Lacosse Players Speak Out

[Sydney Carton]

   http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1234170962267710.xml&coll=2

Former Duke lacrosse players give clinic at Hoover High, tell about teammates' indictments and later clearance on all charges
Monday, February 09, 2009
RAY MELICK
News staff writer

About 50 of the top high school lacrosse players from across the state gathered at Hoover High School over the weekend for a two-day clinic.

They got the chance to work with three former members of one of the top programs in NCAA lacrosse, the Duke Blue Devils.

Yes, that Duke lacrosse team, the one that made headlines three years ago for something that happened off the field.

Ed Douglas, Nick O'Hara and Danny Loftus were on the Duke team that saw its 2006 season shut down after allegations of sexual assault were brought against three of their teammates - Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty - who were indicted in the spring of that year on charges of rape, kidnapping, and sexual offense. They were later cleared of all charges and declared innocent by the attorney general of North Carolina.

It was a story that captivated the nation for over a year, a story that went from outrage against the Duke lacrosse team to bringing about the disgrace and disbarment of Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong for his mishandling of the case.

"To some degree, the association with Duke lacrosse and that story will be around for a long, long time," said Douglas, from Baltimore, Md.

"The good thing is that we were fortunate to be wealthy enough to fight back," said O'Hara, from Buffalo, N.Y. "If not, there might be three innocent guys sitting in jail today. Instead, they were exonerated and the whole thing wound up doing something good for Durham County (in) getting Mr. Nifong's removal from office."

The case started with a woman's allegations that she was sexually assaulted at a March 2006 lacrosse team party, where she was hired as an exotic dancer. Nifong won indictments against Seligmann, Evans and Finnerty, but the charges were later dropped. State attorney general Roy Cooper went a step farther by declaring the three men innocent victims of Nifong's "tragic rush to accuse."

Douglas, O'Hara and Loftus were members of the Duke team that lost in the NCAA Championship game in 2005, then lost its 2006 season when Duke officials made the decision to forfeit the season while the alleged rape was being investigated.

They returned to play in 2007, where the Blue Devils lost again in the NCAA championship game and reached the final four in 2008.

"That first year back, in 2007, everyone was supportive because they understood by then the injustices that occurred," Douglas said. "But by 2008, they were back to cheering against us, because Duke lacrosse is like Duke basketball, the team everyone loves to hate. And to be treated like that was good, because it meant the other had been put behind us."

The three players who worked the Hoover clinic graduated from Duke last spring. O'Hara and Loftus continue to play lacrosse professionally, in indoor and outdoor leagues, while Douglas works in Baltimore.

They also have teamed up to put on clinics across the country, such as the one put on by Hoover High lacrosse coach Chris Cos. In addition to Hoover, the three have taken part in lacrosse clinics in West Palm Beach, Fla., Columbia, S.C., Little Rock, Ark., and Tulsa, Okla.

"We're like going to non-traditional lacrosse areas," Loftus said. "Because we see the sport spreading around the country, and we want to help improve the quality in areas that are not seen as hotbeds of lacrosse."

Douglas, O'Hara and Loftus do not run from the events of 2006, when they acknowledge that, for a while, being a member of the Duke lacrosse team was like being on "America's Most Wanted."

"We do talk about our story," Loftus said. "These clinics are not just about lacrosse skills. We tell our story, and we talk about using good judgment and the importance of academics."

Douglas said the entire incident underscored for them the level of scrutiny that college athletes live under.

"On one level, we saw first-hand the difference in appearance vs. reality," he said. "But also we saw how, as athletes, we're held under higher scrutiny from the public. We learned the responsibility that comes with the privilege of playing college athletics.

"It's life. We all dealt with what happened in different ways. But we all learned broader life lessons that we carry with us, and try to share with athletes at clinics like this one."

