Duke defeats Utah 19-7 in NCAA lacrosse tournament
Utah scored first and hung with Duke through a good portion of the first period of their NCAA lacrosse tournament first round matchup on Saturday, but the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils pulled away, defeating the Utes 19-7.
Tyler Bradbury and Jordan Hyde scored twice to lead the Utes, while Ryan Stines had a goal and an assist.
The Blue Devils were paced by Dyson Williams, who had five goals, and Josh Zawada, who tallied four goals and four assists.
Utah came out of the locker room ready to roll in Durham, North Carolina, with Bradbury starting from behind the net and wrapping around to put the Utes on the board just three minutes into the game.
Duke responded with goals from Williams and Zawada, but the Utes knotted it up at two apiece with a rocket from Jared Andreala on a power play with 7:48 left in the opening period.
The Utes’ speed and aggression on offense was on display, especially in the first period, and unlike Utah’s NCAA tournament appearance last year against Notre Dame, where the Irish sprintied out to an 8-0 lead, the Utes held their own with the Blue Devils halfway through the first period.
Duke showed why it is the No. 2 team in lacrosse, though, pulling away from the Utes after they tied it up.
The Blue Devils went on a 6-0 run, led by two goals by Brennan O’Neill, who was the Tewaaraton Award winner last season, an honor given to the most outstanding player in college lacrosse.
Through the Utes kept fighting — Utah drew within four goals on two separate occasions, with 11:18 left in the second period after consecutive goals from Stines and Cody Hart and again with 4:13 left in the second period after a score from Bradbury — Duke always had an answer, scoring three goals to stretch its lead to seven.
Utah made one more push in the third period, with Hyde scoring twice — before and following a Duke goal — that cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 13-7, but that would be the final time the Utes scored.
Duke found the back of the net six consecutive times to end the game.
The Blue Devils advance to the quarterfinals, where they will play the winner of Maryland and Princeton.
It wasn’t the result the Utes wanted in the NCAA tournament — Utah still has a ways to go to compete with the elite of the sport — but it was still a successful season overall for the young program.
Utah won the ASUN Conference tournament for the second year in a row, finished the season with a 12-5 record and had the ASUN Player of the Year in Stines.
