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Duke University Blue Devils

Brennan O'Neill Shooting against Michigan
Duke Athletics
8
Michigan MICH 10-7
15
Winner Duke University DU 15-2
Michigan MICH
10-7
8
Final
15
Duke University DU
15-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Michigan MICH 2 2 2 2 8
Duke University DU 2 5 4 4 15

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse |

PHILLY BOUND! O’Neill, Helm Lead Duke Back to Championship Weekend

ALBANY, N.Y.—Duke junior Brennan O'Neill scored six goals and an assist to lead the top-seeded Blue Devils to a convincing 15-8 victory over Michigan in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinal. The win sends Duke to its 14th Championship Weekend and 12th since 2007. 

Andrew McAdorey and Dyson Williams both registered hat tricks while graduate student goaltender William Helm made 14 saves to anchor an impressive defensive effort by the Blue Devils. Duke's attack trio of McAdorey, O'Neill and Williams scored 12 of the 15 goals and 13 of the 19 points in the contest.

The eight goals scored by Michigan matched the fewest by the Wolverines this season. Michigan entered the game on a five-game win streak and averaging nearly 16 goals per game. The Blue Devils held the Wolverines to just 21 percent shooting for the game, well below their 34 percent average. 

How it Happened
  • O'Neill put Duke up 2-0 in the first four minutes before the Blue Devils hit a dry spell on offense. Defensively, Duke held the Wolverines without a shot on goal for the first eight-plus minutes. Michigan got on the board with goals three minutes apart to tie the game heading into the first break. 
  • The Blue Devils came out fast in the second quarter, notching three goals in a span of 1:24. Freshman defensive midfielder Aidan Maguire sparked the run with a stick check that resulted in a textbook fastbreak goal from Dyson Williams. O'Neill provided the assist. O'Neill threw in his third of the game on a solo effort 55 seconds later and Andrew McAdorey matched him 29 seconds later to give the Blue Devils the 5-2 advantage four minutes into the stanza.
  • Michigan cut the lead back to two on a man-up score at the 8:23 mark, but O'Neill and McAdorey answered with goals 20 seconds apart to give Duke its largest lead of the afternoon, 7-3.
  • Jacob Jackson scored for the Wolverines just over a minute later, their fourth different goal scorer of the game, to send Michigan into the locker room trailing, 7-4. The Blue Devils had one look at the end of the second quarter but couldn't connect.
  • The Blue Devils started to pull away in the third quarter, notching three of the first four goals in the opening eight minutes of the session. Graduate student Tommy Schelling got on the board for the first goal from the Duke midfield in the game to make it 8-4.
  • After another extra-man from the Wolverines cut the lead back to three, Williams had a strike on man-up and McAdorey beat the clock stretching the lead to 10-5 midway through the period.
  • It was all Blue Devils in the final 20 minutes of the game. After Michigan pulled within four, 11-7, to start the final period, Duke scored four unanswered in 4:40 to go ahead 15-7. Four different Blue Devils scored in that stretch.
Notes
  • Duke moves to 42-21 in NCAA Tournament action and 14-5 in NCAA quarterfinal games. The Blue Devils advance to their 14th Championship Weekend and the 12th under head coach John Danowski. 
  • Danowski moves to 37-19 in NCAA Tournament play in his career and 33-11 as the leader of the Blue Devils.
  • Brennan O'Neill moved to ninth on the Duke single-season chart with 91 points. He became the fifth different player in Duke history to record 90 points in a season, joining Justin Guterding, Jordan Wolf, Matt Danowski and Zack Greer on the list. He moves into a tie for ninth on the Duke career charts with 220 career points. His 149 career goals are ninth in Duke career history.
  • With six goals on the game, O'Neill is the third Blue Devil to score at least six goals in an NCAA Tournament game. The six goals are the most by a Duke player in an NCAA Tournament game since Jack Bruckner had six against Loyola in 2016.
  • Dyson Williams recorded a hat trick to give him 57 goals on the season, tying him with Zack Greer and Jordan Wolf for seventh in Duke single-season history. For his career, the Oshawa, Ontario native has 148 goals, good for 10th in Blue Devil career history. 
  • Jake Naso continues to climb the NCAA faceoff charts, pushing his career wins total to 751. He is the 21st player in NCAA Division I history to amass that many. He is 65 off the Duke career record held by Brendan Fowler.
  • William Helm's 14 saves make him the 10th Duke goaltender to make at least 14 stops in a game. It marks just the 14th time in Blue Devil history a goalie has made at least 14 saves. His .636 save percentage is his fourth best single-game performance this season and the fifth time he has posted at least a 60 percent save rate. 
Up Next
  • Duke advances to the NCAA Semifinal Saturday, May 27. The Blue Devils play the winner between Army and Penn State at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Faceoff time is yet to be determined.
 
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