E-mail: rmelick@bhamnews.com
 
 
     

[Sydney Carton]

   http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2008-09/news/021009_mcfadyen

No Longer Villain, McFadyen Fires Up Duke 'D'

by Matt DaSilva | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

Defenseman Ryan McFadyen says he learned how to hit harder as a special teams player for Duke’s football team, a skill that could translate to big impact on the lacrosse field.


Ryan McFadyen knows the e-mail was a wretched thing to write. That’s why he wrote it, to get a yuk out of what he thought was a private audience by quoting a book (and movie) whose protagonist makes Marilyn Manson look like Mother Theresa – shock value.

Little did he know that e-mailing teammates in jest about skinning and killing strippers (among other vulgarities) would become national news in the Duke lacrosse nightmare.

“You Google my name, there are all these links to the e-mail saying this kid’s a psychotic lunatic,” said McFadyen, whose e-mail paraphrased a passage from American Psycho. “Dialogue is the best way to overcome any preconceived notions people have about my character. Talk to me for 10 minutes. I’m not that person.”

Vilified publicly when Durham police released the contents of the e-mail as part of District Attorney Mike Nifong’s “tragic rush to accuse,” as the false rape allegations against three of his teammates were later declared, McFadyen could hardly be blamed if he bolted campus. But he didn’t.

Instead, when reinstated following a brief suspension, McFadyen rededicated himself to the university and Blue Devils. The last two seasons, he helped anchor Duke’s defense in runs to the NCAA championship game and semifinals, respectively.

“I could never play lacrosse for another school,” he said.

In the fall, McFadyen took it a step further, earning a scholarship as a walk-on to Duke’s football team in part because of a challenge issued unintentionally by men’s lacrosse coach John Danowski.

In a sports psychology exercise last spring, Danowski told the team about his life, and how much he regretted quitting football as a third-string quarterback his senior year at Rutgers, where he also played lacrosse.

“I told them how I got consumed with my ego – what a jerk,” Danowski said. “What Ryan heard was the no regrets part.”

McFadyen had always been told he’d make a good football player. And despite no previous gridiron experience, he wanted to prove it to himself. He also felt guilty asking his parents to pay for him to return to Duke for an NCAA-granted fifth year of eligibility without the scholarship he previously had in lacrosse.

At 6-foot-6, 245 pounds, but with the shiftiness of a lacrosse player, McFadyen got playing time as a tight end and on special teams. He helped block a kick against Vanderbilt and made a fair catch against Miami.

But he was a man amongst beasts.

“I go from being the strongest guy on my team to not even being in the top 10,” he said. “Guys are benching 500 pounds, and I’m like, ‘Do you need a spotter?’”

Now he knows how Max Quinzani feels.

Already the enforcer of Duke’s defense, McFadyen said the most important skill he gleaned from football was learning how to hit the right way.

Hard.

“I’m used to a kickoff return or cover, running down and throwing my body full speed into someone,” he said. “If anyone on our lacrosse team complains, I’ll tell them to do a Bloody Tuesday session. It speaks for itself – full pads, and you’re not holding anything back.”

The Blue Devils, ranked No. 8 in Lacrosse Magazine's preseason poll, host No. 20 Bucknell in both teams' season-opener Saturday.

[Sydney Carton]

   http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/backpage/archives/2009/02/selena-roberts.html

February 11, 2009
Selena Roberts and the Duke case

Those who choose to come to Alex Rodriguez's defense by shooting the messenger -- in this case Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts -- are using her coverage of the Duke lacrosse rape case as their ammuntion.

Looking back to the Duke situation, in late-winter 2006/07, it's clear Roberts was heavily criticized for the columns she wrote while working for the New York Times.

This isn't to say she's right or wrong in the case of Rodriguez.

From the blog TimesWatch: "As columnist Selena Roberts reportedly leaves the Times to write for Sports Illustrated, her execrable treatment of the Duke lacrosse team should not be forgotten. Three players were falsely accused of raping a stripper, a hoax Roberts not only fully embraced but used to tar the entire athletic department as a racist, woman-hating bastion of white privilege."

