blacks than whites and for the poor than the rich.

Justice ought to result in ultimate judgment implicitly and explicitly based not on the defendant’s race or financial status, but on his or her definitive responsibility for the crime and a thorough consideration of his or her life circumstances as well.

An understanding of the defendant’s life circumstances would not only reduce disparities in the criminal justice system, but would ensure that justice is fairly applied regardless of whether the defendant is guilty or innocent.

Mousa Alshanteer is a Trinity sophomore and the editorial page managing editor. His second summer column will run on June 6. You can follow Mousa on Twitter @mousaalshanteer.

Mobility limited by construction

Emma Baccellieri — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:57:31 +0000

Widespread construction on roadways around campus is complicating transportation routes.

As part of separate construction projects, portions of Campus Drive and West Main Street were closed following the end of the Spring semester.

On May 13, the section of West Main Street along East Campus closed in order to accommodate the restoration of the Main Street bridge. Meanwhile, much of Campus Drive has been narrowed to one lane in order to allow for the replacement of water pipes. The construction does not currently affect bus routes.

“Something like this never runs perfectly,” said Floyd Williams, project manager of the facilities management department, referring to the West Main Street construction.

West Main Street is currently blocked off from Buchanan Boulevard to Swift Avenue, and vehicles are being diverted to alternate routes.

“We’re watching the barricades we put up Monday—not everything’s been exactly what we were anticipating, we’re working daily to try to improve the barricade situation,” Williams said.

The construction is a North Carolina Department of Transportation project rather than a Duke project, Williams noted. The only part of the construction funded by the University was the rebuilding of the stone wall surrounding East Campus.

The West Main Street construction is scheduled to be completed in October and will result in an entirely new bridge—slightly longer and taller than the current one, which was built in 1950.

“It’s aging out—not to a dangerous point—but we want to go ahead and replace it,” Williams said.

The demolition of the bridge will take place from May 27 to June 14 and will result in the closure of Campus Drive under the bridge, Williams noted. This closure will require the C-2 bus routes to be diverted.

The current roadwork on Campus Drive is a result of crews installing new chilled water pipes underground. Much of the sidewalk has been closed, and scores of orange traffic cones line the street, punctuated by bulldozers and construction workers. In order to transition from a two-lane road to a one-way street, four temporary stoplights have been added.

The change in traffic flow has resulted in several near-accidents, said construction worker Rochelle Murchison—an employee of Mid-Atlantic Construction, the company conducting the project. A particularly problematic situation arose on Tuesday, when vehicular flow around the traffic circle was reversed, Murchison said.

Duke men's golf opens postseason play at NCAA Tempe Regional

Michael Schreiner — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:48:05 +0000

With four regular season wins and a league title already under its belt, Duke needs to stay hot this week in the desert to keep its season alive.

The No. 7 Blue Devils will tee it up in Tempe, Ariz. Thursday through Saturday for the NCAA Tempe Regional at the par-70 ASU Karsten Golf Course. Duke, seeded behind only UCLA in the 14-team regional tournament, needs a top-five finish to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships in Atlanta later this month.

“Expectations are very high,” Duke head coach Jamie Green said. “We are tied for first at the National Championship, and that is the way we want to approach [this week].”

At the ACC Tournament last month, Green’s Blue Devils set a school record with a 25-under-par 839 that gave Duke its first ACC title since 2005. Individually, senior Adam Sumrall earned a fifth-place finish, fellow seniors Brinson Paolini and Julian Suri ended the tournament tied for seventh, and junior Austin Cody and freshman Mads Soegaard finished in a tie for 17th.

That lineup was also responsible for one of the team’s four regular season victories when it took home the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate title in March. Green has brought the same five players to Arizona for the Regional.

“I’m not saying I would never mix up a winning lineup, but in this case we had everyone contributing,” Green said. “Everybody is playing well, and [we are] going into this week with a lot of confidence.”

Since completing final exams shortly after the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devil squad has been somewhat scattered, with some players staying in Durham for golf and graduation, others heading home to practice or compete in regional qualifiers for the U.S. Open and a few doing a combination of the two.

While only Paolini made it through the first round of U.S. Open Qualifiers, Green noted that simply competing in the qualifiers will help prepare his team for this week.

“[Playing in a qualifier] kind of helps their planning and their preparation, and I think they are coming in here sharp,” Green said. “It’s not as if they haven’t played any competitive golf or they haven’t worked on their game—they’ve definitely stayed on top of it.”

With the exception of Cody, the team also enters this week with experience on the Karsten course that will host the Tempe Regional, as four out of the five Blue Devils competing this week played in Duke’s match against Grand Canyon University on the course in March.

While the course played as a par-72 for that match and will likely feature longer rough and quicker greens this week, Green says the familiarity with the layout will help his team score.

“It’s there for the taking,” Green said. “It’s not a golf course that is going to overwhelm you…. Other than a few shots that include some water hazards, it’s definitely a golf course that’s scorable.”

Duke’s five victories this season set a program record and will be facing three other ranked teams—No. 4 UCLA, No. 15 Georgia and No. 22 Texas A&M—in a field that features four conference champions.

Duke men's tennis takes on No. 8 Kentucky in Round of 16 without head coach

Olivia Banks — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:47:38 +0000

The unpredictable nature of NCAA Tournament play teaches a team to be prepared for just about anything. Except unexpected childbirths.

