Duke Downs Utah, 19-7, in NCAA Tournament First Round

Saturday, May 11

Durham, N.C.

2:30 p.m.

Duke University

13-5

Utah

12-5

UTAH

Duke University

Duke men's lacrosse Tyler Carpenter runs down the field

Photo by: Nat LeDonne / Duke Athletics

Duke Downs Utah, 19-7, in NCAA Tournament First Round

5/11/2024 7:02:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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DURHAM – Duke attackmen Dyson Williams and Josh Zawada combined for 13 points from nine goals and four assists to lead the second-seeded Blue Devils to a commanding 19-7 victory over Utah in the opening round of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship at Koskinen Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Williams finished his day with five goals, while Zawada had four goals and four assists for eight points. Defensively, Duke (13-5) held Utah (12-5) to just seven goals and only two in the second half. The Utes came into the game with the nation's third-ranked offense at 15.31 goals per game.

How it Happened

Utah opened the scoring just over two minutes into the game before Duke proceeded to go on a 7-1 run over a span of 7:49 to take a 7-2 lead into the first break. Brennan O'Neill had two goals and an assist in the spurt, and five different Blue Devils scored overall. Williams started the run with his 51st goal of the season and Zawada capped it with 2:49 to play with his second of the quarter. Jake Naso got in on the scoring as well with a finish from O'Neill.
Duke extended the lead to 8-2 in the second quarter before the Utes put together a 3-1 run to bring it back within four, 9-5, with 4:13 left in the first half. Tyler Carpenter answered 19 seconds later and Andrew McAdorey 48 seconds after that to put Duke's advantage back to six, 11-5, heading into the locker room.
The Blue Devils put the clamps on Utah in the third and fourth quarters, holding the Utes to 17 shots overall and only seven on cage. Patrick Jameison made five saves in his 25:15 of action in the second half.
Leading, 13-6, after goals from Williams and Aidan Danenza, the Blue Devils scored three goals in 55 seconds for their largest lead of the game at, 16-7, after three quarters. Zawada, Max Sloat and Williams finished off the scoring in the fourth quarter for the 12-goal victory.
Naso won 15-of-25 at the faceoff dot and picked up five ground balls. He also had a goal and an assist. In goal, Jameison had 11 saves for a .611 save percentage.
Aidan Maguire led the Blue Devils off the ground with four ground balls and dished out an assist.
Tyler Bradbury and Jordan Hyde had two goals apiece for Utah, while Ryan Stines had a goal and two assists for three points.

Notes

Duke improves to 44-22 in NCAA Tournament history and 20-6 in first-round games. The Blue Devils are 8-3 as the No. 2 seed. It is the 39th NCAA Tournament win for head coach John Danowski and his 35th as the leader of the Blue Devils.
The seven goals scored by Utah are tied for the fewest they scored all season. The 17.9 shot percentage (7-of-39) is the second lowest for the Utes in 2024. They entered the game shooting 31.4 percent.
Duke held Utah without a goal for the final 21:31 – the sixth longest scoreless stretch by an opponent this season. The zero goals in the final period marked the fifth time the Blue Devils held their foe without a goal in a quarter.
Duke shot a season-best 52.8 percent (19-of-36) for the game. It's the best shooting percentage since the Blue Devils shot 52.9 percent against High Point on March 10, 2021. Duke has shot at least 50 percent in three games this season. In the previous eight seasons combined (2016-2023) Duke has shot at least 50 percent just six times.
Brennan O'Neill recorded his 99th and 100th career assists to become the second Blue Devil and fourth player in NCAA Division I history to have 200 goals and 100 assists in his career.
O'Neill now has 304 career points, tying Jordan Wolf for fourth in Duke history. He tied for 20th in NCAA Division I history. His 204 career goals are tied for seventh in NCAA Division I history and fourth at Duke. His two tallies today give him 51 for his career, becoming the third Blue Devil to score 50-plus goals in three different seasons (Zack Greer, Justin Guterding).
O'Neill is the ninth Blue Devil to reach 30 points in his NCAA Tournament games.
Dyson Williams' five goals this afternoon gave him 55 on the season and 206 for his career. The 206 markers tie Zack Greer for second all-time at Duke and are tied for fourth in NCAA Division I history. He is seven goals shy of breaking Justin Guterding's Blue Devil mark of 212. His 55 this season rank tied for 10th at Duke. He is now five goals away from becoming the third Blue Devil to have at least 60 goals in a season twice in his career.
The five tallies make Williams the ninth player in Duke history to score at least five goals in an NCAA Tournament game.
Josh Zawada matched his season-high in points with eight, giving him 290 career points. He is 10 points away from becoming the 24th player in NCAA history to reach the benchmark. His four assists today gave him 44 for the season, tying Michael Sowers for seven in Duke single-season history.
Duke scored at least 19 goals in an NCAA Tournament game for the eighth time and for the first time since 2017. The 12-goal margin of victory also is the largest since a 19-6 win over Johns Hopkins in 2017 and is tied for the fifth largest in Duke NCAA Tournament history.
Zawada became the ninth Blue Devil to record at least eight points in an NCAA Tournament game. It is the 12th time a Duke player has scored at least eight points in an NCAA postseason contest.
Tyler Carpenter recorded two caused turnovers to give him 81 for his career. He is the third Blue Devil to reach 80 and is 10 away from breaking JT Giles-Harris' mark of 89.
Jake Naso pushes his faceoff wins total to 992, leaving him eight away from becoming the seventh player in Division I history to reach 1,000 victories at the dot. He now has 552 ground balls to rank eighth all-time among Division I players. He is two away from the No. 7 spot. His 1,660 faceoffs are the second most in NCAA Division I history.

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