More from TimesWatch: "Times sports columnist Selena Roberts attacks innocent Duke players with sarcasm and accusations of white privilege: 'Don't mess with Duke, though. To shine a light on its integrity has been treated by the irrational mighty as a threat to white privilege....lay off the lacrosse pipeline to Wall Street, excuse the khaki-pants crowd of SAT wonder kids.'"

From the blog Fanhouse: "Sports columnist Selena Roberts is a gifted writer who usually sounds just the right notes in writing about the way sports intersects with issues like race, class, politics and the law. But she was dead wrong about the Duke lacrosse case."

[Sydney Carton]

   From Lax News ,February 14th,2009
      snip
Powder Springs, Ga.- Loyola attackman Collin Finnerty scored a career-high four goals and assisted on another but Notre Dame's Ryan Hoff scored the game-winner with 5:24 remaining to break the tie and the ninth-ranked Irish held on for a 10-9 victory over the No. 17 Greyhounds in the team's season opener at McEachern High School.

With Loyola trailing by a goal in the final minutes, Notre Dame goalkeeper Scott Rodgers denied multiple opportunities over the last 1:30 to preserve the win. Loyola midfielder Jimmy Daly had three good looks at the goal-the first being sent wide left- and the other two snatched up by Rodgers. Daly's last effort came with 15 ticks remaining.

Trailing by a goal going into the final quarter, Loyola evened the game at 8-8 on Finnerty's fourth goal of the day just 1:30 into the period. Attackman Matt Langan found himself positioned behind the Notre Dame goal and passed it to Finnerty from 10 yards out, who buried his attempt.

The Irish would reclaim the lead, 9-8, on Grant Krebs' second goal of the day with 9:19 left. The Greyhounds, though, would again claw back two minutes later on Daly's second of the afternoon, with the assist coming from midfielder Chris Hurst, to knot the action at 9 apiece.

But Hoff's goal with five and a half minutes remaining--assisted by Krebbs--ultimately proved to be the difference in a see-saw afternoon of non-conference action.

"I liked our kid's effort out there today," Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey said. "We made a few too many mental mistakes but we competed and played hard, and we look forward to hosting Towson next week."

A Hicks goal put Notre Dame up, 1-0, 6:12 into the game. The Greyhounds would quickly respond, though, as Daly made a nice move in the open field to beat Rodgers low and even the game at 1-1, two minutes later.

The Irish would take a 2-1 lead with 2:26 remaining in the first on a tally by Hoff-- with the second assist coming from Duncan Swezey-- and David Earl would quickly make it a two-goal deficit with an unassisted goal less than a minute later.

Loyola, though, proceeded with a 4-0 spurt over the next five minutes to claim a 5-3 lead. First, Eric Lusby received a feed from Finnerty to find the net with 0:25 seconds left in the first to trim the lead to Irish lead to 3-2.

Then, Finnerty opened the second with a goal of his own at the 13:43 mark. He collected a groundball on a shot at the left side of the field and beat Rodgers high to tie the game, 3-3.



On the ensuing face-off, John Schiavone controlled the draw and pushed toward the goal, finding Finnerty for his second goal of the day to give Loyola a two-goal cushion, 5-3.

   snip





2009-02-14

[Sydney Carton]

     Ex-Duke lacrosse coach finds success at RI program

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/232/story/574027.html

By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press Writer
Posted: Tuesday, Mar. 03, 2009

SMITHFIELD, R.I. Mike Pressler was convinced he'd never coach again after he was forced to resign from Duke University when three of his lacrosse players were accused of raping a stripper.

He was spurned by his college alma mater, denied interviews for high school positions and resorted to contacting former players for help getting work. His only offer came from a Division II program in northern Rhode Island far from the rarefied top-tier of college lacrosse occupied by Duke.