On Monday, the ninth-seeded Blue Devils (24-5) boarded a plane to Champaign, Ill. where they will take on No. 8 Kentucky (22-11) in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament. But they did so without head coach Ramsey Smith.

While the team was on its way to the airport, Smith was on his way to the Duke Birthing Center where he and his wife, Kathleen Smith, welcomed a newborn baby girl into the world.

“It’s not the most ideal timing in the middle of NCAAs, but it is what it is,” Smith said. “Now [assistant coach Jonathan] Stokke is in charge.”

With Stokke at the helm, the Blue Devils and Wildcats will square off Thursday at 8 p.m. at Kahn Outdoor Tennis Center.

Following back-to-back 4-0 sweeps against Coastal Carolina and UNC-Wilmington last weekend, Smith said he is confident the team will be prepared for a tight match against Kentucky. He feels that his squad has made some important strides in their games since the ACC Tournament and are more motivated than ever to compete at a high level against the top teams in the country.

“Losing to Wake Forest in the semifinals was a bit of a wake-up call for us,” Smith said. “Right now we’re underdogs, but I think we’re on track.”

Playing in the SEC, a conference that is stocked with tennis talent, the Wildcats have a lot of experience competing against top-25 teams this season. Smith noted that if the Blue Devils play like they have nothing to lose, they will fare well against higher-ranked teams.

Senior Henrique Cunha will put his undefeated singles record on the line once again against Kentucky, when the No. 9 singles player in the country takes on fifth-ranked Anthony Rossi. No. 23 Tom Jomby will play in the second singles spot for the Wildcats, and should pose a challenge for 43rd-ranked Fred Saba.

Since the ACC Tournament, Duke has started to implement what Smith calls “small group practices” in an effort to give the players more for individualized attention in preparation for NCAA competition.

The tactic appeared to pay off in the Blue Devils’ first- and second-round matches, in which their singles and doubles players defeated their opponents with relative ease.

“Our practices have been more efficient, which seems to have made the biggest difference” Smith said. “We’ve been focusing a lot more on doubles as well and I think that’s going to be important for the rest of the tournament.”

If the Blue Devils advance past Kentucky, they could move on to face No. 1 UCLA in the quarterfinals. But Smith says that in the past, the team has succeeded when playing the role of the underdog.

“It takes a little bit of pressure off the guys,” Smith said. “After winning those two matches to make it to the Round of 16, the guys can play a bit littler looser and just go after it and whatever happens, happens.”

Duke baseball hosts No. 5 N.C. State in elimination series

Daniel Carp — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:44:18 +0000

Duke needs a good deal of help to secure the ACC Tournament’s eighth and final spot—but first, the team needs to close the regular season with three wins against a dangerous N.C. State squad.

The Blue Devils (26-26, 9-18 in the ACC) would need to sweep the No. 5 Wolfpack (39-13, 16-10) this weekend at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to keep their postseason hopes alive.

For Duke to secure the last spot in the ACC Tournament field, Miami must also be swept by Georgia Tech, Wake Forest must lose at least one game to Virginia Tech and Maryland must lose at least one game to a cellar-dwelling Boston College squad that boasts a 3-23 ACC record.

Duke’s three tilts with N.C. State are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday.

“Each game is an elimination game,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “If we lose, we are not going to make the tournament. Therefore, we have to look at each game as a must-win and we’re going to do what we have to do to get to the next game.”

The Blue Devils are fresh off a 12-2 victory against UNC-Greensboro Tuesday in which the team pounded out 17 hits. Pollard said his team has solved some of its issues at the plate, and Duke’s ability to put runs on the board will be crucial in a must-win series.

“We did a very, very good job with our situational offense against UNC-Greensboro,” Pollard said. “I feel good about the way we swung the bat the last four games.”

But the Wolfpack have one of the deepest pitching staffs in the ACC. It is headlined by sophomore lefty Carlos Rodon, who is 7-2 with a 3.84 ERA on the season and leads Division I with 13.39 strikeouts per nine innings.

N.C. State has a number of weapons out of the bullpen as well, including senior Chris Overman, who has not allowed an earned run in 16 appearances this season, and fifth-year senior Grant Sasser, who is 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA in 27 games.

“Their bullpen has compensated for the fact that they’ve gotten some short starts over the last few weeks, and they’ve been able to hold the games close and give their offense a chance to get back in it,” Pollard said. “They’ve got several relievers that are tough to score on, so I think it’s important to score early.”

The Wolfpack also pack some pop at the plate. Shortstop Trea Turner ranks in the top 15 in the country with a .400 batting average and has driven in 36 runs this season. First baseman Tarran Senay leads N.C. State with 48 RBIs on the year.

Pollard said Robert Huber will take the mound Thursday for the Blue Devils to open the series. Huber started Duke’s game against Virginia last Sunday, but allowed five runs in 1.1 innings and threw just 40 pitches.

Starting Huber Thursday night will allow staff ace Trent Swart to pitch in his usual Friday night slot. Swart allowed just two earned runs in eight innings of work against the Cavaliers in his last start and will have the task of dueling Rodon.

Freshman Michael Matuella will wrap up the series Saturday for Duke, though Pollard alluded to the fact that Matuella could be utilized in relief Thursday or Friday if the Blue Devils are in a tight spot.

In addition to an outside shot at the ACC Tournament, this weekend presents the Blue Devils with an opportunity to clinch a winning record in Pollard’s first season at the helm.

If Duke takes at least two of three games from N.C. State, it will finish with a winning record for the first time since 2010.

