The Reincarnation of Peter Conley

A couple weeks back I wrote a piece about John Kluh and the 6th year senior’s journey throughout his time as a Villanova Wildcat. From a 1st Team All-Big East Freshman year to years of injuries to an OT game-winner against Penn State to kick off 2018, it’s safe to say that Kluh’s been a great story.

Duke’s Peter Conley is an impact player with an eerily similar story that quite frankly isn’t getting the attention it deserves. #66 for the Blue Devils is a graduate student who spent his four undergraduate years as a Georgetown Hoya. The Westchester, NY native was an absolute stud for the Hoyas but he too witnessed a career plagued by devastating injuries. After a freshman season in 2014 where he too earned 1st Team All-Big East Honors, Conley injured his foot in the middle of his sophomore season and required season-ending surgery. In 2016 lightning struck twice and Conley re-agitated his foot forcing him to miss another season.

Fast forward to 2017, Conley is healthy and ready to lead the Hoyas in his senior year on the Hilltop. Despite having a standout freshman season, with years of injuries, people potentially had forgotten about Conley, at least until Georgetown went down to Frisco, TX to play Notre Dame where despite the ND win, Peter put on an absolute clinic.

The Lacrosse World took note and Conley finished as the Hoyas’ second-leading scorer with 27 goals and 18 assists in his senior year. He posted 120 points during his tenure in D.C. and after graduation announced his plans to attend graduate school at Duke and use his remaining year of eligibility from his redshirt junior year as a member of the Blue Devils.

Now I’m no terminology expert, but so far throughout 2018 announcers and writers have been referring to Conley as a “transfer” but quite frankly he isn’t. He’s a graduate student. Not trying to nitpick here but if I were in those shoes I know I’d prefer to have my situation properly spoken of, especially given the impact he’s made since arriving at Duke. He’s scored 8 points through four games, but half of those points came in Friday’s #HappyHourLacrosse classic against Denver where he registered 3 goals and 1 assist.

Currently, the Blue Devils sit at 4-0 following their impressive, come from behind victory over #3 Denver and will enter this week once again as the #1 team in the country. The addition of Conley has given Duke a prominent goal scorer who can be an asset anywhere on the field. Running on the first midfield at the moment, who knows how Dino will continue to use #66 the rest of the way, but one thing’s for sure, I know the boys in Durham are happy to have him.