Kevin M. NeibauerLaxPhilly– A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network.
The #15 Duke Blue Devils (9-4, 1-1 ACC) took on the #9 Tar Heels of North Carolina (7-3, 0-2 ACC) in a battle of two Top Twenty DI teams at Dorrance Field.
This one was all Duke.
Brennan O’Neill (7g) started the day with a natural hat-trick.
Coming off a disappointing performance against Syracuse a week prior, Duke Head Coach John Danowski was candid with his comments.
“Last week we were disappointed with how we responded at Syracuse, 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.”
Dominating? In What Way?
O’Neill hit rope at 9:14, and 7:48 for the only markers in the opening quarter and Duke was off and running with 2-0 lead after 15:00.
The Second
O’Neill completed his natural hatty with Joe Robertson (14th) getting it 4-0.
After a scoreless run of 28:05, the man with the longest name in D1, Harrison Schertzinger (1g,1a) stopped the Duke onslaught, albeit temporary, making it a 4-1 contest.
But, with :18 remaining in the half Nakeie Montgomery (3g,2a) put Duke right back on the score sheet to close the half with a 5-1 Duke lead.
Second Half
The Duke deluge picked right back up when Montgomery picked up his 21st followed by O’Neill potting numbers 36 and 37.
Montgomery got his hat trick and, at 3:04 it was O’Neill nailing his sixth of the day.
Jacob Kelly (1g) put an end to two quarter five goal Duke dominance.
The third concluded with UNC staring at a 10-2 score.
Wind it Down Time
Montgomery turned to the playmaking side for Dyson Williams’ (2g) 31st.
O’Neill and Robertson forty three seconds apart, got it to a 13-2 affair.
UNC would go on to score four of the next six, but, clearly too little, too late
The DI leading scorer, Chris Gray (1g,3a) got on the board with his 36th followed by Dominic Pryor notching his first NCAA goal to get it to 13-4.
Williams (32nd) followed a minute fourteen later by Andrew McAdorey gave Duke their 15th goal.
Schertzinger set up Lance Tillman (2g) for his 14th with 5:03 to play
Tillman cashed in a Gray set up to end the scoring on the 15-6 affair.
“I thought our defense played well overall, and Krieg was outstanding in the cage with 19 saves. We pressed a little bit offensively after their goalkeeper got hot and made big saves early on. I loved how hard we played and played to the last whistle. It just wasn’t our day shooting-wise, and we hit a hot goalie at the wrong time today.” UNC Head Coach, Joe Breschi.
Inside the Numbers:
• Face-offs went the way of Duke, 13-12. The duo of Zac Tucci and Andrew Tyervar combined to go 12 of 25 with Tyervar having a game high, 4 ground balls.
• Ground balls were 35-21 the way of Duke.
• Turnovers revealed 13 for UNC to 11 for Duke.
• Shots leaned the Duke way, 48-40 with On Goal also going the Duke way, 34-25.
• The goaltenders, especially Duke’s Mike Adler (transfer from St.Joseph’s) were outstanding with Adler making several back to back stops among his 19 saves.
• UNC’s Collin Krieg also turned away 19 shots.
• Chris Gray is 19 points away from being the All Time Points leader in DI.
Duke Dominates in 15-6 Victory.
Kevin has followed and promoted the game of lacrosse since May 19, 1974.
The same day the Philadelphia Flyers won the Cup, the Philadelphia Wings were introduced to Neibauer and Philadelphia.
Kevin has covered many sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and.. lacrosse. A former licensed football referee and baseball umpire, Kevin brings a unique insight to his game coverage.
A published writer in JustHockey Magazine, Kevin covered the American Hockey League as well as a monthly story on a pugilist where Kevin used the pen name, The Rink Rat. Neibauer turned his attentions to lacrosse for a few years and does his part, whether podcasting or writing to grow the game. Kevin branched out to his roots and currently provides insight for all Philadelphia teams for Edge of Philly as well as his full-time duties with LaxPhilly.
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