“We all feel like this program has taken a huge step in the right direction this year, and I think a winning record would help validate that,” Pollard said. “But if we win the games we need to win this weekend, our record will take care of itself.”

Duke basketball commit Grayson Allen's competitive drive

Andrew Beaton — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:42:56 +0000

Grayson Allen is “almost over-competitive.”

“My parents were worried about me being too competitive as a kid,” said Allen, Duke’s first commit in the class of 2014.

Even getting an offer from the Blue Devil coaching staff was a competition of sorts—battling against expectations.

As a freshman, he told his head coach Jim Martin at the Providence School in Jacksonville, Fla. that Duke was his dream school. Back then, though, Allen was still relatively unknown and only receiving offers from nearby mid-majors such as South Florida and Georgia Southern.

“He was not at that time a Duke player,” Martin said.

A 6-foot-4, 185-pound guard, Allen has always had the athleticism to excel in a backcourt. The aspect of his game that needed work: shooting.

And Allen worked on his game and slowly began to receive attention from larger programs.

After Allen’s sophomore season, with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski along with assistants Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski at the Olympics, Martin cold called then-special assistant Nate James. Martin told James that he had to take a look at him, which he agreed to do at that summer’s Boo Williams event.

“That guy’s good,” James told Martin. “He can play.”

Allen has continued that improvement throughout his junior season, developing into a dangerous combo guard who sits at No. 36 in ESPN’s class of 2014 rankings.

Although a number of top schools had made offers to Allen in his junior year, and Krzyzewski had yet to, “Duke was always the school to beat,” Martin said.

“Growing up Duke became my favorite team to watch,” Allen said. “I don’t know what in particular made me gravitate towards them as a kid. I think it’s just the winning nature of it. I’m so competitive.”

There was never a guarantee Allen would get an offer. The Blue Devils rarely recruit out of Florida—Austin Rivers was the first Blue Devil to come from the Sunshine State since 1999.

Allen never paid attention to that, though. When local news anchors told Allen he was Krzyzewski’s first commit out of Jacksonville, he thought it was “pretty crazy.”

So when Krzyzewski, Wojciechowski and assistant Jeff Capel came for their in-home visit in mid-April, he was prepared for their offer.

In a recruiting scene filled with drawn-out decisions and speculation-propelled rumors mills, it took Allen nine days to accept and become the first member of Duke’s 2014 recruiting class.

“Having that [meeting] solidified that Coach K is a great guy, normal guy, funny guy and he’s cool to talk with. Having all that sums it up for me,” Allen said. “In that meeting, the big thing was me being comfortable with the coaches.”

Allen competed at the Nike EYBL session in Dallas last weekend-—his first time on the AAU circuit since he committed to Duke—-and showed why he is such an up-and-comer. The shooting guard showed off his efficiency from all over the floor against some of the top high school talent in the nation.

Despite coming off the bench, Allen averaged 18.3 points per game while leading his team Each 1 Teach 1 to a 4-0 record. That included a 28-point victory against Howard Pulley, led by Tyus Jones—a Duke target and the No. 1 guard in the class of 2014. During the course of the weekend, Allen made 68 percent of his shots and 73 percent of his 3-pointers. Maybe such savvy shooting is why Allen said he feels most comfortable playing off the ball, even though he can play both guard positions.

The improvement in Allen’s shot has made him a once-in-a-score player in Martin’s eyes.

“In my 20 years of coaching, I’ve seen great athletes who are really good basketball players, but their shot is just okay. And I’ve seen the guys who can fill it up but aren’t great athletes,” Martin said. “Grayson is the first guy I’ve seen in 20 years now that can absolutely do both.”

Allen’s competitive character also demonstrates itself off the court, where he had his most recent contest. After finishing up in Dallas, he returned home for a more democratic showdown—student government elections.

With a 4.4 GPA, Allen places a strong emphasis on academics. He noted that every school that extended him a scholarship offer has an elite basketball program, but the Duke education stood out.

Like he worked and earned his offer from the Blue Devil staff, Allen won in his race for vice president.

“He wants to be the best, wants to take on the best,” Martin said. “He has a purpose behind everything he does.”

Duke baseball bounces back, routs UNC-Greensboro 12-2

Ryan Hoerger — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:03:45 +0000

After allowing 37 runs in a three-game weekend sweep against Virginia, it was the Blue Devils' bats that allowed the team to bounce back.

Duke (26-26) finished its nonconference schedule on a high note Tuesday evening, outperforming UNC-Greensboro (22-30) in all facets of the game to earn a 12-2 road win at UNCG Baseball Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

Four Blue Devils pitchers helped to spark the team's blowout victory. James Marvel, Drew Van Orden, Sarkis Ohanian and Michael Matuella yielded just seven hits and two runs against a usually-potent Spartan offense.

“We pitched well, Marvel gave us quality innings and we were effective out of the bullpen,” Blue Devil head coach Chris Pollard said.

A freshman right-hander, Marvel opened the game with three solid innings of work, allowing one run on three hits. He was replaced by junior Drew Van Orden, who picked up the win for Duke, his third of the season. The 6-foot-4 righty scattered four hits over three innings and allowed one run.

Ohanian, a sophomore, relieved Van Orden and pitched two hitless innings and tallied a pair of strikeouts before giving way to the freshman Matuella, who dispatched the Spartans with a one-two-three ninth frame.

