(Photo Courtesy of Duke Athletics)
For the 24th time in their last 26 tries the Duke Blue Devils defeated the Virginia Cavaliers, knocking off the No. 1 team in the nation 16-14 on the road on Friday night. Duke has not lost a regular season game to Virginia since 2004.
Brennan O’Neill scored six goals and dished out three assist for nine points to lead the way in the wire-to-wire victory for the Blue Devils. O’Neill had the first goal of the contest to get the party started and then had the final goal of the day for Duke, scoring with 13:36 to make it a 16-11 game.
Dyson Williams (3G/1A) and Garret Leadmon (3G) were also big playmakers for the Duke offense. Leadmon had a pair of scores in the first quarter that helped push the Blue Devils out to a 3-1 lead. He gave himself a hat track with 8:28 left in the third quarter, putting one home in between a pair of O’Neill scores to make it an 11-8 game.
While the Duke offense continued to impress on Friday night, it was the defense that made just as much headway. The Blue Devils held the Cavaliers to three goals goals in the final 20:02 of the contest. However, the latter two of those scores came on man-up and would end up being the last glimmers of hope for the Cavaliers as they ended the game on a 3-0 lead but came up short.
William Helm anchored the Duke defense with 14 saves but it was Kenny Brower who stole the shoe. Matched up on Connor Shellenberger, Brower held him to just one assist. Now, Shellenberger finished with three but the latter two would come within 29 seconds of each other and on the man-up while Brower was serving a one-minute non-releasable.
With Shellenberger being stifled most of the game, Payton Cormier put up six goals to lead the Cavaliers while Xander Dickson had four goals.
Virginia’s three-goal run to end the game made it a two-goal loss and cut the lead to under three for the first time since the 1:35 mark of the third quarter when Will Frisoli put one in amidst a four-goal Duke run that ended with O’Neill’s final tally to make it a comfortable 16-11 advantage for the Blue Devils.
Duke held a 3-2 lead at the end of the first and turned that into an 8-6 advantage at the half.
Duke (10-1, 3-0 ACC) travels to South Bend next week for Holy Saturday battle. Virginia (7-2, 1-1 ACC) travels to North Carolina for a Good Friday contest next week.
Utah Upsets Jacksonville
Eight. That is the number of goals Utah scored consecutive from the 5:45 mark in the first quarter through the 6:06 mark in the second quarter. That run helped put the Utes up 12-2 at the half, giving them a lead that was unconquerable for the Jacksonville Dolphins.
Utah had scored three straight earlier in the first quarter after Jacksonville made it 1-1, giving Utah a 4-1 lead and helping to allow them to never trail in what was a massive 18-15 ASUN victory over the No. 10-ranked team in the land.
Ryan Stines led the Utes with five goals and one assists for six points while Jared Andreala had four goals. The pair combined for 10 points on the day to pace the Utes in the upset victory.
On the other end, freshman goalie Colin Lenskold made 17 saves. That included 10 saves in the second half (8 in fourth quarter) as he faced an onslaught from a Jacksonville offense trying to chip away late.
Jacksonville ended the game on a four-goal run and outscored the Utes in the second half 10-5, which included a 3-0 third quarter. However, their comeback would fall short.
Dylan Watson (2G), Brandon Galloway (2G/1A), and Jackson Intrieri (2G) led the Dolphins.
Utah (4-4, 4-0 ASUN) now controls the ASUN and heads east next week for a Holy Saturday matchup with Robert Morris in a rematch of last year’s conference title game. Jacksonville (8-1, 3-1 ASUN) welcomes in Queens next week.
Tolker’s Late-Game Spurt Helps Navy Past Boston U.
With 13:43 remaining in the contest, controlled the ball of a deflected pass, spun through a pair of Boston U. defenders, and put home what has to be one of the wildest behind-the-back scores of the season. It was the first goal of the day for the Midshipmen’s second-leading scorer.
Tolker would score twice more in that final frame. Once at the 1:34 mark and again with just 37 seconds left in the contest, netting himself a hat trick to help lead Navy past Boston U. 10-8 in an big upset Patriot League win.
A pair of Max Hewitt scores early in the first quarter gave Navy the 2-1 lead and they would never relinquish it. The Terriers tied it 2-2 minutes later in that opening frame and would pull within one five different times throughout the contest. However, they never could get over the hump and take back the lead.
The win marked the second in a row for Navy and was its first over a team with a winning record since February 11th.
Max Hewitt (3G/1A) led Navy with four points while Anthony Ghobriel went 14-for-21 (66%) at the dot. Pat Ryan anchored the Navy defense with 11 saves.
Timmy Ley had a hat trick for Boston U. while Thomas Niedringhaus (2G/1A) and Louis Perfetto (2G/1A) each had three points. Matt Garber made 18 saves in cage.
Navy (5-6, 2-2 Patriot League) travels to Loyola for a Good Friday matchup next. Boston U. (7-2, 4-1 Patriot League) moves to play Yale on Tuesday.
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