CHAPEL HILL, N.C.  — Duke entered this weekend in a precarious position.

But thanks to the heroics of Brennan O’Neill, Nakeie Montgomery and Mike Adler, coach John Danowski’s squad started off April with quite a bang against rival North Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

O’Neill scored seven goals, Montgomery added three and Adler recorded 19 saves as the No. 13 Blue Devils routed the No. 10 Tar Heels, 15-6, in a ranked ACC men’s lacrosse matchup at Dorrance Field.

“I think we made some gains,” Danowski said.

In spoiling their Tobacco Road rivals’ alumni weekend in resounding fashion, the Blue Devils shook off a slump that saw them lose two of their last three games and improved to 9-4 and 1-1 in conference play.

UNC, meanwhile, dropped to 7-3 and last place in the ACC at 0-2, delivering a dud on a weekend that saw Chapel Hill abuzz with energy thanks to Saturday’s looming UNC-Duke basketball Final Four brawl.

“The goalie was just hot at the right time for them,” coach Joe Breschi said. “I thought we generated the opportunities but couldn't finish on them … it’s unfortunate, but again, it’s one game.”

Duke, a 2021 NCAA Tournament semifinalist, ranked third in USA Lacrosse Magazine’s preseason top 20, and those predictions held early. The Blue Devils went 7-2 to start off their 2022 season and delivered ranked wins against Denver, Delaware and Richmond. Then came some late March road turbulence.

The Blue Devils lost 12-10 at Loyola (Md.) and 14-10 at Syracuse. They sandwiched in a win at Towson in between, but two losses to then-unranked teams dropped Duke down to 13th in this week’s rankings.

“There’s no other way to put it,” Adler said. “Last week sucked.”

But assistant Ron Caputo put in a “great (defensive) game plan,” Adler said, and O’Neill, the ACC’s reigning ACC Freshman of the Year, delivered Saturday’s opening punches with two first-period goals.

The sophomore attacker’s saviness put Duke up 2-0 after one period, which in context of recent UNC-Duke rivalry trends wasn’t anything to write home about. The teams have split their last 10 meetings, 5-5, with an average margin of victory of just 1.7 goals and one-goal games in six of their last nine games.

But the Blue Devils bucked that game-to-game parity with ease on Saturday.

O’Neill added a third goal in the second period and Duke got further cushion from graduate attacker Joe Robertson and graduate midfielder Montgomery (who played as a reserve running back for the Blue Devils’ football team last fall) to secure a 5-1 halftime lead and relegate Dorrance Field into silence.

Meanwhile, on defense, Adler racked up a whopping nine saves in the first period and Duke’s line played brilliantly against Chris Gray, UNC’s other-worldly graduate attacker who leads the country in goals per game (3.89) and could break the NCAA’s all-time points record (400) in his fifth and final college season.

Gray finished Saturday’s game with one goal and three assists, far from pedestrian numbers, but generally struggled and couldn’t connect on eight other shots. Starting defenders Wilson Stephenson, Kenny Brower and Cole Krauss played a role, but Adler’s contributions in the net were most visible.

The journeyman goalie and Saint Joseph’s transfer, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday, racked up 19 saves (one off his career high) and allowed just five goals across 57 minutes, his 79.2 save percentage proving crucial against a UNC offense that featured three of the ACC’s top 10 point scorers.

“The defense played absolutely unreal,” Adler said. “They gave me shots, especially early, that I could see and that really gave confidence to me – and I probably gave some confidence back to them, too.”

While Duke’s defense held down Gray and company with what Danowski described as “really solid, fundamental defense,” Duke’s offense turned a comfortable lead into a nine-goal blowout. The Blue Devils scored five goals apiece in the third and fourth periods, each more demoralizing than the next.

O’Neill finished with seven goals on 10 shots and outscored UNC by himself.

“That’s Brennan,” Danowski said. “And besides the seven goals – which were terrific, and we shot the ball really well today – he was also in a place where he opened up the offense for other guys as well.”

Indeed, secondary contributions from Montgomery (three goals, one assist) and Robertson (two goals, three assists) made the final margin that much larger and the win that much sweeter for Duke, which now pivots to a three-game home stand at Koskinen Stadium starting next Saturday with Notre Dame.

But the Blue Devils will savor this timely rivalry win for a bit longer.

Can you really blame them?

“This game means a lot to us … it’s a love-hate relationship,” O’Neill said, grinning. “We love to play against each other, but we hate each other in a way, too, so it feels great to have a win under the belt.”

Adler concurred: “To be a part of this weekend with the whole basketball thing, the energy on campus was absolutely out of control. And the fact that we happened to be also be playing UNC? Very few people get to experience that. And beautiful weather … you can’t really write it any better than that.”