Coming into Tuesday’s action, UNC-Greensboro was hitting .309 as a team. The Spartans had collectively tallied 165 extra base hits and had scored 337 runs. First baseman Trevor Edwards, UNC-Greensboro’s most dangerous hitter with 12 homers on the year, went hitless in four at-bats.

The Duke offense provided the pitching staff a sizeable cushion. The Blue Devils drew first blood with a single run in the top of the third, then broke open the game by scoring three runs in the fifth, two runs in the sixth, three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth.

“I think that was as good as we’ve swung the bats all year,” Pollard said. “Our situational hitting was very good, and we were very opportunistic on offense.”

Sophomore Andy Perez and junior Mark Lumpa were the catalysts for the Blue Devil offense. The pair, occupying the top two spots in the Duke batting order, did their job to set the table for the power hitters that followed them. Each player had four hits, combining for almost half of the club’s 17 hits.

The meat of the Duke lineup did their job as well, capitalizing on run-scoring opportunities. First baseman Chris Marconcini knocked in three runs, and third baseman Jordan Betts drove in two. Lumpa had three RBIs of his own, and Perez scored three times. Right fielder Jeff Kremer added two hits, an RBI and three runs scored for the Blue Devils from the third spot in the order.

Marconcini notched his fourth triple of the year as part of a three-run seventh inning. The redshirt sophomore bookended that hit with two sacrifice flies.

Duke also got a contribution out of the eighth spot in the batting order, as catcher Ryan Munger notched two hits and scored two runs. Pollard said the senior made hard contact all night long, despite having only two hits to show for it.

The Blue Devils will close out regular season play with a home series against in-state foe N.C. State. Duke will host the No. 8 Wolfpack at Durham Bulls Athletic Park for games Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Sophomore Trent Swart, senior Robert Huber and Matuella will be the weekend starters for Duke, but Pollard said he had not yet decided the rotation’s order.

Duke baseball swept by Virginia, eliminated from ACC Tournament contention

Lopa Rahman — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:38:33 +0000

Duke entered its three-game series against No. 7 Virginia this weekend with its postseason hopes still alive. But a sweep by the Cavaliers eliminated the possibility of an ACC Tournament berth for the Blue Devils.

Virginia defeated Duke 6-5 Friday, 17-8 Saturday and 14-6 Sunday at Davenport Field in Charlottesville, Va.

“[Virginia] didn’t miss many pitches this weekend,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “With an offense like that, [the Cavaliers] have the chance to make a good run in the NCAA Tournament.”

Leading 5-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning in the series opener, the Blue Devils (25-26, 9-18 in the ACC) appeared poised to pull off the upset. The Cavaliers (42-8, 20-7) rallied for three runs, however, including a walk-off single to clinch the victory. In eight innings of work, Duke sophomore Trent Swart allowed just two earned runs and recorded six strikeouts. He also retired 12 straight batters from the second to the sixth inning.

“Trent had a tremendous outing,” Pollard said. “He pitched eight really strong innings. I can’t say enough about [his performance]. A good start is what you need on a Friday night.”

In a more lopsided contest, the Blue Devils struggled to contain Virginia’s high-powered offense Saturday. The Cavaliers combined for 13 runs in the third and fourth innings to break the game open. Down 15-1, Duke mounted a five-run rally in the top of the fifth. The Blue Devils fell short, though, as Virginia extended its lead to 16-6 in the bottom of the fifth and capped its victory with a final run in the eighth. Duke freshman Michael Matuella picked up the loss in his first ACC start, surrendering seven runs on 10 hits in 2.2 innings of work.

In the series finale, the Blue Devils jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Cavalier offense responded, and in the fifth inning, Duke trailed 7-6. With two runners on base in the sixth, the Blue Devils had the chance to tie the game but could not score.

After Duke failed to convert on that opportunity, Virginia scored five runs in the seventh to put the game away. The Cavaliers held the Blue Devils scoreless for the remainder of the contest and tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning.

“We gave up a big inning,” Pollard said. “Virginia is an explosive offense club, and they managed to pull away late.”

Sitting at the bottom of the ACC Coastal Division after this weekend, Duke will not make the conference tournament field, which will feature the top eight teams in the ACC.

The Blue Devils hope to finish their season with a winning record following a midweek matchup against UNC Greensboro and a three-game series against N.C. State next weekend.

Best-Case scenario: Matheis propels Duke lacrosse to double-overtime victory

Michael Schreiner — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:39:54 +0000

All Case Matheis needed was a couple of steps.

After 65 minutes of play and 60 shot attempts as a team, it took the freshman only a handful of strides to create the space and angle he needed to convert Duke’s 12th goal and extend his team’s season for at least one more week.

The seventh-seeded Blue Devils (13-5) survived a double overtime battle with Loyola (11-5) Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Duke needed eight second-half goals, a game-tying score at the end of regulation and Matheis’ game-winner in the second overtime period to come away with a 12-11 victory. The freshman scored three goals on the evening, including Duke’s final two goals.

“It was all pretty fast—it’s a blur,” Matheis said. “It was overtime, so you hold nothing back, and you see what you can make happen. I was fortunate enough to score.”

After junior Jordan Wolf scored the opening goal on a diving attempt less than a minute into the game, Duke gave up three consecutive goals to the Greyhounds to finish out the opening period.

Slow shifts on defense and turnovers in the box put Duke in an early hole, and the deficit could have been bigger if not for some early saves from sophomore goaltender Kyle Turri.

