Five seniors on Duke University’s lacrosse team are considering taking advantage of an extra year of eligibility that the NCAA offered to compensate them for a season that was cut short when three players were falsely accused of rape last year, the Baltimore Sun reported today. Duke officials said the announcement was premature, because some of the players have not yet been accepted into graduate programs.
The extra year of eligibility is significant because Duke narrowly missed winning the national championship in men’s lacrosse on May 28 in an 11-12 defeat by the Johns Hopkins University.
All charges against the accused players were dropped in April, and Duke reached a confidential settlement with the three men last week to avoid being sued. —Don Troop
