The Duke Men’s Lacrosse had their home opener yesterday, defeating Dartmouth 17-11. It was their well deserved start at normalcy after having their season cancelled last year. Originally I was not going to photograph the event (originally I planned on doing UNC’s home opener) but I received a call from Inside Lacrosse to photograph the game for them and well, money is a motivator. In any case, it was great to be back photographing my favorite sport to photograph. Forget ACC basketball; I forgot how much I loved this sport until today.
The media was not as intense as I originally expected. But it was certainly more than one would find at a typical lacrosse game. Even the AP covered the event; I don’t know if the AP has ever covered a lacrosse game except maybe NCAA title games. There were some TV crews but really not many. After doing NFL this to me was low key. Fortunately, there were no protesters. Just a good friendly crowd. 
I felt bad for the Duke kids really. During pregame warm-up, we were taking pictures of everything they did. Like another photographer said, “If they fart, we take a picture”. That’s just part of our job. I feel bad doing it at times but I am there to do a job and paid to do it. In the end, however, I think all the media attention was good. It showed the team returning to normal life after all the craziness they have been through. Today was the first day of their return to being just regular college student athletes.
Even though I am a UNC grad, I found myself pulling for the Duke team. I wanted them to win it after all that has happened to them. Just don’t tell the folks at UNC; I might have my diploma revoked.
Here are pictures of Duke Lacrosse vs. Dartmouth.