“[Loyola] gave me a lot of low-angle shots at the beginning and it was easy to see the ball,” Turri said. “Once I started making saves, the defense relaxed and the offense relaxed ahead of them.”

The sophomore finished the game with 13 saves and benefitted from a couple more Greyhound shots that missed after finding the crossbar rather than the back of the net. Junior Justin Ward led Loyola with five assists, including one to freshman Zach Herreweyers, who paced his team with three goals.

In the opposing goal, junior Jack Runkel played his own superb game, racking up a career-high 22 saves.

“The defense really gave me a lot of shots from players’ weak hands,” he said. “That was something that I think we worked on a lot in practice—funneling guys away from their strengths. Seeing guys’ weak hands is a lot easier than seeing their strong hands.”

Loyola had stretched its lead to 7-2, but two late goals by Duke to close the first half cut the deficit to 7-4 heading into the locker room.

After allowing long stick midfielder Scott Ratliff to put Loyola ahead by four at the beginning of the third period, four different Blue Devils scored—including two goals in a span of 11 seconds—to tie the game at 8-8 heading into the fourth quarter.

Duke then traded three Loyola goals—two from junior Mike Sawyer, Loyola’s leading goal-scorer on the season—for only two of its own in the first ten minutes of the final quarter, putting it Duke down one heading into the final minutes of regulation.

The Blue Devils gained possession after a Greyhound turnover with just two minutes left and capitalized on the opportunity when Matheis found himself in the right place at the right time. David Lawson’s shot deflected off the post, but the rebound bounced right to Matheis, who put home the goal while falling to his knees to tie the contest with 1:05 to play.

Loyola responded with one of its few faceoff victories of the day. Blake Burkhart, who finished the day at 6-of-17 at the X, won the final faceoff of regulation against Duke’s Brendan Fowler, the nation’s third best faceoff man. Burkhart drove down the middle of the field with possession and ripped a shot past Turri. But what could have been the game-winning goal never counted, as Toomey called timeout just a moment before Brukhart let the shot fly.

“We said in the huddle that if we get in the box we are going to call an immediate timeout,” Toomey said. “I apologized to [my players] at the end. It felt like maybe I had taken the game away from them. But we had made that decision to call the timeout and we’ll live with that. It’s something that I have to live with.”

After the timeout, Loyola had two more chances to put itself ahead, but the Greyhounds could not connect on either attempt, sending the game to overtime.

“Before we go into overtime, we just talk about play to win,” Danowski said. Don’t worry about the consequences of screwing up or not making a play… the attitude was just play to win. Don’t think about anything else other than that.”

A fast-paced first overtime period yielded a combined six shots and three saves from both teams, but no goals.

In the second overtime, Runkel made his 22nd save with two minutes to go, but a Loyola turnover quickly gave possession back to Duke.

Matheis emerged from the scrum with the ball, beat his defender and slung a low shot past Runkel’s stick. He was promptly tackled in a swarm of teammates in the southwest corner of the field.

The Blue Devils advance to face second-seeded Notre Dame next week in Indianapolis, with a chance to advance to Duke’s seventh consecutive national semifinal. The Greyhounds will not repeat as national champions, but Toomey lauded his team’s effort after the contest.

“When I’ve got a guy with five assists on my right and a guy that makes 22 saves in a game, it’s a bitter pill to swallow to know that you’re not moving forward,” Toomey said. “That was a great lacrosse game today, two teams that deserve to move on in the tournament. It’s a shame that that had to be played in the first round.”

BOT elects Rubenstein as chair

Danielle Muoio — Mon, 13 May 2013 02:44:31 +0000

The Board of Trustees elected David Rubenstein, Trinity ’70, as Board chair in its meeting this weekend.

Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO of private equity firm The Carlyle Group, is well known for his philanthropic support of the University, having donated over $50 million to the University. His most recent contribution to Duke was a $10 million donation to the Sanford School of Public Policy, announced Apr. 30. He has been on the board for eight years, and has spent the last two years serving as co-vice chair with Jack Bovender, Trinity ’67 and Graduate School ’69.

Rubenstein’s term as chair is effective July 1. He will succeed Richard Wagoner, Trinity ’75, who has served as board chair since 2011. Wagoner’s term on the Board concludes at the end of the fiscal year.

“I’ve been very impressed by his commitment to the University,” Wagoner said. “He’s a very open guy. I look forward to a great period for the Board of Trustees under his leadership.”

Bovender and Susan Stalnecker, Trinity ’73, will serve as vice chairs of the board. Stalnecker is the first female to fill the role of vice chair, Rubenstein said.

Neither Bovender nor Stalnecker could be reached for comment in time for publication.

In addition to the election, the Board received updates on several University initiatives, including online education, Duke Kunshan University and DukeOpen.

Under new leadership

Rubenstein, who also serves as co-chair of the Duke Forward campaign, noted that his continuous dedication to serving the University both philanthropically and as a member of the Board stems from a desire to give back.

Growing up in a household with parents that did not graduate from high school or college, Rubenstein needed considerable financial compensation to attend college. He noted that of all the universities he applied to, Duke was the most financially generous, giving him a full-ride through financial aid, loans and work study.

“I’ve always been indebted to Duke,” he said. “It’s my general view that if you get fortunate in life with material resources you should give back…. Since Duke was very good for me, it’s one of the places I like to help out when I can.”