But three years later, and with the rape allegations fully debunked, Pressler is relishing a resurgent career at Bryant University. The Bulldogs are playing their first season against Division I competition, marching through a bruising schedule of Virginia, Maryland, Brown and other elite teams. His focus on building Bryant's program has helped raise the school's profile - and helped Pressler move beyond his acrimonious departure from Duke.

"I always say to the guys, 'Being at the top is great, but the journey's a heck of a lot more fun,' " said Pressler, who was hired at Bryant in August 2006. "To take our team to Division I in our third season, open at Virginia ... that's thrilling stuff, that's invigorating stuff."

His presence has paid dividends.

One of Pressler's former Duke players, Zack Greer, a three-time All-American and the all-time NCAA goals leader, used his final season of eligibility to enroll at Bryant as a business graduate student and leads the team with 13 goals in four games. Next year, Pressler will coach the U.S. team in the World Games in England.

"It's quite gratifying to see him land on his feet at Bryant," said Virginia lacrosse coach Dom Starsia, a longtime friend of Pressler's. "I think he's having a blast right now."

Bryant would have seemed an unlikely destination for Pressler, regarded as one of the country's top college coaches after going 153-82 in 16 seasons at Duke and leading the Blue Devils to the 2005 Division I title game.

But his career unraveled in March 2006 when an exotic dancer said she was raped in the bathroom of an off-campus house during a team party. The season was canceled and Pressler was ousted. Three players were indicted on rape charges that were dismissed the following year by North Carolina state prosecutors who declared the allegations fabricated.

Pressler contemplated leaving the sport. Instead, he was hired by Bryant after being recommended to the athletics director, Bill Smith, by a mutual friend and fellow college coach. Smith said he carefully vetted Pressler, clearing him with the university president and dissecting an internal Duke report chronicling the team's off-the-field behavior.

"It became very apparent to me early on that not only had Mike not done anything wrong - he had done everything right," Smith said.

Though grateful for the job, Pressler said the transition to a lower-caliber program was initially uneasy, especially for a coach who had just competed for a national championship. Bryant's lacrosse program was relatively new - it formed in 2000 - and, unlike Duke, didn't have access to the top high school recruits.

The Bulldogs won the Northeast-10 Conference's regular season title in Pressler's first year and won a school-record 14 games last season to reach the Division II tournament.

Bryant began moving its entire athletics program to Division I last fall. The men's lacrosse team, which is on a fast-track to full membership, won't be eligible for the NCAA tournament until 2011 but set up a loaded schedule this spring.

Bryant won three of its first four games after dropping its season opener, 10-4, to then-top ranked Virginia. The team's schedule will reunite Pressler with two of the exonerated ex-Duke players - Reade Seligmann, now at Brown, and Collin Finnerty at Loyola of Maryland.

Pressler said he's been approached by other schools looking for new coaches, but signed a four-year contract extension in August to solidify his presence at Bryant.

"What you're really looking for is people you can trust and people you can count on, and he may have found that at Bryant," Starsia said. "I wouldn't assume that he's only there for the short-term."

Still, it's hard to completely escape his past. Pressler has a slander lawsuit pending against Duke and a former university spokesman, accusing him of making disparaging comments to the media and violating terms of a confidential settlement the coach reached with the university. And Pressler said emotions are probably still too raw for a Bryant-Duke matchup.

Parents of his new recruits bring up the case, asking Pressler how his family got through the ordeal and how the vindicated athletes are doing. But it's nothing compared to his first season, which unfolded while the charges were still pending.

That year, he regularly discussed the Duke case with his new players and helped them navigate the unprecedented swirl of attention they received.

Now, he said, "all we talk about is lacrosse."
 

