The Duke Blue Devils moved to 2-0 on Tuesday night with a dominating 20-8 victory over the High Point Panthers. The victory comes just three days after Duke knocked off Bellarmine 19-7 in its season opener.
Jack Vanoverbeke converted off a Pete St. Geme feed early in the contest to put the Panthers on the board first, but it wouldn’t be long until the Blue Devils found their groove and cruised to victory.
A Garrett Ledmond score at the 11:03 mark in the first quarter got Duke on the board and was the start of a four-goal Blue Devil run to help put them ahead 6-3 at the end of the first quarter. Duke went on an 11-0 run from late in the first through early in the third that helped put them ahead 14-3 at the break and 15-3 nearly a minute into the third frame.
Each side found the back of the net five more times through the remainder of the contest. Grant Mitchell assisted on a Charlie O’Connor score late in the final stanza to get Duke its 20th goal of the night.
Dyson Williams was the hero of the night for the Blue Devils, tallying a career-high seven goals to lead the way for a Duke offense that had its highest goal output since its season opener in 2022 (21 goals vs Robert Morris). Williams netted a hat trick in the first quarter and had himself a sock trick before the half. He score his seventh goal of the night early in the fourth.
Andrew McAdorey netted four goals and assisted on two other to end the day with six points while Brennan O’Neill had four points off two goals and two assists. Faceoff man Jake Naso (2G/1A) had three points in addition to going 13-for-23 (56%) at the dot. Garrett Leadmon also had two goals on the night.
William Helm made 16 saves with a 72% save percentage to anchor a defense that saw both Wilson Stephenson and Kenny Brower caused two turnovers and grab two ground balls. Duke held High Point scoreless for a 20-plus minute stretch from the late in the first through the midway point in the third.
Merrimack Completes Comeback Against Holy Cross
Despite falling behind 5-1 late in the first quarter, the Merrimack Warriors were able to put together the comeback and knock off the Holy Cross Crusaders 14-9.
Brian Russell’s consecutive scores early in the third quarter earned him a hat trick on the night and proved to be the catalyst for 6-0 Warriors run that put them ahead 11-7 with 12:50 remaining in the final frame. Russell scored once more to end the day with a career-high four goals. The sophomore only had four goals in his career heading into the contest.
Jack Rooney put up three goals and four assists to lead the way for the Warriors in the victory. Allyn French went 18-for-27 (66%) at the faceoff dot and also grabbed 14 ground balls. Henry Vogt made 11 saves with a 55% save percentage. SSDM Jack Barron and defenseman Joe Conley each had two caused turnovers. Barron added four ground balls on the day.
The aforementioned trio helped lead a Merrimack defense that held Holy Cross off the scoreboard for 17:50 minutes during the second half of play. The Merrimack defense also went 2-for-3 on man-down situations with both of those successful opportunities.
Holy Cross was led by Thomas McIntire with four goals in the contest. Dawson Friers made 11 saves with a 44% save percentage.
Lacrosse Bucket 