A person can serve on the Board for a total of 12 years in any capacity. Rubenstein has served on the Board for eight years, giving him a total of four years to serve as chair.

He noted that the Board has diversified since he first joined.

“The Board used to consist of all white males,” he said. “Today, it’s pretty much split evenly by gender and it has a fair amount of diversity in other ways as well. It’s good for the University to get many different types of input from different backgrounds.”

In his time as chairman, Rubenstein hopes to continue seeing the Trustees work together “in unison.” He added that since he’s been on the Board, he has never seen the members vote— decisions are always made by consensus.

“The Board is not divided as some university boards that have big splits,” he said. “This Board works very collegially. It’s a pleasure to sit through the board meetings.”

Rubenstein added that he also hopes to see the men’s and women’s basketball teams win NCAA tournaments during his time as Board chair.

University updates

Provost Peter Lange discussed online education with the Board in the aftermath of the Arts and Sciences Council voting down for-credit online courses.

The Arts and Sciences Council vote broke a pre-existing contract with internet education company 2U, which entered the University as a partner in the company’s Semester Online consortium of schools. Prior to the vote, neither the decision to pursue online courses for credit nor the decision to sign with 2U was voted on by any faculty body or committee.

Lange said the discussion with the Board was brief. They discussed why the issue was voted down and how administrators will follow-up on the matter in the Fall. He said the outcome of the faculty vote was in large part a result of timing.

“The intense opposition came up very late and we had to get a vote by the end of the semester if we were going to start in the Fall, so things got kind of squeezed,” Lange said. “As a result we weren’t really able to talk through all the issues with people who were so intensely opposed and the vote went against us. It was really low key.”

He added that administrators still plan on moving forward with Semester Online, but did not specify in what capacity.

Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, said the Board also had a “wide-ranging” conversation with Mary Bullock, executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University, about the status of DKU.

“The application for establishment approval, which is the second part of the two-step process, has been submitted to the Ministry of Education,” Schoenfeld wrote in an email Sunday. “We expect the approval will be forthcoming in time to meet the planned opening of the University in 2014.”

DKU’s opening has been delayed five times, and now is set to open in Fall 2014. The Board is confident that the campus will open at that time, Wagoner said.

He added that the Board also discussed DukeOpen, a new student coalition advocating for greater endowment transparency.

DukeOpen created a proposal in early April asking the Board to make periodic reports to the Duke community about how the University’s money is being directed. The coalition intended for the proposal to be presented at this weekend’s Board meeting, but it was directed to the President’s Special Committee on Investment Responsibility

President Richard Brodhead discussed DukeOpen with the Board, Wagoner said, adding that the Board should hear back from the Committee during its next meeting in September.

“People are aware of the topic and are awaiting input from this committee,” Wagoner said.

Brodhead could not be reached for comment in time for publication.

In other business

The Trustees also approved the capital budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, which anticipates a 4.6 percent increase in undergraduate financial aid to $132 million. This follows the Board’s announcement in February that the cost of undergraduate tuition will increase 3.9 percent.

“Frankly, because of the economic downturn, we’ve had more financial aid costs,” Wagoner said.

Schoenfeld noted that financial aid is always increasing at a higher rate than tuition because the number of students applying and qualifying for financial aid has increased.

Executive Vice President and Treasurer Tallman Trask noted that the rate of financial aid increase is less than it was a few years ago. He does not foresee it leveling off any time soon, he said.

The Trustees also approved the University’s operating budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, totaling $2.1 billion—the same as last year.

Duke women's tennis advances to Round of 16 with a comeback victory

Daniel Carp — Mon, 13 May 2013 01:53:29 +0000

Duke dug itself out of yet another deficit to make a trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16 a little bit sweeter.

The Blue Devils (16-9) trailed 16th-seeded Texas Tech (20-7) 3-2 with two matches yet to finish Sunday afternoon at McLeod Tennis Center in Lubbock, Texas. But with wins by No. 29 Hanna Mar and Marianne Jodoin in three-set matches, Duke surged past the Red Raiders to take a 4-3 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

With the win, the Blue Devils advance to the Round of 16 for the 21st time in their last 25 tournament appearances.

“When we went onto the court, no one thought we were going to win, but we only need us, the people here, to believe that we’re going to win, and I think we proved that,” Jodoin said. “People are going to say, ‘Wow Duke is in the Sweet 16 with only five players’ but we know we deserve this spot.”

Duke began the match the same way its first-round contest began—by forfeiting the match’s first point and pulling even by winning the doubles point. Mar and Mary Clayton defeated the nation’s 16th-ranked doubles team of Samantha Adams and Keena Kilgo 8-4 and Jodoin and Annie Mulholland defeated Nikki Sanders and Rashmi Teltumbde by the same score to tie the match at 1-1 heading into singles play.

“Going into the match, we knew that doubles was definitely one of their stronger points, and I think that we stole the doubles point,” Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “I could tell that Texas Tech was a little bit nervous, and our girls took advantage and jumped on them right away.”

Mar and Jodoin both dropped the first set of their singles matches, but as the pair battled back to force a decisive third set, Duke’s Nicole Lipp fell 6-0, 6-1 at the fifth singles position and Mulholland defeated Kilgo 6-3, 7-5 to keep the match even at two points apiece.

The Red Raiders appeared to be in a position to win when Teltumbde outlasted Clayton to take a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory and put her team one win away from advancing.