[Sydney Carton]

     If you want to buzz over to this site,you can also get a fine colour photograph of Matt.  Straight Shooters: Matt Zash on improving faceoff quickness
Baltimore Sun staff
7:45 PM EDT, March 20, 2009
 
Matt Zash was a two-time All-American midfielder at Duke. (Handout photo)



"Straight Shooters" answers your youth lacrosse questions with the help of US Lacrosse experts. This week's "Straight Shooter" is Matt Zash. Zash was a two-time All-American midfielder at Duke. He plays professionally for Major League Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse League. Currently, Zash owns and operates the Lax Hut, a chain of lacrosse retail stores. Zash was also a member of the 2003 U.S. U-19 Men's World Championship team.

   snip

"Straight Shooters" runs on baltimoresun.com and laxmagazine.com. E-mail your lacrosse questions to sports@baltsun.com and include a phone number for e-mail verification. US Lacrosse, headquartered in Baltimore, is the national governing body of men's and women's lacrosse.






 

[Sydney Carton]

   



  http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2008-09/news/041409_duke

Apr 14, 2009

Duke An Underdog? There Goes That Theory

by Jesse Baumgartner | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online


This easily could have been a bit of a rebuilding year for the Duke men's lacrosse team. Heck, with two losses in its first four games (including one to Harvard), it was starting to look like one.

Since then? Try seven wins in eight games, and none of them bigger than Saturday's 15-10 victory against previously undefeated Virginia on national TV to earn a share of the regular-season ACC title.

"It's a fun one. Every team goes through it sooner or later," head coach John Danowski said when asked about the process of his team finding an identity this season. "Every team in one form or another has to experience [it]. It's kind of like a baptism of the fire. There are going to be days when things don't go that well initially, and that's how you learn and get better."

The Blue Devils have gotten better in a hurry.

After two straight losses to fall to 2-2 back on Feb. 28, they reeled off four straight wins, including an ACC road victory against North Carolina. Following a 10-6 loss to Cornell, they've now knocked down three more opponents in succession as they near postseason play on a nice little roll.

Danowski said part of the process of improving up front on attack -- where his team lost superstars Matt Danowski and Zack Greer from last season -- has just been "a matter of guys playing."

"For some guys, maybe it's the first time they've played since they were in high school, and it's different. The game is faster, your opponents are bigger, stronger, faster, more well-prepared," he said. "And each week, you learn very quickly that if you don't play with confidence, if you don't play at full speed, then somebody is going to make a play against you."

But the Blue Devils have also had an upperclassman to carry them through some of the trying moments, and that never hurts.

Senior Ned Crotty has made a seamless transition from midfield to attack this year. Against the Cavaliers, he posted six assists to go along with two goals. That earned him ACC Player of the Week honors and puts him at 13 goals and 36 assists for the season, showing that he certainly hasn't lost his identity as a playmaker in the switch up front.

"He's got tremendous, deceptive moves behind the cage, and as he drives to the goal, he's a threat to score," Danowski said.

"And he has the ability to get goals, but he's extremely unselfish and he plays with his head up. He just makes the plays that are available to him. There will be times I think where you're going to see him get multiple-goal games because people don't slide. Because they're going to have to pick their poison."

The Blue Devils have also benefitted this season from being able to sail under the spotlight a bit since they started the year without an absurdly high ranking.

"And absolutely, I think any team in the country, any sport, will tell you it's always easier being the underdog," Danowski said.

The somewhat less-touted Blue Devils have played that hand well so far this year. But after downing the nation's No. 1 team, it's safe to say they won't surprise anyone going forward. 

[Sydney Carton]

   From Liestoppers.blogspot.and and of course with the heartfellt support of all but a few people over here.
 
Saturday was  Graduation Day for Duke University. For those members of the 2006 Duke Lacrosse Team who were freshmen it means the end of a long journey.

Our congratulations to the Graduates and their Families. You deserve this day!

The Duke Chronicle did a retrospective of the Class of 2009. Sally Fogarty, whom I believe is a Lacrosse Mom to two Lacrosse players and Duke Graduate herself, had this comment.

