(Photo Courtesy of Duke Athletics)

The Duke Blue Devils defeated the Robert Morris Colonials 21-12 in a Friday night contest that opened the season for both teams.

Brennan O’Neill got the scoring started for the Blue Devils just 15 seconds into the contests. It was the first of what would be a big day for the Duke offense, which saw 13 different goal-scorers. O’Neill put up a sock trick (six goals) to lead all scorers.

Three of the sophomore attackman’s goals came during the first quarter as part of a massive opening stanza that saw Duke jump out to a 10-3 lead.

Following a 3:00 non-releasable penalty on Duke, the Colonials were able to find some momentum as they went on a 4-2 run from the 14:43 mark through the 8:59 mark in the second quarter to make it a 12-7 game. Two consecutive man-up goals from O’Neill and Dyson Williams pushed the Duke lead to 14-7 at the half.

The aforementioned pair scored the first two goals of the second half before Robert Morris again found some success on offense, going on a 3-2 run in the final 7:29 of the third quarter with Corson Kealey finding the back of the net twice and Jake Boudreau doing so once.

Up 18-10 heading into the final frame, the Blue Devils went 3-2 in the fourth quarter to cement their 21-12 victory.

In addition to O’Neill’s six goals, Dyson Williams, who has been moved back to attack after playing midfield last season, had five points off four goals and one assist. Mike Adler made 16 saves (six in the third quarter alone). Jake Naso went 17-for-26 (65%).

Robert Morris was led by Taggart Clark with five points off four goals and one assists. Corson Kealey had three goals and one assists for four points.

Duke had the upper hand in man-up situation, going 3-3 while Robert Morris’ 2-6. The Blue Devils won the ground ball battle 46-31 and had 23 turnovers to the Colonials 25.