Mar fell behind 3-1 in the third set, but broke serve and won the final five games of the match to notch a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory against Adams, the 80th-ranked singles player in the nation.

“This team is unbelievable, every single girl,” Jodoin said. “We are fighting on the sideline, on the court—it’s unbelievable. I’ve never been in a situation when I can look on the side and say that I am going to do this for [my team].”

With the match knotted at 3-3, Jodoin’s showdown with Elizabeth Ullathorne would decide the contest. Jodoin broke to take a 3-2 lead in the final set and extended her advantage to 5-2. But Ullathorne made a late run, winning the next game and taking a 30-15 lead with a chance to break back to 5-4.

Jodoin fought the game back to deuce, where Ullathorne was able to stave off Jodoin’s first match point. But Ullathorne sent a forehand long on Jodoin’s second match point to give the Blue Devils the contest.

“You don’t get the chance to be in the final match very often, and I got the chance to prove myself,” Jodoin said. “As a tennis player, you want to be in that position so badly.”

Duke advances to the Round of 16 in Urbana, Ill., where the Blue Devils will face top-seeded Florida Friday.

Blue Devil women's lacrosse downs Navy to reach NCAA quarterfinal

Matt Pun — Sun, 12 May 2013 20:48:17 +0000

After falling behind 4-2 in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, the Blue Devils locked down on defense to hold Navy scoreless the next 41 minutes and pull away for the win.

Holding the nation’s leader in points, Jasmine DePompeo, to no goals on seven shots and just one assist for the entire game, Duke (14-5) knocked off the eighth-seeded Midshipmen (19-2) at Annapolis, Md. Sunday afternoon to earn a spot in the quarterfinals and a rematch against top-seeded Maryland.

“We made small adjustments after the first couple goals, and I felt like once we did that we really disrupted Navy’s rhythm and that was our goal,” Blue Devil head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “[Our goal] wasn’t just to completely shut them down but take them out of what they do, and I thought our kids were very successful at that.”

Navy had entered Sunday’s contest with the nation’s 11th-best scoring offense and just one loss to its name. Junior Aimee Genarro opened the scoring for the Midshipmen after they won the draw, and after playing a little more than ten minutes, Navy had built a two-goal advantage.

After that opening run, however, Navy could not crack the Duke defense. The Midshipmen's top three scorers—Genarro, DePompeo and sophomore Loren Generi—did not score the rest of the game and finished with two goals combined on 15 total shots.

“Once we got into our rhythm, our defenders took away what their girls wanted,” Blue Devil goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea said.

Duryea racked up 10 saves on the afternoon, but her save total came in part due to how Duke’s defense prevented Navy’s attackers from getting their ideal shots off.

“When you take a team that’s very set in what they like to do and kids are in their set roles, there’s definitely got to be a level of frustration that builds up,” Kimel said. “Part of what we did for Kelsey was after we made a couple of small adjustments we gave her the shots she could take.”

Despite recording 27 fouls and giving up six free-position attempts, the Blue Devils were able to hold Navy off on four of those eight-meter attempts.

The Duke defense also won the ground ball battle 13-11 and cleared successfully on each of their 15 attempts, feeding the Blue Devils’ 7-0 scoring run.

Duke first took the lead at the 11:46 mark in the first half thanks in part to two turnovers caused by senior defender Mie Graham, and the Blue Devils continued to extend their lead through the break.

“Today has been the most rhythmic and transition-oriented offense that we’ve felt in a while,” sophomore Taylor Trimble said. “That’s been our focus for the past few weeks, just really being confident with the ball, [carrying] strong with the ball, going back to basics. Just working on that for the past few weeks has really come together for us.”

Trimble, the team’s second-leading scorer behind injured senior Makenzie Hommel, scored three times during Duke’s run and now has 36 goals on the season.

Freshman Kelci Smesko also notched three goals, to reach 29 on the season, and added two assists as the Blue Devils continue to play without 20-goal scorers Hommel and sophomore Brigid Smith.

“You want people stepping up for you and that’s what we have right now,” Kimel said.

Gates encourages graduates to connect at commencement

Raisa Chowdhury — Sun, 12 May 2013 20:28:10 +0000

Caps flew as undergraduate, graduate and professional students celebrated their new degrees in Wallace Wade Stadium Sunday morning.

Commencement speaker Melinda Gates, Trinity ’86 and Fuqua ’87, an entrepreneur, former trustee and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, discussed the importance of connection for this year’s graduating class. She encouraged students to take advantage of new technologies to maintain connections with people and, in turn, take inspiration from those people to make a difference in the world.

“Love is a part of healing, born out of a big idea, and that is the dignity of all people,” she said. “Of course not all of you are going to dedicate your whole life to eradicating poverty. That doesn’t mean you can’t form deep human connections or that your connections can’t make a difference in the world if you make the moral choice to connect deeply with others.”

Although abstract conceptions of humanity and poverty are not enough to motivate people to be civically engaged, she noted that truly seeing and understanding all people as three-dimensional individuals will elicit commitment to working towards an equitable world.

She related how much technology has changed since she was a student at Duke, which was before students had their own personal computers. As a computer science major, she recollected spending time in the basements of “creepy” buildings on campus, working on coding assignments because it was difficult to find an open computer to use with the high demand.

Despite the importance of technological changes, it is important to realize that technology is only a tool, she said.

“Technology is just a tool, it’s a powerful tool, but it’s just a tool,” Gates said. “Human connection is very different. It’s not a tool, it’s not a means to the end, it is the end. It’s the purpose of a meaningful life and it will inspire the most amazing acts of love, generosity and humanity.”