Sally Fogarty
posted 5/08/09 @ 2:35 PM EST

There are members of the mens'lacrosse team who were freshmen four years ago and now graduating seniors. For them, the "Duke lacrosse scandal" brought much more to the forefront than "town gown relations and campus culture." As freshmen,their Coach was fired; their season cancelled; their complete support system dismantled. They had to leave campus every weekend because of threats of drive by shootings and the threats of the Black Panthers. They were harassed by fellow students and humiliated by professors.Posters with their pictures hung all over campus accusing them as rapists or those who supported rapists. Other schools which had heavily recruited them would not reconsider them because they were "radioactive." They had to endure the constant fear that they might be the next one arrested while they suffered tremendously for their friends and teammates, Colin and Reade, and for their coach whom they loved and respected, Mike Pressler.

Critics charge that this was "just one example of an off campus social scene that had spiralled out of control." What about a dishonest, corrupt prosecutor who spiralled out of control and an administration that did nothing to help and support innocent students?

These former freshmen who are now seniors at the very least deserve a line in your article that states that there was no rape; there should have been no scandal; and that the whole thing was handled horrendously.

For all the student athletes and their families who endured this and still are dealing with the aftermath, it was an excruciatingly anxious time when those in the midst lost all faith in truth and justice and authority. It was impossible to fathom that the administration of the university that they had so carefully chosen over many others didn't care enough about them to take even the most obvious and basic measures to learn the truth. The truth did not matter and the truth was unacceptable because the truth did not meet the misguided agenda of political correction.

   SC:
    Have a great life,kids!

[Sydney Carton]

   http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-lacros/recaps/050909aaa.html

Duke Defeats Navy In First Round Of NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament

Blue Devils hand Mids worst NCAA Tournament loss since 1993

Andy Tormey



May 9, 2009

DURHAM, N.C.--Navy's first-round NCAA Lacrosse Tournament game at Duke Saturday night was delayed by 30 minutes because of severe thunderstorms in the Durham area. When the game finally did start, only one team was ready to play as third-seeded Duke (14-3) scored the first 10 goals of the game en route to a 14-5 victory over Navy (11-5) at Koskinen Stadium. It was Navy's worst loss in an NCAA Tournament game since 1993 when the Mids fell to Loyola, 19-8, and it was the worst loss in any game for the Mids since losing to Johns Hopkins, 17-3, in 2003.

"Duke played really well and we didn't match their intensity," said Navy head coach Richie Meade. "We had a deer in the headlights look at the beginning of the game and they were able to get some easy goals. Tommy Phelan didn't see the ball well at the beginning of the game and that put us behind the eight ball."

snip
Zach Howell, Max Quinzani, Brad Ross, Mike Catalino and Robert Rotanz scored two goals apiece for the Blue Devils. Howell had three assists, while Crotty dished out two.

[Sydney Carton]

   http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2009/05/three_years_after_scandal_delb.html


Three years after scandal, Delbarton product Ryan McFadyen leading Duke lacrosse into Final Four
Posted by bwentwor May 21, 2009 23:00PM
Duke PhotographyFormer Delbarton standout Ryan McFadyen, after a tumultuous spring of 2006, has helped lead Duke to the men's lacrosse Final Four each of the past three seasons.

RELATED CONTENT: How Duke's coach got the program back on track, plus a guide to the NCAA men's and women's lacrosse championships

On the nine-hour drive from North Carolina back to Mendham, Ryan McFadyen sat in silence, listening to his father.

"Let's get on the horn," John McFadyen told his son. "Let's start getting in touch with other college coaches. Obviously, you're not going to graduate from Duke."

From the passenger's seat, Ryan McFadyen wondered what people would think if he ever returned to campus from his temporary suspension.

Three Duke lacrosse players were indicted in the spring of 2006 on charges of rape, sexual assault and kidnapping stemming from a team party with an exotic dancer. The university canceled the remainder of that season before the players were exonerated of all charges a year later when the accusations were shown to be false. McFadyen was reinstated two months after getting kicked out of school for a crude e-mail sent to friends.

