CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Duke sophomore
Brennan O'Neill scored seven goals and graduate student
Mike Adler made 19 saves in goal to lead the 15th-ranked Blue Devils to a commanding 15-6 victory over No. 9 North Carolina in ACC men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field.
Duke improves to 9-4 overall and 1-1 against ACC foes, while North Carolina falls to 7-3 and 0-2 in league action. Both squads have four remaining ACC contests.
"Last week we were disappointed with how we responded at Syracuse," said head coach
John Danowski. "So, the past week of practice was long and hard. We tried to focus on the things we didn't do well and needed to do well this week. I think overall we made some gains from last week to this week."
O'Neill finished his day with seven goals on 10 shots as Duke jumped out to a 5-1 first-half lead. The Bay Shore, N.Y., native scored the first three goals of the game, giving the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage early in the second quarter.
Graduate students
Joe Robertson and
Nakeie Montgomery tacked on two more goals to give the Blue Devils a 5-1 halftime lead. Robertson dished a pair of assists and scored a goal in the first two quarters give him 200 for his career. He is just the 14th Blue Devil in program history to get to 200 career points. He added another goal and assists in the second half to finish with five on the day. Montgomery had a quiet three goals and an assist this afternoon.
At the other end of the field Adler was equally as impressive early on in making nine first-quarter saves and 14 in the opening 30 minutes. The Blue Devil defense kept the Tar Heels off the board for the first 27:25 of the game and didn't allow a second tally until 1:51 left in the third quarter.
"Mike stood on his head there in the first quarter and that gave us a lot of confidence," Danowski said. "I would say Mike made a bunch of saves from the perimeter and [UNC's goalie] did too. He made 19 saves as well and was terrific. Both goalies were probably the two best players on the field today."
Coming out of halftime with a 5-1 lead, Montgomery had two goals and O'Neill three to extend the lead to 10-1 at the 3:04 mark of the third period. Junior
Dyson Williams and
Andrew McAdorey got in on the scoring action in the fourth with Williams scoring twice and McAdorey once.
"[What he did today], well that's Brennan," Danowski said. "Brennan is still a sophomore. He's young and he is still learning the game and learning how to read defenses and how to put himself in a position where people don't want to slide off him, which will then open other people. He shot the ball really well today, but he also was in plays where he opens the offense up for other guys as well."
The Blue Devils held the nation's leading goal scorer Chris Gray to one goal and three assists for four points, more than two points below his season average. His one goal was nearly three fewer than his nation-leading average of 3.89 per game.
Kenny Brower drew the matchup against Gray and finished with a ground ball.
Wilson Stephenson had a caused turnover and four ground balls, while
Tyler Carpenter collected one and five, respectively.
"I don't know that you can slow [Chris Gray] down because he's such a dynamic player," said Danowski. "I think the thing we tried to do was play really solid fundamental defense."
Duke's rope unit was excellent as well with graduate student
Matt Chmil leading the charge on the stat sheet with one caused turnover and three ground balls.
Overall, the Blue Devils held North Carolina to scoring droughts of 27:25 and 15:44 in the game.
Lance Tillman had two goals to go with Gray's four points. Collin Krieg was also impressive between the pipes with 19 stops.
Jake Naso went 12-of-24 at the faceoff dot and picked up four ground balls. Duke outshot North Carolina 48-40 and won the ground ball battle 35-21, including 15-8 in the first half. The Blue Devils finished 2-of-3 on extra man.
Duke returns home for a three-game stretch. The Blue Devils host Notre Dame Saturday, April 9 at 1 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.
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