The increasing volume of scientific and technological creations are the means for “lighting up” a worldwide network of seven billion people with long lasting and highly motivating connections, she added.

Belle Sukniam graduated from the school of nursing in December, but came back to participate in the ceremonies Sunday in order to hear Gates speak. Knowing Gates was also once a new graduate is inspiring, Sukniam said.

“She didn’t know she would be Melinda Gates, that she would be able to help so many people,” Sukniam said. “Hopefully, one day we’ll follow and be able to give back to our communities and make Duke proud.”

2013/05/12 Commencement 2013 - Images by Duke Student Publishing Co. Duke Chronicle

Student commencement speaker Andrew Barnhill, Divinity ’13, spoke before Gates in the commencement ceremony. He emphasized the importance of the individual moments that compose a meaningful Duke experience and how they feed into one’s “outrageous ambitions” for the future.

“For some that moment may be on a spring night, screaming for Smash Mouth…and sometimes the moments are more weighty, like today, the relief to your mom and dad’s checkbook,” Barnhill said. “Through each of them, we are challenged to find our voices and our places in Duke’s identity.”

Barnhill added that there is a “deeply Duke” culture of continuously improving the way things are customarily done that has prepared students to go forth and contribute innovatively to society.

“We know that before us lie new epiphanies, adding layers to the moments that have come before,” Barnhill said. “It looked like outrageous ambitions, but today, it looks like sacred moments.”

The University awarded over 3,800 degrees to undergraduate, graduate and professional students who completed their programs of study this Spring. Over 1200 students who graduated in September or December 2012 were also invited back to participate in the commencement ceremony.

During the ceremony, Gates received an honorary degree for her philanthropic work in the United States and around the world. Honorary degrees were also presented to human rights activist Marguerite Barankitse; immunologist Max Cooper; national archivist and librarian, David Ferriero; Henry Louis Gates Jr, a literary critic and scholar of African-American literature; William Hunt Gross, founder and managing director of one of the world’s largest investment firms; and Judith Jamison, the artistic director of a New York based dance company.

Sara Ali, a rising sophomore in high school and the younger sister of Hamid Ali, who graduated from the Pratt School of Engineering today, said she enjoyed the commencement ceremonies as a whole, particularly the concise nature of each portion of the morning. She plans to apply to the University.

“It makes me excited for college and kind of overwhelmed for the future,” Sara Ali said.

Gates concluded by asking the graduates what they see themselves accomplishing post-graduation.

“I can’t wait to see what you do,” she said.

Duke women's golf captures NCAA Central Regional with 12-under final round

Daniel Carp — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:47:49 +0000

Heading into the final day of competition, Duke was six strokes down. When the Blue Devils walked off the golf course, they were six strokes up.

No. 3 Duke shot 12-under-par as a team in Saturday’s final round to capture the NCAA Central Regional at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla. The Blue Devils began the day six shots behind the tournament’s host, No. 4 Oklahoma, but Duke surged past the Sooners on the final day of play to take its eighth regional championship in program history.

“It’s not a comfortable place to be, but it’s doable if you’re six back,” head coach Dan Brooks said. “We had a very positive outlook going into today... I told them that I would bet on us because we have a very talented group but they’re also demonstrating a lot of poise.”

The Blue Devils’ 12-under-par performance in the tournament’s final round was the second-lowest 18-hole total in school history on a par-72 course.

Leading the way for Duke was senior Courtney Ellenbogen, who shot the best round of her career Saturday with a five-under 67. Ellenbogen finished in ninth place individually on the weekend. Following the conclusion of the tournament, Ellenbogen flew back to Durham to attend her graduation Sunday.

“I couldn’t be happier for her as a senior,” Brooks said. “What a great feeling going into graduation to have shot that 67.”

Junior Alejandra Cangrejo also posted a career-best, shooting the lowest three-round score of her career with a five-under 211. Cangrejo tied for second individually and posted three birdies in the final nine holes Saturday to widen the Blue Devils’ lead.

“Her scores were crucially important for our team,” Brooks said. “It seems like she’s grown up five years in the last couple of months. I’m really proud of Alejandra.”

Continuing her string of consistent play was senior Lindy Duncan, who recorded the 20th top-five finish of her career by shooting a four-under 212.

Laetitia Beck had struggled in her first two rounds, posting scores of 74 and 78 in the first two days of competition. But the junior from Israel rolled in a birdie putt on her first hole of the final round and posted a four-under 68 to help her team’s cause.

“I’m not exactly sure what caused her middle round score to be as high as it was,” Brooks said. “She’s striking the ball very well. I don’t think it’s very serious and if she gets back out on the course she needs to play through that stuff.”

By placing in the top eight of the 24-team tournament, the Blue Devils will advance to compete in the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. May 21-24. Duke’s last regional championship came in 2007—a team that went on to capture the national championship as well.

As the Blue Devils return to Durham for a week of practice, Brooks said that they will simply try to stay in rhythm, rather than making any significant adjustments to the team’s approach.

The head coach added that although his team coming off of a win, he believes it still has room left to grow.

“I don’t think we have peaked yet,” Brooks said. “We have about a week to get it together. Alabama was not at this regional and they are really good and Southern Cal is an excellent team. What we did at our regionals might or might not have held up to those teams. So we have to get an edge between now and the NCAA Championships.”