Three years have passed since McFadyen's role in a scandal that divided a community along racial and socioeconomic lines. But when Duke makes its third consecutive Final Four appearance this weekend -- the Blue Devils (15-3) face Syracuse Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. -- the lessons learned from the darkest moment in program history are fresh in the minds of those who lived through it.

"It's definitely been a crazy ride," said senior Ned Crotty, a New Vernon native, who starred at Delbarton with McFadyen. "There were just so many questions that we didn't have answers to for a long time."

McFadyen slowly rebuilt his sullied image.

"I can't change the past," he said. "I regret things, but I've learned so much from what happened. It's made me the person that I am today and I'm very proud of the person I've developed into."

Said Crotty: "Never take anything for granted. Because we had everything taken away from us with a snap of the fingers."

McFadyen's life started to change on March 14, 2006, at 1:58 a.m. The then-sophomore defenseman didn't realize it at the time, but he was about to heighten tensions.

A half-hour after an exotic dancer informed Durham police that she had been raped the night of March 13 inside a house rented by three Duke lacrosse players across from the school's east campus, McFadyen sent a private e-mail to teammates that, in part, read:

"tomorrow night, after tonights show, ive decided to have some strippers over... .however there will be no nudity. i plan on killing the b*tches as soon as the walk in and proceding to cut their skin off ..."

He wrote the message in jest, parodying a passage from the novel-turned-movie "American Psycho." The joke, however, was lost on investigators and university officials.

McFadyen became one of the lightning rods in the simmering feud regarding athletes of privilege run amok and was stigmatized along with accused players Collin Finnerty, David Evans and Essex Fells native Reade Seligmann.

"It was always those three and me -- the kid who wrote this completely repulsive e-mail," McFadyen said. "'He must be a sociopath. He must be unstable.' ... I never had a chance to speak my side of the story. Nobody ever gave me any opportunity to explain myself."

On April 5, 2006, the same day the university indefinitely suspended the lacrosse season after eight games, McFadyen was temporarily suspended for violating the students' code of conduct.

When McFadyen rode through the night back to New Jersey, he was sure of his path. His father wanted him to have a fresh start, but the following morning McFadyen had a clear message for his lawyer: "Listen," he said. "I'm coming back to Duke. I'm going to graduate from this university."

McFadyen didn't want to run and hide.

"I didn't want to leave Duke in that light," he said. "I wanted to be with the guys who had gone through the experience with me. I wanted to leave with a better reputation than when I got suspended. ... I wanted to be a part of the healing process."

In May 2007, the NCAA granted the school's request for an extra year of eligibility for players following the lost season. McFadyen, who received his bachelor's degree in history and economics last year, chose to stay for a fifth year of athletic eligibility and also played on the football team last fall. He's now working on his graduate thesis on the global economic liberalization of the 1980s.

"He embraced his own struggle," Duke coach John Danowski said. "When he could have left, he chose to stay."

And with Duke two wins away from its first national title, McFadyen speaks of family and wishes his friends Seligmann and Finnerty, who both transferred before they were cleared, could share in the success.

The fallout from the scandal is gone, but their bond remains.


Comments
doomsdayhere says...

Crystal Gayle Mangum got off on the pretense that she was mentally unstable.She seems to be doing rather well now.
Posted on 05/22/09 at 2:23AM

[Krystal Night]

   http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2009/05/three_years_after_scandal_delb.html




 "Never take anything for granted. Because we had everything taken away from us with a snap of the fingers."

Hmmmmm..So was Ms. Crystal Gail Mangum's money taken with the snap of five sticky fingers!

