Duke Moves to 8-0 with 17-6 Win at Jacksonville

Sunday, March 14

Jacksonville, Fla.

3 P.M.

Duke University

8-0

Jacksonville

3-3

Duke

Jacksonville

Photo by: Duncan Boone

Duke Moves to 8-0 with 17-6 Win at Jacksonville

3/14/2021 5:27:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Duke attackman Michael Sowers registered a goal and six assists to pace the second-ranked Blue Devils to 17-6 road win at Jacksonville Sunday afternoon. Ten different Blue Devils scored in the victory, including Joe Robertson finishing with five points from two goals and three assists.

Duke moves to 8-0, the best start to a season since the 2008 squad also went 8-0. The 2005 team owns the best mark, going 11-0 before suffering a setback. The six goals allowed by the Blue Devils match the fewest this season and mark the sixth straight game they have held their opponents to single digits.
Rookie Brennan O'Neill matched his career-high mark with five goals in the victory, while three other Blue Devils recorded two on the day. Fourteen of Duke's 17 goals on the afternoon were assisted and the Blue Devils dominated the ground ball game, 38-25.

O'Neill, coming off a career-best five-goal outing against High Point, picked up right where he left off as he scored the Blue Devils' first three goals. The first came 3:36 into the game, an unassisted effort, while the next two were 1:50 apart and assisted by Sowers and Owen Caputo.

Aidan Danenza and Robertson tacked on goals, putting the Blue Devils ahead 5-1 after the first quarter. Duke held the Dolphins to just four shots in the first 15 minutes and forced five turnovers.

The Blue Devils went on a scoring drought over the next 11:18 as Jacksonville forced uncharacteristic turnovers to keep Duke from setting up on offense. Sowers ended the scoreless stretch connecting on a nice feed into the middle from fellow attackman Robertson with 6:31 left in the second period.

Just over a minute later, Danenza returned the favor from the first quarter to Robertson, finding the senior captain on a cross-field pass for his second goal of the game and a 7-2 Duke advantage with five minutes remaining in the first half.

Duke's offense proceeded to do what it has done and scored in bunches as the Blue Devils tallied four goals in a span of 3:31, including three in 1:16, to take an 11-2 lead into halftime.

Graduate student Sean Lowrie had two of the goals off assists from Nakeie Montgomery and Sowers, respectively. JP Basile came on the field for an extra man opportunity and capitalized on a pass from Sowers right on the doorstep for his third goal of the year. Basile shared the ball 15 seconds later, finding short-stick defensive midfielder Terry Lindsay for the right-handed striker.

While Duke's offense was firing on all cylinders, the Blue Devil defense was being its stingy self in holding the Dolphins without a goal for 26:01 en route to Duke building a 16-2 lead in the third quarter. Jacksonville managed just 16 shots in three quarters turned the ball over 18 times under Duke's pressure.

Jacksonville scored three goals in the fourth quarter, two of which came in the final 15 seconds, to get to six for the game.

Duke outshot the Dolphins 48-23 for the game. In goal, Mike Adler made two saves. Andrew Bonafede made three stops. Jacksonville backstop Jason Yoquinto had 16 saves in the setback.

The Blue Devils get a short break before opening ACC competition March 25 against Syracuse. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m., on ACC Network.

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