O’Neill Sends No. 13 Duke Past Denver in Overtime

Friday, February 17

Durham, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

3-1

Denver

1-2

Denver

Duke University

Photo by: Duke Athletics

O’Neill Sends No. 13 Duke Past Denver in Overtime

2/17/2023 8:30:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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DURHAM – Duke junior attackman Brennan O'Neill scored a man-up goal 22 seconds into overtime to lift the 13th-ranked Blue Devils to a thrilling 14-13 victory over Denver in men's lacrosse action at Koskinen Stadium Friday evening. O'Neill also netted the game-tying goal with 19 seconds remaining to force overtime.

Duke (3-1) trailed 13-12 with 2:01 remaining in the game but forced a pair of Denver (1-2) turnovers in the final 90 seconds to earn the opportunity to force the extra period. O'Neill finished his night with four goals and three assists for seven points.

How it Happened

It was a back-and-forth affair with Duke holding the largest lead at 5-2. Denver roared back to tie the game, 6-6, on a pair of man-up goals early in the third quarter and went up 13-12 late in the fourth to set up the thrilling finish.
Following a turnover by the Pioneers coming out of a Duke timeout with 1:23 remaining in regulation, the Blue Devils cleared the ball and used their final timeout of the game with 59.5 on the clock.
Duke returned to the field and rookie Charles Balsamo fired a shot wide with 28 seconds left. O'Neill came off the endline with the ball and stepped in on his man and scored a perfect question mark goal to tie the game. Balsamo had two goals and an assist in the win.
Jake Naso stepped back to the faceoff dot for the 28th time of the night and scooped the ground ball and was fouled on the exit from the scrum with eight seconds left in the fourth quarter. Duke elected to head to overtime up a man for 52 seconds.
The Blue Devils worked the ball around a couple of times on the extra man before the ball landed back in O'Neill's stick for a left-handed strike over the stick of Denver goaltender Jack Thompson for the game winner. Sophomore Andrew McAdorey provided the assist for the goal to finish his night with two goals and three assists.
The Blue Devils raced out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter on goals from four different players. Duke continued to get contribution across the board as eight different Blue Devils scored the team's first eight goals. Graduate students Jadon Kerry and Griffin Catlett both registered their first goals of the season. Dyson Williams had two goals and an assist.
The second half was thrilling end-to-end action, combining for 17 goals, four lead changes and six ties over the course of 30 minutes. Neither team led by more than two in that span.
Denver was led by Noah Manning with three goals and an assist, while JJ Sillstrop had a hat trick.
Defensively, Duke was solid in forcing 18 turnovers in the game, including six in the fourth quarter. Tyler Carpenter and Kenny Brower both had two caused turnovers apiece. Carpenter also scooped four ground balls.
Naso battled through a physical night of 28 faceoffs, winning 14. The junior draw man went 7-of-8 in the fourth quarter and picked up 11 ground balls overall. He was 3-of-11 after two periods and won 11-17 in the second half.
In goal, William Helm made eight saves in 59 minutes of action. Andrew Bonafede came on for 1:13 as Helm went to the penalty box for 60 seconds. Duke's man-down finished the night 3-of-5. The Blue Devils' man-up unit was perfect at 3-for-3.

Notes

Duke moved to 88-8 in games decided by one goal in program history. The Blue Devils are 31-22 in those contests since 2007 and are now 29-23-1 all-time in overtime. Danowski is 15-7 in overtime games at Duke.
Brennan O'Neill moves into a tie for 29th in career points at Duke with 152 (111g, 41a). He has a hat trick in 22 career games and has at least five points 14 times.
Jake Naso's 14 faceoffs win push him to 531 for his career, ranking fourth in program history.
The Blue Devils improve to 135-25 in Durham under John Danowski. The win was the sixth straight for Duke over Denver and the fourth time in the past five games it has been decided by two or fewer goals.
Duke's attack unit McAdorey, Williams and O'Neill combined for 15 of Duke's 23 points.
The Blue Devils' man-down group remains stellar at 16-of-18 (.889).

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