[Sydney Carton]

   KN(A Rose by any other name doth smell as sweet)
      Hmmmmm..So was Ms. Crystal Gail Mangum's money taken with the snap of five sticky fingers!
   SC:
     Actually,Crystal abandoned the money to go after Dave Evans' shaving kiit.Her sticky fingers just couldn't hold everything at once and she opted  for what she believed to be the more valuable article.
   Crystal  herself  wanted Kim Roberts,not one of the players, prosecuted for "stealing"  "her" money; and surely, Immie-Holiday-Joan of Dark, you of all women don't believe Crystal iis an inherently  untruthful person? So you must believe that it was Kim who "stole" the money! N'est ce pas?

   Actually it would be pretty   to think that Crystal was so ashamed of her malignant behavior that  when she cast off the money felt the contritions of remorse and truly wished her juvenile victims  to recover the money which she had extracted from them under false pretenses,but we know that she abandoned it because there she believed there was even more money to be extorted otherwise from the white boys.
 
   She guessed wrong once again .It's the story of her entire llife! And the lives of all the other pathetic wrong guessers who rallied to her cause!

[Krystal Night]

   KN(A Rose by any other name doth smell as sweet)
      Hmmmmm..So was Ms. Crystal Gail Mangum's money taken with the snap of five sticky fingers!
   SC:
     Actually,Crystal abandoned the money to go after Dave Evans' shaving kiit.Her sticky fingers just couldn't hold everything at once and she opted  for what she believed to be the more valuable article.
   Crystal  herself  wanted Kim Roberts,not one of the players, prosecuted for "stealing"  "her" money; and surely, Immie-Holiday-Joan of Dark, you of all women don't believe Crystal iis an inherently  untruthful person? So you must believe that it was Kim who "stole" the money! N'est ce pas?

   Actually it would be pretty   to think that Crystal was so ashamed of her malignant behavior that  when she cast off the money felt the contritions of remorse and truly wished her juvenile victims  to recover the money which she had extracted from them under false pretenses,but we know that she abandoned it because there she believed there was even more money to be extorted otherwise from the white boys.
 
   She guessed wrong once again .It's the story of her entire llife! And the lives of all the other pathetic wrong guessers who rallied to her cause!

Roy Cooper's Summary of Conclusions:

The Missing Money..

'Two of the attendees, while using the bathroom, noticed that one of the dancer's had left her cosmetics bag behind in the bathroom. Each separately took money out of the bag and were told by Flannery and Evans to return the money to the bag'.




Sydney Carton~ For giggles, lets go with your theory. Then that would mean Roy Cooper told a whopper? 

 So, Who's lying SC?  Roy Cooper?  Dave Evans? Flannery?


Please get the facts straight, SC. May I suggest you start by reading? Reading is knowledge. According to Roy Cooper's Summary of Conclusions, someone got a 5 finger discount from Ms Crystal Mangum's purse and it wasn't Ms Kim Roberts either.

 Your thoughts, Mr. Carton?

[Sarah]

Krystal Night (A.K.A. ????.. I wonder) you remind me of someone who considers the most important issue in relation to World War II was the manner in which it effected Malta.
 
I think we have all been using these boards long enough to treat the "lets try and derail this thread by arguing about malicious trivia" trick in the way it deserves.

[MarkRougemont]

  I don't see Krystal Knight correcting SC's version of what happened to the money as "malicious trivia".  I don't believe changing the story to make the Lacrosse players appear as perfect angels is a good thing.  The truth should stand or fall on it's own, in my opinion.

 I also don't agree with McFadyen's statement here:  "It was always those three and me -- the kid who wrote this completely repulsive e-mail," McFadyen said. "'He must be a sociopath. He must be unstable.' ... I never had a chance to speak my side of the story. Nobody ever gave me any opportunity to explain myself."  I understand that this might have been the case when the e-mail was made public.  Since that time three years ago he has had plenty of time to explain this e-mail and has done so on many occasions.  My opinion is that he still has the impression that many people don't accept his explanation and that the civil suit will give him both justification and vindication in regard to the e-mail.