Blue Devils Dominant in 21-12 Win Over Robert Morris

Friday, February 4

Durham, N.C.

5 PM

Duke University

1-0

Robert Morris

0-1

Robert Morris

Duke University'

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Dominant in 21-12 Win Over Robert Morris

2/4/2022 10:48:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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DURHAM – Duke sophomore attackman Brennan O'Neill scored a career-high six goals and 13 different Blue Devils scored a goal in a 21-12 Duke victory over Robert Morris to kick off the 2022 men's lacrosse campaign at Koskinen Stadium Friday evening.

Junior attackman Dyson Williams added four goals and an assist, while graduate student Joe Robertson registered a goal and three assists. Defensively, Duke forced 27 Robert Morris turnovers and held the Colonials to just 15-of-24 clearing for the game. Graduate student goaltender Mike Adler made 16 saves in 55 minutes of action, just one under his career high at Duke.

"It was a great first game," said head coach John Danowski. "You expect everything and anything to happen and in this game it pretty much did. There were so many plays…ground balls, four-on-threes, a three-minute stick penalty. All these situations you kind of don't cover in practice, it was a great opportunity for our guys to be a part of a game like this."

The third-ranked Blue Devils could not be stopped in the first quarter as they scored 10 goals in the opening 9:27 of the game. O'Neill started the action with his 46th career score just 15 seconds into the game. Duke turned defense into offense 25 seconds later with junior Jake Caputo throwing one past Robert Morris goalie Liam Rosenthal in transition.

Robert Morris' James Leary put the Colonials on the board less than a minute later, but it was all Duke for the next seven minutes as the Blue Devils went on an 8-0 run. Six different Duke players scored in the spurt that spanned 7:13, including junior Grant Mitchell and freshman Andrew McAdorey notching their first Blue Devil goals. McAdorey finished his night with a goal and two assists for three points.

The Colonials answered with four unanswered to make it 10-5, but the early run from the Blue Devils was too much to overcome as Duke built a 14-7 halftime lead.
Sophomore Cole Krauss and graduate student transfer Sean Lulley also registered their first career goals in a Blue Devil uniform. Duke fired 50 shots overall with 35 coming on goal, putting

On the defensive side of the field, senior Frank Marinello and junior Will Frisoli made their first career starts on close defense. Marinello finished the night with one ground ball, while Frisoli had three and a caused turnover.

At the faceoff dot, Jake Naso won 17-of-26 draws, picked up nine ground balls and scored a goal. Jordan Ginder went 4-of-10 at the X and scooped two ground balls.

Robert Morris was led by Taggart Clark with four goals and an assist. Corson Kealey had three goals and an assist and Liam Rosenthal anchored the defensive effort with nine saves. Nate Randall came off the bench to make five saves in the final minutes of action.

Duke's man-up and man-down units were excellent. The Blue Devils went 3-for-3 on extra man and held the Colonials to just 2-of-6.

The Blue Devils are back in action, Sunday, Feb. 6 against reigning America East champion Vermont. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m., on ACC Network Extra.

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